Activities to do during lockdown that can add up in your portfolio

Once you begin to think about it, there’s no limit to the number of activities that you can participate in during the COVID lockdown and here is a list of activities which can keep you busy and add in your portfolio

Not just marks and applications but a good portfolio is also required to get admission into a varsity abroad. As the entire globe has come to a standstill amid the coronavirus lockdown, what can one do to build their portfolio? The answer is — a lot.

Paint: The internet is brimming with suggestions, tutorials, magical hyper-lapses, paint-along videos. Complaining that you do not know how to paint, or that you wish you had company, is not a good enough excuse for procrastination anymore. Paint on paper, paint murals on walls, paint on newsJournal: Keeping a journal has been key to many breakthroughs of many brilliant minds. You do not have to type out a journal every day. Journaling has been proven to open up your mind to more creative thought in every field. Write in your journal, type it, paint it, make a mind map, do whatever suits your personality. At best, it could get the creative juices flowing and help you with your college essays, or maybe a novella. At worst, you will have a detailed account of your days in lockdown. Ever heard of Anne Frank?

Learn to bake or cook: Learn to be self-reliant. How many of us know how to stitch a button? This might not help in building a profile, but it will definitely help you when you live alone abroad.

Offer virtual companionship for people who are impacted by COVID-19: If you have a course in psychology, this is the time to put it to use. Everyone now is connected to video chat. Offer some time to someone in need, daily. A little company goes a long way in times like this.paper, fabric.

Show commitment for a prior commitment: Do not let the lockdown lock you down. If there is a project that got interrupted by the lockdown, physically being apart from your team should not stop you from completing it. Choose one or two activities that you enjoyed pursuing pre-pandemic. Practicing a musical instrument at a professional level? You could practice with discipline, and connect with your teacher online. Try, and succeed, to maintain a level of continuity in your commitments. Robotics project stuck in the works? Gather your friends, delegate responsibilities, complete it.

Research project: If there is a topic that is always been close to your heart, this is the perfect opportunity for uninterrupted time at your fingertips. It is also possible that some of the elusive experts — who were usually really hard to get a hold of because they were too busy — might have some time at hand. Approach them, write to them, get some invaluable guidance and inputs and make the most of this opportunity.

Self-driven projects study: A number of universities offer free, and paid, certifications, MOOC’s, and courses online. Many are self-paced and are easily available. This would be a great time to upskill yourself. One can also take up online projects and collaborate for an online fundraiser. Participate in digithons, hackathons, or any other kind of challenge that you would have never dreamt of doing because of time constraints. The virtual world is bursting with content right now, and the largest consumer is the young generation. Gather a bunch of friends and start a blog based on a specialisation. How to debate louder, Secret basketball moves, Social Media and how to navigate it.

nce you begin to think about it, there’s no limit to the number of activities that you can participate in during the COVID lockdown. Remember though, first make your bed, help your mom dad with chores, and only then disappear into the world of your new-found project!

Source: Indian Express, 14/04/2020

What is ‘Obamagate’, the theory that Donald Trump is peddling

"Obamagate" rightly takes its reference from Watergate, decidedly the biggest political scandal that ended Richard Nixon's presidency in 1974.

Over the last few weeks, US President Donald Trump has proactively peddled conspiracy theories about former president Barack Obama with #Obamagate that some say is being designed to ramp up support for Trump’s conservative base. The President has also, in equal measure, attempted to portray presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in harsh light to potentially distract from the barrage of bad news from both the health and economic front due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 90,000 Americans have died from the virus, and more than 40 million have claimed unemployment.

Biden, on his part, warned that those “tasked with enforcing the law are abusing their powers,” indirectly criticising the Trump administration a day after he declined to respond to the President’s attacks directly.

On May 10, Trump had tweeted 126 times, some in all caps, about ‘OBAMAGATE’ without giving any evidence to support his claims. Despite the fact that over 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment claims over the last few months due to pandemic-induced lockdown, Trump has fired many shots at Obama accusing him of conspiracy to topple his early presidency. Over the years, these accusLast week, when Trump was asked by a reporter his reason behind accusing Obama, the President was quoted as saying by The Atlantic as saying, “It’s been going on for a very long time … You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody.”ations came to be labelled by Trump and his supporters as Obamagate.Later on May 15, he announced that Obamagate is the “greatest political scandal in the history of the US”.

