Mental Excursions

  Signs of Creativity A sweet young relative who stayed with us for a few days, asked me to help with her school work and I readily agreed. After all, it is not often that I get an opportunity to lecture somebody! During the course of a conversation about understanding common expressions used, I asked her, “But haven’t you noticed this on the signboards?” “Signboards? Who reads random signboards?” she asked as if I had said something stupid. Sheepishly I could only say, “I do.” And it brought a flood of memory of signboards, alive. Some of these though not seen by me, I have already shared with you. But today I am including mostly those which have been noticed by me or sent to me. Seen  at the food court on Yamuna Expressway At a ‘tiffin centre’ in Bangalore selling  idlis . Looks like lovers of Bacchus have been filling themselves up with alcohol   at this petrol station. No wonder then that the owner has put up a sign saying drinking is forbidden at the f...

  Festival of democracy A country of 28 states and 8 union territories, India, a democracy, needs as many number of governments sharing the burden with the Central Government of governing the country. We know that like for the union government, elections are held every five years in the states too. That means every year some state or the other is going to have a new government for which it is necessary to conduct elections. In a multi-party system where every party wants to be in power, it remains of no consequence whether it deserves that or not. The objective is to somehow convince the voters that they (the party) are the only ones who would work for them, and win the elections. The preparations start six months to a year before elections when there is a sea of announcements, promises, manifestoes and inaugurations. Polling is held, votes counted and the new government takes over. By the time they learn the ropes and start working, it is already one year into the government w...

Move over Delta, welcome on board Omicron If Covid could see, it would have seen the cataclysmic effect it has had on this planet and its eyes would have fallen off their sockets (or wherever they were) by now. If it was an autocrat or a dictator, its sense of pride would have bloated, bursting its microscopic body and killing it. But the shameless bot lives on, changing its form every few months to refresh its tale of terror. It visited the Earth in 2020 and in 2021 it came in the avatar of Delta which bulldozed the life and soul of the planet. It changed our style of working, our relations with people, sense of celebration, what not! Perhaps intoxicated by the effect it had on Homo sapiens, it came yet again a couple of months ago and is still wandering among us. So much has been written and talked about Covid that the virus must have developed media-fatigue. But too much power can be a dangerous thing and when it came this time, something happened. Scientists say it mutated to sur...