Goodbye 2020! Won't miss you...(Or may be)

 Finally, we have reached the last day of annus horribilis. Coronavirus pandemic has upended the world on its head. From the way we live to the way we eat, from the way we go out to the way we work, there is not an aspect of life which has got unscathed due to this once in a century event. Years and decades of years in progress has been taken away in a matter of months if not days. The losses have been incalculable, families have been torn apart, there is a struggle in a section of society to put food to the table for 2 times a day, and many don’t know where the next pay cheque is going to come from. This in a way, has torn the fabric of society where the underlying inequity has been brought to the fore. Rich has gotten richer (See Billionaire’s income), the poor have gotten poorer.

World got new buzz words like masks, hand sanitizers, social distancing, vaccines and every conversation was or ended with something with those. It is as if the entire planet and it’s people – in a lockdown – are having a collective anxiety and wishing a gush of any good news that can come which will feel that a sense of normality can be achieved. But it did not come. It just keeps getting bad, then worse and is still counting. With only good news in the horizon is that Vaccine has been approved which in itself a moonshot of achievement. This is the year of Science, Doctors, frontline workers, vaccine trials participants and anything and everything to do with one who was in the front line to face it and keep the other majority safe at their homes. I think of a policeman patrolling the roads to ensure lockdown is effective, think of a garbage guy who risked everything to ensure our area was clean, security guards at our homes just to name a few.

One thing this pandemic has taught is many of us live in a privileged bubble. We had day jobs to care about. We knew when our pay cheques and where our pay cheques is going to come from. Locked inside our homes in front of our laptops and virtual meets we spent most of the year in the hope that the office will open soon and we will be with our colleagues again. We had the comfort of having the salary being credited at the end of the month when many daily wagers did not know what to do except to walk thousands of miles to their hometowns to be with family in their family homes. We saw the travesty of Indian society when an unplanned lockdown had a preposterous effect of migrant workers who had in a matter of days no food to eat, no jobs to sustain a family in what is the 1st world [cities] of ours. Governments did not do much, and it could have been planned better.

One of the gravest impacts I feel is to the School children who at the age when the brain learns to develop social skills lost out on one full year (may be more) of a life with their fellow students in the hallowed benches of the classrooms. This, I feel, is the most significant. Even in a normal year, transition to a new class, or to a new school brings anxiety – we cannot imagine what this year would bring. Toll on mental health is hard to calculate with parents having their own set of challenges with regards to jobs, vulnerability to infection, long term impacts to society would have trickle down on students sitting at homes. Further the inter-personal skills which grow exponentially through the school years, a complete loss of one year would definitely be difficult. I have not even gone on the impact of staying indoors and social isolation. If I was the government, opening the schools should be the No. 1 priority. (<i>Read the Harvard Paper on Impact of Covid on Education</i>)

As of my writing there have been 1.81 million known deaths due to  covid. That’s 1.81 million mother, father, brother, sister, grandparents, families which have got separated or torn. That is an empty chair at the dining table. That is an irreparable loss. I lost a close uncle. An uncle for whom I had ample respect, one of the nicest human beings and always excited about where our lives were taking us with jobs, cities. Survived by two kids and wife, that is something which cannot be gained back. I haven’t had any other personal losses, but I always have from the start of the pandemic prayed to give strength to families who have suffered. They were people who had entire lives in front of them from kids’ marriage, to settle in a job, to go for the holiday for which they saved over the last year – all gone in infamy. Hope their souls rest in peace and those who are they survived by get the best possible in life.

Was 2020 a nature’s way of sorts to say slow down (Carbon emissions hit record lows during the lockdown)? Was the damage avoidable to a certain extent? Could governments across the world do a better job prioritising opening of the schools (some notable exceptions definitely)? These will be answered in the reams of books that will be written once it is over.

Everyone will have a way to look at this year, some positives (like time to be with your family/bonding with old friends/forced to eat healthy food) and profound negatives as well. But if I have to choose a word(s) to describe the year it will be Reckoning and Hope.

