[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

This is what I want for my kids. Fast friends who don't have a single kind word to offer; and teachers who my kids will remember and be grateful for decades after they are done with their formal education.

I thought I would also fit into your hall of fame
Jokes apart, we seem to have imbibed from the same school of thought. I hope you get what you wish for your kids. As it is, this lockdown has already created enough troubles. The kids are going through anxiety and it’s our rationale and responsibility to make them feel at ease without jeopardising their confidence level.

It is sad that majority of people are yet to come to terms with the virus and are perennially in the paranoia mode. You can’t be inside your home always. Let’s hope better sense prevails and everyone kind of gets on with it.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

It is sad that majority of people are yet to come to terms with the virus and are perennially in the paranoia mode. You can’t be inside your home always. Let’s hope better sense prevails and everyone kind of gets on with it.

Coming to terms with the virus is one thing, being stupid is the problem. Stupidity which stems from false bravado is the primary reason why the virus infected count is increasing and everyday we have new highs in the case count. India is currently the fourth highest country in the world and going by the trend will become number one sooner rather than later.

Unreasonable fear is wrong, however fear tempered by reason is the call of the day. Fear is what saves us, keeps us on our toes and sharpens presence of mind. Loads of people (at least in Bombay) are roaming around without masks or any concept of social distancing. They either think they are invincible or magically immune to getting the virus.



Cheers

[hareshjethwani]

Meanwhile this happened in Chennai.
The persons getting tested have to be quarantined irrespective of the result !
Most of the panic is created by these sort of bizzare decisions. They announce something then go back on it and issue a new statement creating more confusion and panic.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/cit...n-2155551.html

[Thad E Ginathom]

After all these weeks, the Chennai corporation have printed a leaflet which they have delivered to houses. I'm glad, but there is one problem: it is only available in Tamil.

Whilst I am personally ashamed of being a linguistic dunce, there are many thousands of people in Chennai and TN that do not read Tamil even if they speak it. They are just as much at danger as anyone else. When a previous government enacted that shops must bear their names in Tamil, at least they had the sense not to say only Tamil.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

+1 to that. Schools & colleges cannot open till the school/college management is protected from law suits (and worse) by panicked and irate parents if an offspring gets infected with Covid19. It won't matter where the child got infected from the school/college will still be attacked as the default suspect. No Principal wants that liability on his/her head along with years' long lawsuits. Fact is children & college students are the least vulnerable segment but try telling that to parents.

Not just students (and their 'someone has to pay' parents), staff too.

The legal eagles here can educate us whether releases/ indemnity bonds etc have any value in situations like this.

Somewhat OT - what is the current status of the Oppo factory which was sealed?

Sutripta

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

After all these weeks, the Chennai corporation have printed a leaflet...

I discovered another interesting fact about our e-governance bureaucracy. All documents published on the government websites are in an unusable format. They are either in some sort of image format or a PDF document in which everything is an image - even computer generated / word processor generated reports and documents are converted to image format and then published as PDF. This makes it impossible to use the information easily (in fact, it is not even possible for software that converts images to text to decipher them easily). For example, it is not possible to copy a table into your own Excel sheet and do further analysis. This, I believe, is done deliberately. Thad can probably tell us if this is the practice in UK also.

Those who work in the government can tell us why they do this.

[mohansrides]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

I thought I would also fit into your hall of fame ..

No disrespect intended. Simple oversight on my part. My apologies.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Coming to terms with the virus is one thing, being stupid is the problem. Stupidity which stems from false bravado is the primary reason why the virus infected count is increasing and everyday we have new highs in the case count. India is currently the fourth highest country in the world and going by the trend will become number one sooner rather than later.

Sir,

I understand where you are coming from. But, I also think that you are over-simplifying the issue a little bit by concluding that everyone who isn't wearing a mask is being falsely brave. Let me assure you that is not the case.

For most of us who are home-bound and who have cars (or even motorcycles), the mask wearing and the social distancing is quite feasible. But, the vast majority of people in Mumbai have to take buses and trains to work. Even taking autorickshaws and taxis mean abandonment of social distancing in some ways. But, let us set aside transportation and talk about living conditions. This is the view from my bed room...





If people in this chawl want to socially distance and wear masks, where would they live? And how would they work? Their employment nodes are all around this chawl (and around other such chawls) - vada pao stalls, chai stalls, license plate shops, small steel foundries, auto workshops, etc. How would these people operate in their places of work? Not everyone has an office with a security desk where a guy is going to check people's temperature and offer a squeeze from a sanitizer bottle.

So, I ask you. How practical is it for these people to socially distance and to go around wearing masks during their daily routines?

We can make cars as safe as battle tanks to ensure zero fatalities in accidents. But, at what cost? Such vehicles will move at less than half the speeds of usual cars and occupy the entire width of our roads. They would also be prohibitively expensive. So, when does the investment in safety start to become meaningless?

a.) When the probability that one will meet with a fatality is quite low.

b.) When the cost of adoption of preventive measures interferes heavily with normal function to the point where one cannot even live in one's own house, or function in one's place of work.

Bottom line. If we keep dwelling on keeping ourselves safe from this virus (or from anything else in the world), we are going to be paralysed forever.

Also, let us get this out of the way. The virus WILL ABSOLUTELY get to everyone. Staying home and maintaining social distance is not a magic pill. The seniors that I mentioned earlier (in post #2414) never left their home. Not for walks. Not to get the milk. Not for anything. They had everything brought to them. And still they caught the virus. So, what is the point of all these measures? Just to delay the onset of the inevitable while we merrily sink entire societies into chronic unemployment and suffering?

