“Hark! Hark! The Lark”

Another day, another post.

Hark hark the lark! I apologize. I am quite bored and don’t seem to know how else to begin. That portion of the Shakespearan line is an expression of boredom for me. I’m glad that being bored is no longer the equivalent of languishing in existential malaise. People, and by that, I mean a lot of famous people, say it's okay to be bored. Something will come out of it. Behavioural scientist BJ Fogg says three elements, namely, motivation, ability, and a trigger, all need to coincide for you to start a habit or “do” a behaviour. Right now, that’s a Sisyphean task, so here I am, misconstruing headlines and news reports to the best of my ability.

I quote, “The penalties for overstaying aliens should be reasonably enhanced commensurate with the seriousness of the issue.” And I quote it completely out of context, just for cheap thrills. I’m in luck! A recent news report on an alleged UFO sighting. Make that two, actually. Last week, some folks in Pathankot were tripping over “a line of bright lights darting through the night sky” (That could have legit come straight out of a Victorian era romance. Starry skies above, garden of roses below. Sigh). Here’s another one that reportedly happened yesterday, “A pilot claims he saw a fleet of #UFOs over the Pacific Ocean. The video was shot at around 39,000 feet. The suspected #alien aircraft took the form of ‘weird’ rotating lights moving across the sky.” And obviously, all such reports get people talking. Let’s go back in time to the eve of Halloween, 1938. Orson Welles and Mercury theatre performed a radio adaptation of the War of the Worlds by HG Wells. What happened was, the novel rendition became a fake news bulletin describing a Martian invasion of New Jersey. We, as a civilization, have always just needed reasons to panic, so people back then believed that we were being invaded by aliens and did the same thing. What timing as well. Halloween and aliens. None of those banshees and toothless ghouls.

Anyway, enough with recounting a historical event. Let me atone for being run away with by my wild imagination. The overstaying aliens I was referring to were actually from a rather drab report in which the Karnataka high court asks the central government to put in checks regarding foreigners staying in India with expired visas. Words and phrases such as co-terminus, principles of sovereignty and reciprocity, unmindful of the difference that galores, were part of the article. Yawns. You get the point.

True story now. Plant species, Boesenbergia albolutea and Boesenbergia rubrolutea, of the family Zingiberaceae, a.k.a ginger (finally, something I can pronounce, spell, and understand), are extinct in the wild here. Possible reasons are the usual, climate change, human interference, overexploitation, etc. Hmmm. Sounds familiar. We Homo sapiens really know our USP, and we hard sell. Throughout our rather fleeting history in the scheme of the universe and beyond, historians posit that, wherever we appeared, whether we are to blame or not, native populations and species became extinct soon after. Happened to the real life version of the Flinstones, lots of other forms of big and small life (Sometimes I wonder why evolution didn’t do away with the Trump equivalent as well. But we need all sorts in the world, I guess?).

A different form of evolutionary mechanics at work. The three contacts of the “46-year-old Omicron-infected government anaesthetist” (Jeez, so much labelling). So these three contacts, all doctors themselves are in discharge limbo (I apologise for the terrible pun). They were discharged on Tuesday, with two negative reports, but the honourable state health commissioner mandated that they stay till genome sequencing results arrive. Also, the Omicron doc has a Delta wife. It’s a covid soap opera, and no one knows the plot. On a serious note, I hope all those affected recover. GUYS. Do government officials here really have nothing else to do, than keep tweaking guidelines and making new ones? Batman Bommai has announced that the government will announce a new set of Covid guidelines. Yippee! Home association WhatsApp groups will be raging again. Over black cats in dark rooms that they cannot see.

Finally, there is some news about the state of Uttar Pradesh that I can safely dismiss as untrue. Home Affairs data says UP has the highest rights violation cases. But how? It’s the smartest state, had zero oxygen related Covid deaths, anti-Romeo squads and Gau Rakshaks protect our heritage and culture, they’re the epitome of new India. Besides, who can argue with this gem of a statement? “Before deciding about your present and future, think of who constructed the temple for Lord Ram in Ayodhya. You all should keep this in mind that no other political outfit, except BJP, could have done this,” said Yogi. Hate to burst your halcyon bubble. Check out these links on UP, UP again, Yogiji. Just skimming through the headlines on these pages is enough.

Our friendly neighbours, China are definitely raging. Though not about the virus (why would they?). I’m sure Biden’s ‘Grand Strategy With Respect to China’ includes provoking them to fury. Turns out UK, Canada, Australia, and Lithuania have joined the diplomatic boycott at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. China’s foreign ministry’s spokesperson sure didn’t mince his words. “Whether they come or not, nobody cares.” Wow, I wish I could be that zen.

I’m done for the day. Despite all the frivolity, I am saddened by a lot of the news that I read, every day.