IPL 2021

This relates to something I wrote eleven years ago. Click and see.

https://vcat13.blogspot.com/2010/04/ipl-iiis-happy-ending.html

 

#IPL #IPL2021

The curse of the eidetic memory

I didn't know I had it, and one has trouble believing it. Was diagnosed by a professional. OCD must have had a role.

What does this mean? I can recall events to a precise day in intricate detail from decades ago, I know where a phrase is on a page of a book, where a cartoon image is in a comic, every TV show/movie line, who said/did what on an actual date, multiplication tables, everything in pictures, nursery school -- since age 3. I recall my first flight, and what I did on that 737 as a very small child. 

What benefits? None thus far. I just have photos and 'movies' in me.

Recalling events of the past week is far more difficult, which is why I have a private journal. But ask me about 1993 day on day, you got it.

https://www.slidecamp.io/blog/eidetic-memory-real-superpower -- hah! ;)

A childhood's comical progression (let's say for my books for that time as well)

For me (all owned titles):

• Likely have 300 ACK titles, and then some more (re-reading through present date) -- age 4 onward
• Enid Blyton, pretty own much all her books across ages  -- age 4 onward
• Indrajal comics (Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Bahadur and co.)  -- age 7 onward
• Enter Tintin and Asterix (all of these comics) -- age 10
• Cameo by Sidney Sheldon, Ayn Rand, and J.H. Chase between 10-12
• Archie and friends -- age 12
• MAD Magazine! (nearly all issues up and through the '90s)
• Calvin and Hobbes' entire collection -- age 18

Others here and there -- Chacha Chaudhary, C'mama, Madhu Muskan

Notice no Marvel and associated crapola?

About today -- April 11, 2021

I posted this like six months ago on a different platform, and shared later on Blogger. About 50% , per my estimate, has come in true.

It is that day. =)

http://vcat13.blogspot.com/2021/03/back-to-future-april-11-2021.html

Back to the Future – April 11, 2021

So, I’m just done with my daily VR run – it was fantastic for I could choose the scenery I wanted to run in. Yes, the running parks are still closed for you know what (COVID-19 maybe?). This morning I chose the English countryside, much like in the song ‘The Safety Dance’ (look it up). Only that I hadn’t moved from my living room at all. 

Then my fitness trainer shows up – she’s a real person from a branded gym, but she’s also not in my room. Having finished my workout, I step into my sanitizer shower. There’s one at my front door too. That’s the spray-only version for visitors. That telemedicine cable network reminds me that it’s time for my low blood pressure consultation. I’m now wired automatically to machines that are far away. It also pricks my finger to transmit a blood sample to the (VR) doctor. A doctor that can treat multiple patients simultaneously. A screen displays all my stats since the start of 2021. 

I hear a buzzing sound and a beep at my balcony. 

It’s the grocery drone that can carry up to 30 lbs of supplies. It waits until I unload and ‘Mukesh bhai’ confirms he’s received payment automatically. Bhai has 6 ‘El Kirana-2’ drones that can cover a radius of 1 mile. Then a friend calls in to ask if I’m in for his birthday party. I said ‘sure 8 o’ clock?’. At the party the drinks – delivered by drone home – were not virtual. My smart shirt tells me I’ve had enough to drink (hey, who’s driving? No one!). It also tells me that I have been talking to someone too long. 

Zzz time, and the mandatory call from the telemedicine network to ask if I’d like to be vaccinated right now. I’m no anti-vaxxer, but I’m still not convinced. Yet. I let the Roomba do its thing overnight. It’s no slacker, and covers a housekeeper’s cost very well. I have not stepped out of my apartment in 8 months. What reminds me that there is an outside world is not the chirping of birds and kids playing – it’s non-stop ambulance sirens. 

The twice-weekly automated call comes from the United States consulate. The next evacuation airplane takes off on Saturday. Really?! Would anyone want to go there now? But thank you, Department of State – much appreciated, really. You were just trying to help. Oh, I forgot about that wedding Wednesday! 

Quickly found something on a retail store that fitted me, and let me see what I looked like. So, ‘Here comes the drone again’, like that Eurythmics rain song. The wedding was great, much like the party, but with lots of Bollywood style dancing. The bride looked a tad stone faced, like an infamous Bollywood farce movie. Indian readers, you know what I’m talking about. Things have gotten worse. All of us want to return to 2016, before someone became president. That’s it. Like many others this spring of 2021, 

I am Legend. © 2020 | Venkat Srinivasan

Tom Brady -- what can one say?

This icon, that I've been watching since 2001. Made New England QB post that horrible injury to Drew Bledsoe. Whattay #Superbowl story!

And I watched him tonight almost twenty years later, winning his seventh ring at age 43. And he looked like he arrived from back then. 

Well done,  team Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/sports/football/tom-brady-super-bowl-age.html

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – 2020

 

 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – 2020

By Venkat Srinivasan

I thought this post’s title was an original, and then I saw a news channel (or two) had copied it from me already. Nevertheless, here goes?

Yes, a year to forget, to cancel, to cut a year off from our ages. Yes, all that. But we had some good stuff, so I’ll start with that.

 

The Good

Nature – connecting with the skies, the green, and the clean air was great. Actually, could watch peacocks, exotic birds out my window like many other neighbors. Never thought I’d be delighted to see cobras nestling in the park. Oh, and the sparrows (recently rarely seen), and hornbills. And fewer pigeons.

Escaping COVID-19 – Despite two bouts of actual full exposure and many flights, we (I speak for family and I) didn’t catch the virus. Whew!

Reaching out – Talking and connecting with friends and family again. Things one has rarely done in years past. The random phone calls and chats online kept spirits up. We shared memories and recipes (with pictures).

Technology – Video and voice conferencing was/is a life-saver, be it for work-from-home, anniversaries, birthdays, quizzing, anything. Imagine this even twenty years ago?

No more Trump – Joe Biden, may you do a better job along with Kamala.

Netflix and Prime Video – Shows that kept us laughing, and distracted.

And this –  See right here please.

The Bad

The people we lost – Besides friends and family, there were several popular celebrities (easily named) that we liked and looked up to. All now gone.

Substance abuse – This got many into a downward spiral. Too many bad examples to share – friends and neighbors.

Domestic issues – This was hell for some neighbors. Some threatening to jump off roofs and balconies, major spats at some homes, tension, and violence heard all over. I can’t recall the number of times I was called as part of an ‘emergency group’ to help. God knows I can’t catch a 170 lb woman from the 7^th floor. I’d be the one to go.

The US presidential election – This was as nasty as it could get. A sitting president that lost, and then refused to concede. This, at the world’s supposedly ‘land of the free’, that oldest democracy? Come on.

 

The Ugly

Need I say anything, or more here? The year’s scourge. The plague we’re still enduring.
It gets even ‘better’ in other ways, per this article.

This decade has officially ended. May we all have a great 2021. Bless everyone. May everything improve.

 

© Venkat Srinivasan | December 2020

 My latest article https://ven-srin.medium.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-2020-59d372cae0d1