Today are the festivals of Avani Avittam and Raksha Bandhan. As it happens every year, since they were about nine months old, GG will tie the rakhi to her brother. BB usually hates wearing it, but he has grown better at this over the years and since it’s on a Sunday this time, GG has already told him that he needs to keep it on for atleast 24 hours. His gifts to her are small ones because this comes out of his pocket money, but he has promised her that once he starts earning, he will gift her something special.

Last weekend, the world watched in horror as the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul and the ensuring chaos has shaken everyone. Like me, I am sure many of you have seen the viral videos of people clamouring to get into planes and even climbing on them and how some people have fallen to their deaths when the planes eventually took off, such was their desperation to escape the new regime. I also saw parents passing their babies to strangers and throwing them over barbed wire to the departing soldiers and those who were lucky enough to escape just so their babies have a shot at a better life.

In Singapore, in the month of August, 10 people have died because of COVID and in the past almost twenty months, this is the first time I am seeing this many people die in a short period of time. And this is very scary. Of the 10, I think one was fully vaccinated, with the others unvaccinated, all were 60ish and had other complications. 77% of Singapore’s population is currently fully vaccinated or completed the full regime which means either both doses of the vaccine or one dose if they have recovered from a previous infection of COVID.

GG & BB are in full examination mode! BB has started his already and is one down with four more to go while GG, who only has two this semester has both this week. BB is slightly miffed that GG finishes a weekend before him so while she chills next weekend, he has to continue studying. And then they will go on a semester break before going back to school for their fourth semester.

I’ve had a serious case of writer’s block this week and so barely did anything. I am hoping that next week is much better and things go back to normal as I do not like this period of not writing.

And this week’s quote is very simple – people either inspire you or they drain you. We should therefore choose very wisely whom we interact with and choose to hang out with, the implication being to choose those who inspire us to be and do great and let go of those who drain us of energies.

That’s all from us this week. Stay safe everyone!

It’s another week that has gone by. Singapore celebrated it’s 56^th National Day on Monday and though the National Day Parade has been postponed to later in the month, we did have a small commemoration ceremony with a flypast of the Singapore flag and the F-19 fighter jets. And both the jets and the flag flypast flew past our home which was quite thrilling.

And today is India’s 75th Independence Day, and these are times when I really miss being back in the country! Ah well, one can only hope that things get better soon and travel can resume.

Worldwide, cases and deaths resulting from COVID-19 continue to climb, mostly fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which has spread to 132 countries, according to the WHO. More than 206 million cases have been reported till date, and most experts feel the numbers have been under-reported and the actual number is much more, maybe even double the reported number. Infections have increased in every region of the world, with some even reaching 80% more in the past month with deaths having increased by 80% over the same period in Africa. Deaths have also been increasing, mainly because of the Delta variant, with over 7 deaths in Singapore since the beginning of August. In Singapore about 81% of the population has had at least one dose of the vaccine while 73% have completed the full regimen. And because of this, residents who are not yet vaccinated can walk into the centres and get themselves vaccinated.

Today’s quote is from Rodolfo Costa who tells us to cultivate an optimistic mind, use our imagination and most importantly dare to believe that we can make possible what others deem to be impossible.

BB & GG have exams coming up soon and this will be the end of their third semester in school. They have to go for a semester’s worth of internship either in their fifth or sixth semesters depending how it works out. Hopefully they get good organisations where they can learn a lot.

That’s all from us this week, keep safe and get vaccinated.  

Today’s positivity quote is from the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey which is all about having a positive attitude and how this will translate their lives. A good attitude is the key to ensuring your outlook in life is a forward facing one and this in turn will help an individual achieve the successes in life they want, be it personal, professional or even within the community.

The Tokyo Olympics are now ongoing and India has had a dream run there. Both hockey teams, Men and Women did very well, with the Men’s team getting the bronze and the Women’s team losing to Great Britain narrowly in the play-offs for the bronze. I was so looking forward to a gold from India and to see the tricolour rise up as the national anthem plays. I experienced this five years back at the Rio Olympics. It was a Saturday morning and I was at my doctor to get medicines. While waiting to pay the money, the TV started showing Joseph Schooling’s 100 meter butterfly event and the entire doctor’s office waited in bated breath to see if Schooling will make it to the podium. And when he came first, we all erupted in joy and cheer. I quickly paid the money and rushed home because I wanted to see the medal ceremony and when the Singapore flag was raised and the Majulah Singapura tune was played, I got goosebumps! And just I was typing this, we heard that India’s Neeraj Chopra took the gold for the men’s Javelin throw. And when S called me for the medal ceremony, I had that same rush of pride when I heard the strains of the Indian National anthem, Jana Gana Mana played.

In Singapore, 78% of the population have received at least 1 dose while 65% of the population have completed the full regimen. In Singapore, many vaccination centres have now a walk-in policy so anyone who is not yet vaccinated can just walk in and have it done. We are also preparing to get on with life with COVID as the country opens up its economy and moves towards treating the virus as endemic. Restrictions are slowly being eased, especially for those who are fully vaccinated and the hope is that by the end of the year, life will become a bit more normal, albeit a life having to live with the virus. A lot of other countries are also pushing for their citizens to become fully vaccinated with some like Pakistan using the carrot and stick approach where those who are not vaccinated and especially working for the government having salaries withheld and others having phone sim cards blocked and even not being allowed to leave the country. This may be a good approach, especially for those countries which have a lot of resistance to vaccination.