[Sebring]

Your post is well taken. I was hesitant to send my ward to school, but no longer

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

My only advice to fellow members is take your precautions, follow protocol, be disciplined but get on with your lives. In my earlier business in aviation every flight was a risk, every repair job was a risk, every new pilot hired was a risk and every call at 2.00 AM was a potential distress call. You addressed that by following procedures, adhering to flight safety protocol, training well, testing and getting on with the business. You cannot solve for destiny.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mvadg

I discovered another interesting fact about our e-governance bureaucracy. All documents published on the government websites are in an unusable format. They are either in some sort of image format or a PDF document in which everything is an image

Had this problem when wanting to quote from an MHA document on OCI

Thad can probably tell us if this is the practice in UK also.

My experience of UK govt information on the internet (eg immigration, visas) is that it is well presented and laid out, and fairly easy to understand. There is, or used to be, something called Campaign for Clear English, and it had a big effect on such things.

Apart from one tax return a year, I have little contact with UK authorities other than pointing people in the right direction for those visas.

I have no idea how they are presenting coronavirus online. Better, I hope, than the job done by their politicians!

[vivek95]

7 lakh is the population of that tiny spot Dharavi slum in the humongous metropolitan region of Mumbai and its area is 2 sq.km. Heck, my hometown Belgaum in Karnataka which is spread across 100 sq.km has a population of 5 lakh. Social distancing in Mumbai, whom are we kidding ??

Some wealthy nation in the west came up with this fancy English term " Social distancing" and we thought, this is it, the solution to all our long-standing problems in the country. Lets wake up to the reality, not everyone is a member of Team-BHP who has the luxury of typing posts from a spacious posh bedroom or living room.

As a doctor, I can advise a set of instructions to patients, but the least I expect them to follow is wearing of masks, frequent sanitisation of hands and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. I know at the back of my mind that social distancing is practically impossible in Bombay. 10% of the workforce was asked to report to the offices and look at the choking up of roads and buses in Mumbai already and add to this the onset of rains. We cannot really blame the common public for not following social distancing norms just because we drive around in our personal cars.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

The virus WILL ABSOLUTELY get to everyone.

Mohan, the above line of thought is something I completely disagree with. A few countries tried the “herd immunity” concept with disastrous consequences. If that were the case why bother researching for a vaccine at all, let the virus get to everyone and let the strongest survive. This is definitely not the way forward and not the thought process of all countries as everyone is still aiming for containment and a vaccine is being researched desperately. As long as the virus cannot spread thru the air, it can be contained by taking necessary precautions.

As with everything, there are exceptions and perhaps places/zones where it may not possible in India. I was talking about places and people where it is possible and not being followed due to the mentality of people. Let’s say the “educated illiterate” who are to blame here. There can be no justification for that at all.

Breaking news as I type this : Beijing lockdown due to fear of a second wave of the virus. They seem to have discovered new cases after 55 days of any new reported infection and an easing back to normal life.

Harsh reality is there is no returning to normal life as it were until a vaccine is discovered and people manage to get it.

Cheers

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Mohan, the above line of thought is something I completely disagree with...
Cheers

You are a latecomer to the class sir! Your point of view has been brought up a number of times both in this thread and "The Coronavirus Thread" and has been thoroughly discussed. Hope you can go through those discussions.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by mvadg

You are a latecomer to the class Sir

Better late than never

I was replying to Mohan’s statement made just now, addressed to me (keeping what may have been discussed before with others aside) which reflects my opinion on his statement about “everyone getting infected”.

There will be many who have different opinions or the same one. I am sure on our lovely forum each one is entitled to share their opinion on a subject which may or may not be the same or been discussed before, especially when it’s being addressed to him.

Over and out.

Cheers

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

No disrespect intended. Simple oversight on my part. My apologies.

That was said in jest, just some little moments of smiles in these corona times. How I wish being over sighted was a virtue, would have helped immensely in tiding over the current scenario, isn’t it ?

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Coming to terms with the virus is one thing, being stupid is the problem.

Unreasonable fear is wrong, however fear tempered by reason is the call of the day. Loads of people (at least in Bombay) are roaming around without masks or any concept of social distancing.

You can fear anything as long as the fear doesn’t cripple you. The masks and social distancing are not some tool to cure the virus but merely something which can act as a tool to prevent one from being infected from the nearby person. Funny part, the mask works only when someone sneezes or coughs, even if you are without mask and the nearby person is not at all sneezing or touching you, you are safe !!

The point I am making here is that in a country where public transport is pathetically off balance compared to the population, it’s almost impossible to maintain social distance. So the next best option is the use of mask but then that mask becomes redundant when you are travelling in a crowded bus or something. The colonies where half of India resides doesn’t permit social distancing at all.

First and foremost we need to understand that we have lost the battle to contain the virus. No one can sit at their homes forever and hence it’s a choice that one has to make with all the difficulties taken into consideration. Now weather one is fearful or rationale, life has come to a point where the virus is a part of life and we have to confront the new normal.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

Also, let us get this out of the way. The virus WILL ABSOLUTELY get to everyone. Staying home and maintaining social distance is not a magic pill.

+100

Exactly what I have been telling my 65+ old parents since lockdown started. It will happen to all of us; at different points of time. Accept that reality - get rid of the fear of the havoc the virus *could* create. Plan for the situation when the virus gets inside the house - how to quarantine; how to have backup support for daily activities, whom to reach out to for support (within the family & friends network), and so on.

It took time, but the message finally set in.

My mother now is able to sleep properly most nights. She has restarted her morning cycling exercise, my dad his walks (with masks, etc). The maid is back, doing the daily work (with max possible distancing, masks, etc). Life is getting back to a slightly different, but still normal-ish mode at home. Same here for me at Mumbai.