Dear Colleagues                                                                           

Another round of random reflections as natural and political temperatures rise in Delhi:

  1. Today is May Day, historically labeled as Labour Day, or Workers’ Day, celebrated to recognize contributions of workers’ movements to secure rights of workers. These rights included regulated 8 hours of work per day to safe working places to minimum & decent wages. May Day is forgotten today as there are no workers these days. Domestic, construction & gig workers, cab drivers etc. (including techies) are no longer workers; they are business partners!
  2. Once again, during middle of April, between 10-15 April, every community was celebrating new beginnings, variously called, yet enjoyed similarly. Ram Navmi by Hindus, Eid by Muslims, Ugadi in Andhra, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, Puthandu in Tamilnadu (and Sri Lanka, Malaysia & Singapore), Baisakhi in Punjab, Poila Baisakh in Bengal, Bihu in Assam and similarly in Thailand and Laos. Despite our pretensions to the contrary, human cultures are pretty similar across regions!
  3. Sitting in an airport lounge, I noticed a robot rolling up to people around the place. It would stop when it notices several cups or glasses on their tables, apparently to clear them. But, it waits, beeps and irritates, till you pick up your utensils and put them on its shelf. It continues to irritate if you are using a glass and a cup together. In the meanwhile, waiters are also walking around picking up used utensils (without beeping). Purpose? Irritation!!
  4. In many big cities of Canada, housing shortages have been debated for long. In City of Victoria, 60% residents live in rented properties, and rate of availability is rather low (about 1%). So national and provincial governments have started new initiatives to enable new construction through low- cost loans. Other cities in the world??
  5. Long distance flying is no longer fun. Most airlines have now been promoting a new class between business & economy, called premium. Wider seats and greater recline costs extra; ok. But a glass of water and access to toilets is common, universal need of all passengers. Why should per capita availability of these two life essentials be not equal for all passengers?

Stay well, sincerely

Dr. Rajesh Tandon