Tackling the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

Prime Minister Modi's advisory on the present Hormuz crisis has taken centre stage with the opposition - RaGa calls it inefficiency - crying "no way".

Currently, this is happening all over the world.

  * Several states in the US have encouraged citizens to work from home.

  * South Korea asked citizens to use washing machines and vacuum cleaners on weekends to reduce 

     demand.

  * Pakistan Super League matches were played without crowds to reduce energy consumption.

  * Sri Lanka declared Wednesdays as a national holiday to conserve fuel.

  * Bangladesh ordered shopping malls to close by 7 PM and banned decorative lighting to save

     electricity.

  * China encouraged citizens to switch to electric vehicles (EVs).

  * Thailand advised citizens to set air conditioners at 27 degrees and avoid wearing coats and ties to

     reduce cooling demand.

  * The UK reduced highway speed limits to 80 kmph to improve fuel efficiency.

  * Germany introduced car-free Sundays to conserve fuel.

  * Spain mandated early closing hours for offices to reduce electricity consumption.

  * France banned short domestic flights where the same journey by train takes less than three hours.

  * Brazil encouraged citizens to use public transport more frequently.

  * Italy mandated a minimum AC temperature setting of 27 degrees in public buildings.

  * The Philippines implemented work-from-home measures and reduced operations in shopping

     malls to save energy.

This is happening all over the world. All countries have increased prices of petrol and issued mandatory harsh measures. India is the only country in the world where no harsh steps have been taken.

My take

Understand the global crisis!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of idlis, chutney and sambar.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

Wash and off to the Sarathy Autocars. Got our Maruti Victoris after completing all the formalities.

Off to Maha Ganapati kshetram for carrying out a puja on our car. Monish was with us. Then went across to Christhuraj Hospital to look up Letha who's admitted.

Got back at a 10' to 9.

How neat is NEET?

Yet another question paper leak insofar as NEET is concerned. 135 questions, released by the miscreants have found their way into the question paper that were attempted by about 26 lakh students - all over India - on 03 May. The union government has cancelled the examination and handed over the probe to the CBI.

The student unions of all the political parties have gone on a rampage on the streets of Delhi and elsewhere.

The kingpin has been picked up by the police from somewhere in Nasik. It was the alacrity with which the Rajasthan police went about the probe that established the mischief. Till now, around 14 people have been nabbed by the police!

I have a few questions connected with NEET, which are :-

   * why do question paper leaks take place almost with a regular frequency?

   * why haven't the system steadied up after so many years of its inception?

   * have the previous probes been taken to their logical conclusion?

   * have the culprits been punished?

A lot many questions remain unanswered! NEET definitely isn't neat!!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house: recited my prayers.

A colonial breakfast of toasts, eggs and jam.

Worked on my laptop.

Lekha had taken her elder sister, Letha to the doctor as her right foot wasn't looking good and she needs hospitalisation for three days to administer antibiotics.

Lunch, saw "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

Massive thundershowers in the evening followed by power interruptions!

A quiet evening.

 

PM's advisory...

 ...on prolonged shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

  1. Citizens can reduce petrol and diesel usage by using metros, public transport.

  2. Railway transport preferred for goods movement.

  3. Covid-era efficiency measures can be revived like :-

    

      * Work-from-home

      * Online conferences

      * Virtual meetings

  4. Choose domestic tourism and celebrations within India.

  5. Prioritise Made-in-India, locally manufactured products, including daily-use items such as shoes,

      bags and accessories.

  6. Opt for car-pooling when private vehicles are necessary.

  7. Increased use of electric vehicles wherever possible.

  8. Delay non-essential gold purchases for the next one year to reduce pressure on forex outflows.

  9. Citizens must avoid unnecessary foreign travel, overseas vacations and foreign weddings.

10. Families should reduce edible oil consumption.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of puttum pazhavum.

Worked on my laptop.

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

The evening chores.

My new car's registration number is taking time to come from the Guruvayur SRTO; have put Sajish, Thomas on the job.

Another meandering Sunday....

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house; recited my prayers.

Bath followed by breakfast of dosas and an omelette.

Worked on my laptop. Cine star, Vijay takes oath as the chief minister of Tamilnadu. 

Letha comes in Sindhu's autorickshaw with lunch for us. Damn sweet of her and it keeps her boredom away of being by herself!

Lunch, saw them off and had our siesta.

Evening tea and snacks.

Maman had called up earlier and said that I'd to be at Delhi from the 18th - along with him - for the release of our book on Muthachchan by the Vice President on the 22nd! My only wish is that it could be delayed by a week so that I could seek the advice of Dr Sreekumar Pillai regarding treatment of Lekha's tongue!

Another of those quiet evenings!

 

Mini, off to Bangalore!

Got up at 5, sent all the messages, opened up the house in a restricted fashion, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Our idea was to avoid wasting Mini's time as they were on their long, return drive to Bangalore. We were all going to Padmakumar's house to have Rema's breakfast. We left soon after 7, met Syamala after her last night's surprise tryst with the hospital! Had breakfast of idiyappams, appams and curry.

Mini and Mithun resumed their journey at 0800 hrs.

Left Padmakumar's place by 1100 hrs. Rema gave us packed lunch.

Washed the set of soiled clothes, recited my prayers.

Lunch, watched television for a while followed by siesta.

Pulled out the dry clothes from the clothing line before the rain.

Power interruption for 2 hours which was restored by 9 PM.

Mini had reached her home by a quarter past 9.  

A comparatively quiet day!

Dateline 08  May

Got up at 5, sent the messages, opened up the house for the day, lit up the puja room lamp and switched on the hymns on the television.

Morning cuppa with Lekha.

Walked within the house and recited my prayers.

Letha had come in an autorickshaw and both the sisters went to Kottarakkara for the following :-

    * the 'darshan' of Maha Ganapati

    * buy certain add ons for her ear studs.

    * buy grocery

    * buy our lunch

She had returned by a quarter past 1!

Lunch, watched "Snehakkoottu" followed by siesta.

Pulled in all the clothes that were put up for drying. Between us we'd washed down quite a bit of clothes including a pair of bedsheets!

Thundershowers and power had got interupted at 5 and was restored only at a 5' past 11! A miserable evening spent in darkness. 

    

At Raj Nivas.

The day started at 4 for us this morning. Monish came in about five minutes later and went off to sleep in our Chevy. We were ready by a half past 6, Lekha gave Monish his cup of tea and we kicked off by a quarter to 7. It was drizzling all the way.

We'd breakfast in Swami's Anubhavam at Chalakkudy - idiappams and kadala kari - by a quarter past 8.

Took the Angamali route and were in time for lunch, Letha's place, by a quarter to 2. Dropped Monish at Kottarakkara and drove our Chevy to Raj Nivas, reaching there by a half past 3.

Unnigopan, from Sarathy Autocars came to collect our Chevy and we signed the agreement paper by 5. "Crazy" has been with us since Oct 2010 and I'd run a total of about 1,29,000 km todate! My mom and dad have ridden in it and Lekha and I had developed a fondness for her. She had never let us down throughout the last sixteen years. Once she'd developed a problem, when Lekha was travelling from Guruvayur to Ayur and she came to a grinding halt in front of my sister, Mini's house.

I suppose she'd developed a fondness for us too. Driving through the roads in her was quite relaxing and I never felt the tiredness, even after a long drive, ever. Will miss you Crazy and we shall always remember as to how you'd brightened our lives!

Another worry in the background is the results of the biopsy done on Lekha's tongue. O God, hope that the test results are not sinister! Mini's fatty liver is another constant worry!

We should get our Maruti Victoris latest by next Wednesday.