Trump’s accusations against Obama have frequently bordered on conspiracy and not facts, which are not the same as his differences with his predecessor on health care policies and US’ role in the world order.

Currently, his focus seems to be on the decisions that Obama, Biden, and their national security advisers made during the last days of their administration as they viewed intelligence reports about Michael Flynn. Flynn had a relatively short tenure as Donald Trump’s national security adviser before he was fired for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his interactions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

Obamagate” rightly takes its reference from Watergate, decidedly the biggest political scandal that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency in 1974.

The controversy had its origins in 2017, when Donald Trump had accused Obama of wire-tapping his political campaign in 2016. Over the years, the claims have stayed with Trump supporters. But very recently, the Justice Department dropped the case against Flynn and this seems to have given Trump another reason to complain about Flynn’s treatment by FBI investigators.

Trump has broadly dubbed the allegations as Obamagate where he has pointed to the legal case of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and suggested that the “unmasking” of Flynn’s name as part of legal US surveillance of foreign targets was criminal.

As per the Associated Press, the “unmasking” of people in surveillance reports is a routine, legal activity in government. In 2019, the Donald Trump administration made 10,012 such requests. But they don’t often become public, and in the Flynn case, Trump supporters point to it as evidence that Obama loyalists were out to undermine Trump from the start.

To many, the Obamagate seems to be Trump’s strategy to open up a new front against his political rivals to shore up support for his presidency and boost his reelection bid in the November elections. The President has branded the whole issue as Obamagate despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing against the former president.

Then, over this weekend, Trump’s two sons appeared to spread baseless, online conspiracy theories suggesting other criminal activity by Biden. When Biden was asked by reporters on the online posts, he told AP, “People know me. The good news is the bad news. They know me. They know my faults, they know my talents,” Biden said.

He went on to add: “It’s hard to lay on me some of the things that are just totally out of sync with anything in my whole life that anyone has ever said about me.”

The latest comments by Biden come amid escalating rhetoric from Trump and his allies pushing conspiracy theories and alleging improper behaviour during the Obama administration.

Source: Indian Express, 21/05/20

The first plague in history ended the Byzantine empire, was considered an act of God

The plague “would mark the end of one world, and the beginning of another. Along the way, it would consume at least 25 million human lives.”

A moment is all it takes for the world to change and the way we see it. The first plague of written history had caused the Byzantine Empire to fall. The Black Death of the 14th century on the other hand, ended the practice of serfdom in Europe. In India, the Bubonic plague of the 19th century came as a God-given opportunity for colonial officials to suppress the resident population, while the Spanish flu of the 20th century led to a nationalist awakening. The pages of history are replete with instances when major disease outbreaks have altered and overturned the ways in which societies and political structures functioned.

Many would say the Covid-19 outbreak may change forever the world as we have known it till now. Power structures may be shifted, economic systems remodeled, along with significant changes in the way we touch, behave, and breathe. With the number of cases continuing to surge and the prospect of a vaccine still distant, we are yet to see the impact that the virus will play out in times ahead. Lessons from thIn the year 540 CE, a fleet of ships left the port of Alexandria for some of the greatest trading cities in the Mediterranean region including those in Turkey, Italy and Spain. The Byzantine empire for which it was headed, had for centuries depended on North Africa to meet its requirements of food grain. This time though, along with the food grains, came a disease that would wreak havoc across the empire, and alter the course of its history.

The Plague of Justinian, as it came to be known after Emperor Justinian I who held the throne of Byzantium, is found to have transmitted through black rats that traveled on the grain ships and carts sent to Constantinople. Having conquered large parts of North Africa, and the Italian peninsula, the Byzantine Empire under Justinian I was at its peak when the plague broke out. As historian William Rosen wrote in his book ‘Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe’, the plague “would mark the end of one world, and the beginning of another. Along the way, it would consume at least 25 million human lives.”