2020 was the year of reckoning where we realised (if not all) what is important. That we can live without our splurges. That hope - which Paul Kalanithi writes in “When Breath becomes Air” – first appeared in English about a thousand years ago, denoting some combination of confidence and desire – was the only power to walk through this toughest period in modern history. Those of us who have survived, should only be grateful that we surpassed the year and the virus which knows no boundaries, is not from any political party, does not believe in fiction and is not taking any leaves, in-fact mutating dangerously now.

We can only HOPE that 2021 is better, that life resembles normalcy, that our loved ones are healthy, and we should do our best in ways to bend this curve of history which has dismantled the lives and turned entire humanity in ever permanent ways. We can hope that changes this year have brought more of a healthy lifestyle beneficial to the dying planet due to climate change. With vaccine roll out, hope pandemic eases and we return to our offices/schools and are not surrounded by vulnerability of infection. Hope that the world reads a lot, understands the difference between truth and fiction, and we are empathetic to the situation of every individual around us. Hope that we strive to – what Barack Obama says – call on the better angels of our nature and habits. And hope that 2020 will be only remembered as the way it was – one for the ages in history books and one when God turned on its planets’ tenants.

Finally, I read what Robert Kennedy (Former Attorney General and part of a celebrated Kennedy family which gave one of the country's Presidents as well)  said. It goes like “Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and then the total – all of these acts – will be written in the history of this generation” So that time to do your small part is NOW! And for famous Anthony Hopkins line “Today is the tomorrow you were so worried about yesterday”

Wish everyone a great and prosperous 2021!!!! Happy happy year....

The Helicopter on the cricket ground.

 

Everybody of my age has probably some MS Dhoni story (or may be not). So do i. I was at my school that day, back in 2005 when on a recess break saw in the small tv near principal’s office, this long haired new name. Match against Pakistan in Vizag, and he was running bonkers. 148 is what he scored that day but i learnt his 3 worded name just to be sure to watch him next time again. Little did i know that within the next 2 years he would be leading the national side. And through the next 6 years of his captaincy, he would lead India to win the most coveted of ICC trophies (First T-20 World cup in 2007, 50 Over World cup in 2011, ICC champions trophy in 2013) and also make India the Test No. 1 team.

Cricket is not just a matter of faith and religion in India, it brings people out of sadness, it brings smiles, it brings the country together, and it brings pride. And leading the national team, is at times a more powerful position than may be Prime Minister’s or Presidents. Because India is too emotional a country to accept a loss in the 22 yards than move along in a corruption scandal. We cannot bear losses in the cricket field. He was not leading 11 men, he was the collective strength of 130 crore Indians. That is pretty powerful.

Dhoni’s leadership is not just an example of how to lead a sports team. Of course he is street smart, he is uncharacteristic, his unorthodoxy decisions is what that team was what it was. His decision to promote himself in that WC final in Mumbai, is still the best chess move without a chess board. His decision to give ball to Joginder Sharma in bull ring, was not just another instinctive choice gone right. With the power of hindsight, you can call this brilliant but he had not too much time to make those calls, i guarantee. So that’s genius to settle once it for all.

But it was impeccable command of the game that propelled India to those heights post 2007 WC debacle. It was his toughest choices. He was India’s first Michael Bevan by a margin. And he never fulfilled that role without a small heartache to millions, because required run rate had to go so much up so that only Dhoni could finish it. And then we all rejoiced.

Dhoni’s leadership skills should be corporate board room talks, his management style is to be copied. His calm and composed demeanour is what makes a leader. His long view on stuff what makes him the great man. And his thing on it is about the team all the time makes him class apart. As soon as he was handed over the trophy in 2011, he just moved away to the sidelines because he was not meant to be in the centre stage as no leader is meant to be, he wanted to be the side kick though it was his night of performance which produced that result.

I grew up with understanding Indian cricket when Ganguly was captain with his breakthrough 2002 Natwest trophy and commanding run in 2003 WC. But when Dhoni became the captain, i was already post the school life in pursuit of a degree to secure life, and i followed him on a lot of cues. He always set up important lessons.

With him now, leaving the stage with a short Instagram post, with no farewell match, no press conference, no fanfare, just a post in the middle of the pandemic...this is what it has come down is, a simple thank-you and good bye. I am sure that would not be as easy as he made it look, but alas that’s Dhoni for you.

