It’s the Diwali weekend and to everyone who is celebrating the festival, here’s wishing you all a very Happy Diwali! Hope the festival of lights brings your way bright sparkles of peace, contentment, joy, and happiness which stays with you throughout this year and also in the years to come. May the lamp of joy remain illuminated in your life now and forever.

I was super busy this week making sweets and savouries for the festival and by the time Friday came around, I was exhausted. I wonder if this is because I split it across the whole week or if it is because I am getting old! Previously when I used to do it across one weekend, it didn’t seem so hectic, so I guess it’s age catching up with me! Anyway, other than this and doing some deep cleaning in the house, we didn’t do much. The children are busy with school, assignments and project work.

Because this weekend is the beautiful festival of lights, lets spread some positivity. I turned to my favourite source and here are some feel good quotes from Pinterest.

Stay safe people and enjoy the festive weekend!

Its Diwali this Saturday and we are starting our Diwali prep. I have planned to make some sweets and savouries, doing a bit each day, so that I don’t get overwhelmed and don’t have to do everything on one day.

Most households also do spring cleaning during this time and though it is not technically spring, but more of a winter cleaning, this is to get everyone ready for the dark winter months. Other than a cursory cleaning, I am postponing my deep and intensive cleaning for December when things are more quet at work and I have more time.

I woke up this morning to see that news agencies have called the US elections. I am glad that Americans have voted for hope and stability and the world can breathe easy. I remember back in 2016 when I was so invested in the election outcome that I was so anxious about it and was so upset when the outcome I was hoping you didn’t materialise. This year, I am not so anxious, maybe because like millions of other people, I hope that Americans take the correct decision and make the right choice, which they have done.

Singapore is continuing to post single digit positive cases with the bulk of the cases coming in from those who enter the country as opposed to local and community transmissions. We currently have about 50 plus active cases in total in the country of which less than 35 are in hospitals and the others in community isolation facilities.

Positive cases around the world now has reached the 50 million mark with the United States leading with more than 10 million cases, India in the second position with about 8.5 million cases and Brazil in third place with more than 5.6 million cases.

Stay safe and masked people!

Another month has passed by and we are in the fag end of 2020! This year has been strange for everyone and I for one will be glad to see the end of this year. Maybe 2021 will bring the world a beacon of hope and joy?

Singapore has been seeing single digit COVD cases for the past few weeks with none to a couple of cases in the community and dormitories. The bulk of the cases are imported and are coming from travellers entering Singapore, either as visitors or as residents returning home. So there is some hope there.

On the other hand, Europe has been seeing a new wave and I am now worried that India will experience one soon. Last week, someone in S’ extended family had a wedding in India which was streamed live for those unable to make it. We were surprised to see that firstly people are having weddings at this time when things are so unsettled. Secondly, most people were not maintaining social distancing and not wearing masks while inside the hall. To give them credit where due, there were not too many people in the wedding hall, maybe around 50-60 maximum, and those that were there may be close family to the bride and groom. But I saw so many in the audience not wearing masks and sitting so close to each other that I was wondering if they were not worried about getting sick. There’s another wedding coming up in the new year, this time in Singapore and we can’t avoid this one because not only is it within the close family, but also because it is here and we can make it. But I am hoping that because the situation in Singapore is better and the protocols more strictly followed, not only will we mandated to wear masks, but we also will be sitting in a socially distanced manner.

Ah well, we can only hope that people get sensible soon and things can get back to normal. If not, then governments should start fining them if that’s what it will take. I read recently that in Mumbai, people who don’t wear masks will be fined Rs 200 and if they don’t have the money to pay or can’t pay, they will have to sweep the streets for a specified amount of time. I really like this idea and hope its not a flash in the pan and people realise that they can make a difference just by being safe and wearing a mask and staying socially distant when outside.

Stay safe folks!

This week is the week of the Navratri festivities and we are all doing it online. When I last spoke to my mother, she was lamenting that for the first time that she can remember, she is not able to go to the temple for the festival. Usually, during the ten days of Navratri and Dusshera, she will quickly do her chores at home and go to the temple to witness the prayers and also partake the lunch usually served there. This was especially true when my sister and I grew up and were out of the home pretty much the whole day.

School has started for both and though GG only has one tutorial for which she needs to go to school, BB has to go to school for all his subjects. He did quite badly last semester and so he has a lot of catching up to do since the polytechnics here work on a cumulative grade point average system and so he has to do extremely well in the remaining semesters to even have a chance to attend university after national service. Speaking of which, he got his national service notification this week via mail and we need to log into the system to defer him for the next two and a half years since he is still studying fulltime. GG has done relatively well and needs to keep up with her grades in the next five semesters to go on to university since her course which is a business course is highly competitive and usually has a high entry cut of point.

Other than that, we’re all surviving living at home and being in each others faces almost all the time. I am becoming a bit stir crazy especially since the holiday season is coming up and we can travel anywhere, not even to Malaysia. So I have been planning road trips for when we can actually go which helps a bit.

That’s all from us this week. Stay home, stay safe and most importantly stay masked when you are out of your home!

The children start school tomorrow and while BB has in-person lessons this semester, GG has to contine with mostly home based learning. I think she goes back to school once a week for tutorials and otherwise school and CCA will be done remotely.

Singapore has been having single digit cases for a few weeks now and after a very long time, we heard that there are currently less than 100 active cases, with 30 in the hospital and none in the intensive care and about 59 in community isolation facilities. We had our 28^th fatality last week and the total number of cases here now stands at close to 58,000.

The United States and India are on a race to probably see who can hit 10 million cases and first. But jokes aside this is seriously very scary. I have a large extended family in both countries and many of them fall into the vulnerable category and seeing this kind of statistics make me worried for them and their health.

My parents are seriously planning to move to a retirement home, but because the situation in India and specifically Mumbai is not getting any better, this plan has been postponed till sometime next year when things get better. Hopefully things get better and soon and they can make their move and get on with their lives. It’s been six months or so since they have left the house and though my mother does go down to buy fruits and vegetables, the most my dad goes is to the building terrace for a breath of fresh air. This is not really healthy and another source of worry for me and my sister.

I am really hoping one of the pharmacutical companies who are now doing clinical trials for a vaccine for Covid-19 become successful soon and a vaccine is released soon. I understand the elderly and the vulnerable will be given preference and so hopefully we will allow the elderly to go out and about with precautions.

Stay safe and stay masked people!