A disastrous act of God

The Justinian plague is known to have originated at Pelusium at the Eastern edge of the Nile delta in Egypt, even though the roots of the bacterium causing it was first found at Qinghai in China. From Egypt it spread through trade routes and by 544 CE had spread through Central Asia, Europe, and the Mediterannean.

The plague was caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium that caused the disastrous Black Death in Europe, in the 14th century, and later the third plague pandemic of the 19th century. The Justinian plague itself is recorded to have recurred multiple times in the course of the next two hundred years. While some accounts of it suggest the plague recurred 14 times, others say 18 or 21.e past though can provide some insight into what lies ahead.

The plague resulting from the bacterium took different forms. The Justinian plague was a Bubonic plague that is transmitted by the bite of an infected flea or rodent. In the world of antiquity, however, it was understood as nothing more than a catastrophic act of God.

“To the people of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, only the act of an angry God could explain the colossal disaster of the plague,” writes historian J N Hays in his book ‘Epidemics and pandemics: Their impacts on human history’. Contemporary descriptions of the disease noted that it struck suddenly with a high fever; the buboes, or swellings, appeared in the groin, the armpits, behind the ears or in the thigh. Further black spots might appear in the skin and the victim would slip into a coma and would die soon after.

People traumatised and unsure about the situation, soon resorted to irrational acts hoping the disease would disappear. “There was a deliberate smashing of pots; people making a clamour. This may be an illustration of a population experiencing traumatic shock. It might have been done in panic but also might hWhile it is difficult to ascertain the precise number of casualties left behind in the wake of the Justinian plague, some details put forth by contemporary witnesses might be useful to gauge its magnitude. The Byzantine Greek scholar Procopius in his elaborate eight-volume work, ‘The history of wars’ noted how the epidemic claimed 5000 or sometimes 10,000 lives daily only in the Byzatine capital city of Constantinople. Emperor Justinian himself was struck by the plague but managed to recover from it.

The contemporary historian John of Ephesus, on the other hand, claims to have witnessed “villages whose inhabitants perished altogether’. He described the scene of destruction at Constantinople in the following words — “noble and chaste women, dignified with honour, who sat in bed chambers, now with their mouths swollen, wide open and gaping, who were piled up in horrible heaps, all ages lying prostrate, all staturers bowed down and overthrown, all ranks pressed on upon another, in a single wine-press of God’s wrath, like beasts, not like human beings.”

Ushering the end of the Byzantine empire

The plague of Justinian had a far-reaching impact on the fiscal, administrative and military framework of the empire. The population of the empire was dramatically reduced. While some scholars have noted that 40 per cent of Constantinople’s population had disappeared, others believe that the plague caused the death of a quarter of the human population in the Eastern Mediterannean. For an empire that was primarily agrarian, it meant a shortage of food, as well as a sharp drop in the amount of taxes being paid to the state. The immediate result was famines that occurred in 542, and then again in 545 and 546.

Before the plague arrived, the empire of Byzantium under Justinian had expanded far across North Africa, southern France, Italy and Spain, and was well on its way to re-establish much of the golden era of the Roman Empire. The decrease in the population of the empire also significantly weakened the military. The Empire’s capacity to resist its enemies had weakened.

By 568 CE, Northern Italy was invaded and conquered by the Germanic tribes called Lombards. “Within decades, Rome and Persia were so plague-weakened that the armies of Islam, formed in one of the only parts of either empire to remain plague free, could conquer Mesopotamia, the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and most of Asia Minor,” writes Rosen.

While historians have noted several other factors that aided in the weakening of the Byzantine empire, including the administrative weaknesses of its monarch, they agree that the plague of Justinian did play a crucial role. While the Byzantine Empire did revive briefly in the 10th-11th centuries under the Macedonians, it could never again reach the same heights. The plague in many ways marked the end of the era of Classical antiquity and marked the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Extra reading: The Burdens of Disease: Epidemics and Human Response in Western History, by J N Hays | Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, by William Rosen | Economy and Society in the age of Justinian, by Peter Sarrisave been done to somehow disturb and clear the atmosphere,” writes Hays.

Source: Indian Express, 8/05/2020

Quote of the Day

March 20, 2020

“Think not on what you lack as much as on what you have.”