Singapore has been consistently reporting high double digit and low triple digits for the past few weeks, though we can see a declining trend. But and not in a good way, we have had a few deaths this week taking our death toll to 40. Almost every single person who passed away was unvaccinated and elderly, so to those who are on the fence, or have elderly and vulnerable at home who have vaccine hesitancy, just look at the numbers not only in your own country, but also elsewhere.

That’s all for this week. Some news was good while the others were not so good, but we’re all in here for the long haul and the sooner we have the upper hand on this virus, we faster we can move on and get our lives, which has been paused for almost two years now. Take care and talk soon!

Today marks month number eight, August and 2021 is running so fast, before we know it, we’ll be in 2022.

Today’s quote has been said by many and the one I have is attributed to Robin Sharma and it says that impossible is just an opinion and one should not buy into that opinion. In this world filled with billions, it’s very easy to believe that one individual cannot make a dent in it. It’s just easier to say something is impossible, difficult or unlikely rather than do something that will remain in perpetuity. But everyone can make a difference, even if it is a tiny one and every single individual who has achieved something has done that because they have this belief that they can make a difference. This is why impossible is just the opinion of some and one need not ascribe to that notion. Ultimately, the individual has to decide what’s impossible, and if nothing is, then everything is possible!

When 2021 started, I decided to have a goal of walking from my home in Singapore to my home in Mumbai, a distance of about 6750 km. I knew immediately that I will not be able to finish this in one year, because to do that, I would need to walk more than 20 km each day. So I thought I should do this over two years and then this week I realised that given how much I am walking daily may not even let me achieve it by December 2022. So, I have to walk more daily, which is what I have been doing for the past few days.  As of yesterday, I have walked all across Malaysia and in Thailand, I have walked across the provinces of Songkhla, Phattalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Chumpon, Prachuap Khiri Khan and am in the northern part of the province of Phetchaburi, slightly short of the province of Ratchaburi and the borders of Myanmar are less than 400 km. I am also 350 km less of achieving my 2021 goal of walking 2021 km.

I am also reading, though not as much as I would like to, Netflix taking up much of my time. I am really enjoying some of the documentaries there, but that’s a story for another day. I’ve read about 75% of my reading goal for the year. I also realised that when a book grabs my attention, I am reading all the time, but the converse is also true that when I am not enthralled by a book, it takes me ages to finish it. So my goal for the rest of the year is to read maybe ten percent of a book and if it does not grab my attention, then I will give it up and start a new book. Maybe this will work in getting my reading up to speed.

BB & GG are busy with school and their third semester exam schedule has been posted. Both are now studying hard, hopefully and I pray they do well in school. GG has also signed up for some accountancy bootcamp and exam and will become busy with it.

In Singapore, 76% of the population received at least 1 dose with 57% of the population has completed both doses. Worldwide about 15% of the population has had at least one dose of the vaccine with Mainland China at 16%, India at 7.5% and the US at 50%. With highly transmissible variants floating around, it’s better to be safe, even if you are vaccinated.

Please be safe and wear masks even if you are vaccinated as you never know when you could be infected. That’s all from me this week, see you next week.

Last Monday Singapore was shocked with the news of a 16-year-old boy who hurt and killed a 13-year-old boy for apparently no reason inside the toilet of their school. This incident really cut me to the core and I have spent the last week just thinking about it. My heart just goes out to the parents of the 13-year-old who thought their child was safe in school only to receive this devastating news. And this is Singapore which is supposed to be safe and to top it up a school where children are supposed to be in a safe environment. When I heard the news, I immediately went to hug Gg & Bb who were at home at that point and sent a small prayer of gratitude that they were all right. Also, I wonder what made the 16-year-old so stressed that he snapped at this point? Only time will tell us this, but for the moment, please send a small prayer to the families of both children who will be in equal parts both devastated and shattered. I doubt they can ever recover from this and will be search for answers all their life. RIP

Singapore did not have a good week, because there has been a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, a sort of a second wave. So, this means we have gone back to Phase 2, Heightened Alert, which means no dining in restaurants and hawker centres and not more than 2 people together. And the national day parade has been postponed from 9 August which is the actual National Day to August 21 which is when the review of whether the Heightened Alert will be rolled back will happen with just a ceremonial one to mark 56 years of independence from Britain. And our nearest neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia are also having a bad time with a resurgence of cases with Indonesia recording about 50,000 new cases and Malaysia, about 15,000 new cases on a daily basis. And I hear that the United States is also seeing new cases which are proving fatal to those not vaccinated.

About 13.5% of the world’s population has now been vaccinated with Singapore and the United States at about 50%. Mainland China leads in total number of doses given with India at number 2, but this only translates to 15.9% and 6.4% of their population fully vaccinated.

In France, a health pass is now needed to access any of the country’s leisure and cultural venues serving more than 50 people, including cinemas and museums. From the beginning of August, the pass will be required on any long-distance public transport, in shopping centres or at cafés and restaurants, including on France’s famed outdoor terraces. The pass must either include the QR code that proves someone has been fully vaccinated in France or results from a negative PCR or antigen test taken in the previous 48 hours. I am not sure this is taking things too far or not, but maybe this is the need of the hour. We need to take strict actions so that we are all safe and life can get back to a semblance of normalcy.

The quote this week is about having an attitude of positivity so that our personalities get enhanced. Of course, when one has an attitude of positive thinking, one finds the good and the positive in every situation and this will have a positive impact their personality and this will lead to a better quality of life.

This was all from me this week. Stay safe people and hopefully there is better news worldwide next week.