Look, this is not the time of whining about what could have gone wrong in the intervening period last WC and now, it is time to celebrate for the man who he is. A self-less, team first, humble, empathetic, soul full leader of Indian national cricket team. He led talents bigger than him, but with no ego. He let Ganguly captain the last over of his career. He was the idea behind the running guard salute to Tendulkar’s last match. He found happiness in things which a 7 year old ones would find, Matthew Hayden once said. Dhoni is and will always remain a national treasure who ended up giving a good day’s sleep and some great examples to millions in this country.

Thank-you Mahi, you inspired me. And in the famous dialogue of biographical movie ‘Mahi maar raha hai’, just changed to ‘Mahi jaa raha hai’.

Indian cricket will need his services for a long time to come. And i will miss him on the cricket field whenever cricket comes back. They say not to say ‘Never say never’, but i like to punt on there will never be another Dhoni.

My librarian..(World Book day!)

On this day every year, i try to pen some of my thoughts as i consider it a sacred day. Books have always been my best companion whether it was collecting Atlas’ back in school days (at one point i had 12 of them!-Yes i used to hoard it) or having a sort of my personal library. It has always been my escape mechanism. My moment of head in the sand. In these times of such crisis, i second the school of thought that books should be an essential item. Because you never know which conjunction of words, written by unknown can have an impact on which part of the world. It is a travel, without airports and airplanes. It is a journey where roads are never known. I am not going to talk about which books i read last year or what i followed etc, this time it is different. I want to pen a special to my grandmother.

Yes, she is one of the most special ladies in my life. She is the best pillow to sleep on. She has been the guardian to all my stuffs since the time i started knowing anything. I am her favourite out of her 9 grandchildren (yes i flaunt it). She has a significant role in what i am today as a professional and as a person. She is the custodian of my most precious assets at home in Kolkata. To an extent that, whenever i used to go out for my audit assignments, i had drawn a sort of library card for any person coming to take my books and ask her to get this written on it. And my word she did it diligently. She is my librarian. From ensuring there are no dusts, to ensure my count remains the same, to asking the person to return it before i come back makes my day. She does this not only because she loves me, and because she knows what all this mean to me.

Once while sleeping on her lap, she explained to me how i was like my grandfather. I have never seen him. But i have been told how my life style matches with him exactly in terms of interest and wishes. I have always seen his photo hanging in our house, wondering if his blessings are with me or not, but my grandma’s words are.

Words cannot express what my grandma has done for my education and upbringing, at times more than my mother. She used to sit in the afternoon sun to peel the oranges so that i have enough of fruits at that time of the day. Or while burning the mid night oil, her usual stare at wall clock as if sun has risen she would offer me something to eat so that i am stuffed. Her penchant for keeping things clean, made me never search for anything be it my clothes or books.

She was married early without proper education, but she knew the value of a good read. She offered me a book in hindi years back but i just could not complete it because it was hindi (no offence). Eyes may have mellowed down now for her, but to keep the newspaper in the sunlight to be able to read that Tuesday story in Sanmarg (Hindi newspaper in kolkata) is still her passion. To do a silent prayer every morning to be religious is what i have seen her every morning.

Maa (I call my grandma Maa), i will be indebted to you my entire life till i breathe last. Your blessings is what has brought me here. Your confidence in my hard work has kept me going. When you tell the world, Ankur does not come home because he has work gives me silent happy tears where ever i am. I have a gulp in my throat as i type this, but i miss you the most.
The first thing i would want to do as this lockdown ends, is fly home give you the tightest hug as only i can. Because you can take it from me.

Right to read (learn) should be the fundamental right. It is not a privilege. It should not be a burden. I was told from the start that the only way to reach the top pedestal is via good education. Reading for that was paramount. Curiosity was key. And my Maa, was key to that.

On this world book day, my special note to my special person will have to be translated but who better than her son to do it. So dad, over to you. Tell her this tomorrow when she is up.

Keep reading, keep spreading joy. Happy world book day! Stay safe!