‐ Proverb

“अधिक ध्यान उस पर दें जो आपके पास है, उस पर नहीं जो आपके पास नहीं है।”

‐ कहावत

Solar, Lunar eclipses 2020: When and where to watch eclipses this year

We are compiling a list of all the solar and lunar eclipses of 2020 along with their timing and areas where these will be visible.

When the Sun, Earth, and the Moon align in a straight line (or form an almost straight configuration), we witness either a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse depending on the position of the Earth. A solar eclipse happens during the New Moon when the Moon moves between Earth and the Sun to cast a shadow on the Earth blocking the rays of Sun. A lunar eclipse happens during a Full Moon when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon blocking the Sun’s rays from directly reaching the Moon.

Solar eclipses in 2020

There are three kinds of solar eclipses — total, partial, and annular along with rare hybrid that is a combination of an annular and a total eclipse. There are between two and five solar eclipses every year. This year, there will be two solar eclipses— one is scheduled for Jun 21 and the other one is expected to occur on December 14.

Annular solar eclipse on June 21, 2020

As per timeanddate.com, the first solar eclipse of the year 2020 will fall on June 21. It will start at 9:15 am as per Indian Standard Timing (IST) and be visible until 3:04 pm. The full eclipse will start from 10:17 am to 2:02 pm where 12:10 pm will see the maximum eclipse.

The June 21 event will be an annular solar eclipse where the Moon will cover the Sun from the centre leaving the outer rim visible, thus creating a ring of fire. The event will be visible in India as well as much of Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. Parts of Europe and Australia will also witness the June 21 event.

Total solar eclipse on December 14, 2020

The second and last solar eclipse of the year 2020 will occur on December 14. As per timeanddate.com, the solar eclipse will start at 7:03 pm IST, reach the full eclipse by 8:02 pm, and the maximum eclipse will occur at 9:43 pm. The full eclipse will end at 11:24 pm, after which the partial eclipse will start and end by 12:23 am on December 15, 2020.

The December 14 event will be a total eclipse where the Moon completely blocks the Sun and casts a shadow over the planet. The celestial event will be visible directly from South America, Pacific, Atlantic, parts of Indian Ocean and Antarctica. Some parts of Africa will also witness the solar eclipse directly.

Lunar eclipses in 2020

Just like solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are also of three kinds– total, partial, and penumbral. The year 2020 has been listed to hold four lunar eclipses– one of which has been already witnessed in January. The remaining eclipses have been scheduled to occur in June, July, and November.

Also, just like the first lunar eclipse, the upcoming lunar eclipse of the year will be penumbral ones, which means the Moon travels through the faint penumbral portion of Earth’s shadow.

Lunar eclipse on June 5-6, 2020

As per timeanddate.com, the second lunar eclipse of the year will occur between June 5 and June 6. It will start at 11:15 pm IST on June 5 and reach the maximum eclipse at 12:54 am on June 6. The penumbral eclipse will end at 2:34 am on June 6, 2020. It will be visible in India along with much of Asia, much of Europe, Australia, Africa, South/East South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.

Lunar eclipse on July 5, 2020

The third lunar eclipse of the year will occur between July 5. As per timeanddate.com, it will start at 8:37 am IST, reach maximum eclipse at 9:59 am, and end at 11:22 am. As evident from the timing, it will not be visible in India. The regions which will withness the penumbral lunar eclipse of July 5 include much of Africa, much of Nort America, South/West Europe, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.

Lunar Eclipse on November 30, 2020

The fourth and final lunar eclipse of the year will occur on November 30, 2020. It will start at 1:02 pm IST, and reach the maximum eclipse at 3:12 pm. The penumbral eclipse will end at 5:23 pm on November 30, 2020. This eclipse will also be not visible from India. As per timeanddate.com, the regions where it will be visible include much of Europe, much of Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, and the Arctic.

Notably, there will be a total of four eclipses in 2021– two will be solar eclipses and two will be lunar ones.

Source: Indian Express, 19/03/2020

What is Plogging and where did it originate? 

Started in Sweden by Erik Ahlström in 2016, plogging is an eco-friendly exercise through which people pick up trash while jogging or brisk walking as a way to clean up litter and also take care of their health.

