US Elections

5th November - US elections mirrored Indian elections - same reasons (different players / factors), same rhetorics and same outcome. I did feel a bit lost since I was not plugged in as before in politics recently. But I made up for it and I realized that I need to pay minimum attention to what is going around. 

While the elections will have a lasting impact at home and abroad, the call out to unite and get everyone on one side sounds familiar to Indian elections again. Maybe it will not be as bad - may be the team will try to manage. But for sure, the billionaires were happy with the outcome. How is it that Indian and American politics are following the same playbook? What is going on? Can someone else see it? 

The amount of pressure people put on themselves in finding a partner is insane. Having lived all these years and experienced many aspects of the same, I can vouch safely that it is just another path not just THE path as society makes it seem. The number of people who think they can never be happy because they do not have a partner is insane! And they do not consider companionship that comes from other sources to even fill that gap. And I do understand the need to have that one person that "gets" you, but it is impossible for another person to "get" you because they are not you! That leaves companionship limited to have someone around so that one is not lonely emotionally or physically. From an emotional point of view as long as someone is around to share and care (respect, love etc.) even if they are not a partner, does that not count? From a physical point of view, there are two aspects - sexual and purely having a body around so that one is not scared or lonely as one goes about one's life. Out of these two, sexual companionship is the need that can met only by a partner. 

So are we as a society, equating marriage to sex mainly and everything else mentioned above will come along with it? What if some other things mentioned above are missing? Should someone marry under pressure? When the marriage status is equated with the happiness and overall value of a person - is that not scary? Everyone starts discriminating people on the basis of marital status? 

If the pressure of marriage is removed, won't people be a lot more happier? May be then, they can peacefully focus on themselves instead of focusing on finding a suitable partner. All that extra energy will go in something more meaningful in my opinion. 

Kora

On a whim today, I searched for African Folk music on YouTube. Here is what I came across:

• Kora

• The Gambia
• Capital City: Banjul

• Sona Jobarteh 
• First female professional kora player 

• Sona Jobarteh & band performing at The University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar - Enjoy!!

Covid-19

I started working from home from 3/2/2020 (half-day). Official WFH started from 3/4/2020. Abhishek started working from home from 3/10/2020. Schools & Daycare closed from 3/16/2020.

As I type this US has 337,635 cases and 9647 deaths.Global cases are at 1,274, 956 and global deaths are at 69,487. Source - covid-19 Map

These are all official numbers and actuals could be more.