During his morning walk at a beach in Mamallapuram Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen picking up plastic litter, water bottles and other trash from near his resort where he hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for informal summit talks. In a tweet shortly after, PM Modi wrote: “Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram. It lasted for over 30 minutes.”

The activity that the Prime Minister was referring to is an international fitness trend called ‘Ploggi

What does Plogging mean and where did it originate?

Plogging is a combination of two words: jogging and Swedish phrase for pick up, ‘plocka upp’. Started in Sweden by Erik Ahlström in 2016, plogging is an eco-friendly exercise through which people pick up trash while jogging or brisk walking as a way to clean up litter and also take care of their health.ng’.

It all began after Ahlström, who during his commute to work in Sweden, frequently encountered litter dotting the landscape. The same trash would remain on the roads for weeks at a stretch without anyone picking it up. This prompted him to pick up the trash during his commute and dispose of it properly. Soon, this became a habit. Eventually, he included the trash cleanup into his daily running and exercise routine, which is how ‘plogging’ came into existence.

Impact of Plogging

Ever since the movement took shape in Sweden, it has spread globally, thanks largely to social media and word-of-mouth. Search for #Plogging on Instagram or Twitter and one can see people post before and after pictures of the area cleaned up and brag about their trash haul after plogging. Given that plogging is very accessible and easy to do, lends it a much wider appeal, which explains its growing influence globally.

Since then, the movement has been adopted and implemented across the world by fitness and environmental enthusiasts. Over the last few years, several groups have popped up across Europe, US, South America, Asia and Africa that galvanise communities to take affirmative action against plastic pollution through a positive intervention like plogging. As per Ahlström, plogging for half an hour will burn at least 288 calories on an average as compared to just 235 calories from regular jogging. The fact that plogging addresses both the health and environment aspects make people feel they are positive agents of change and that anyone can do it. To make it a little more physically challenging, some even throw in a few exercises as they fill up their trash bags.

Now, India too has jumped onto the plogging bandwagon after the Narendra Modi-led BJP government organised the Fit India Plog Run that took place pan-India on October 2, as part of the Fit India Movement launched by the Prime Minister on August 29. To this effect, PM Modi also urged citizens of the country to shun single-use plastic during his Mann Ki Baat address on September 29 while asking people to start plogging for a litter-free India.

Source: Indian Express, 12/10/2019

Dealing with the human condition

Uncertainty is giving rise to anxiety, guilt, shame, panic. Respond better

The suicide of a young man, who was admitted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after flying in from Sydney, even as test results to ascertain whether he had the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) were awaited, is a wake-up call. There has been commentary on safety measures required to deal with the outbreak and the individual, social and institutional actions required. But not enough attention has been paid to the toll the disease — and the messaging around it — is taking on mental health.

Covid-19 is new. Rarely, if ever, in recent history have human beings across the world — be in Boston or Bengaluru, Wuhan or Doha, Rome or Seoul — experienced a common set of concerns, driven by a single factor. From its roots to its symptoms, from its treatment protocol to a possible cure, uncertainty is rife. This uncertainty is causing fear, anxiety, panic among people — about themselves, about their loved ones, about their future. This is coupled with a sense of shame among those who are either suspected or have the infection, because of the stigmatisation of Covid-19 patients. Yes, there are people who could have been more careful; yes, there has been a streak of irresponsibility in those should have followed treatment protocols. But it must be emphasised that a patient who gets infected is not guilty, but is actually a victim. Targeting individuals or families with traces of the case is wrong. Unacceptable racial attacks — be it against Chinese-origin Americans in the United States or against people from the Northeast in India — is only adding to this sense of vulnerability. Misinformation is not helping.

The government must weave in the mental health dimension in the way it approaches Covid-19. There has to be sustained counselling and therapy for patients and suspected cases. There has to be better messaging, which battles the sense of shame associated with Covid-19 and emphasises that social distancing is a temporary measure and patients are not criminals. There has to be kindness and empathy in the way families, neighbours, and communities engage with each other. Only a humane response can help deal with the deeply vulnerable human condition of these times.

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/03/2020