Direct Dil Se

As the 2020 comes to an end, I would like to share my experience of working on an initiative started this year. Inspiration As a parent, I would often tell stories to my son, and several times the stories would be of famous people based on my reading. Over the years, I came to know about many names from different sources, through different people, and realized that there are so many such stories we do not know about. There are names whose life can provide so much inspiration but are hardly known or forgotten in the layers of history. With this thought, I started to look around, collecting names of people wo helped shape India in last two centuries. Focus was mostly around freedom fighters, revolutionaries, scientists, armed forces, artists, poets, authors, and educationists. I was lucky to get guidance from Shri Arvind Gupta whose provided me his book ‘ Bright Sparks ’ that contained stories of India’s scientists. From Rachna Rawat’s ‘ The Brave ’, I got stories of Param Vir Chakra her

I have had sore throats many a times in last few years, mainly because I have allergic reaction to cold water/drink, curb, ice cream etc especially when taken during night. Sometimes I also get sore throat due to weather change. In last 5 months itself since Covid spread started, I had it for few times. And I recovered in a few days. When I had sore throat feeling on September 14, I had already gone into an isolation in my home as a precautionary measures. I also decided to consult a doctor. The doctor advised me to get the Covid test done immediately, either through a private lab or at the government hospital, mainly because of prevalent Covid situation in Pune.  Rapid Antigen Test So after 175 days of lock down and 190 days of first Covid case in Pune, I went to Khivansara Patil Government Hospital near Water Tank in Wakad on the morning of September 15 to get my test done. The Center usually opens at around 9:00 am and doctors come at 10:00 am.  Do not go inside the hospital for the

Throughout my career as software developer over last 13+ years, my employers have actively encouraged the use of 'Work-From-Home' whenever required and I had used extensively. But the 2020 is different. I started WFH from March 17 hoping that this will go on for a month. But by April, it was pretty clear that WFH is not going away soon. Initial month was a bit hectic with working in multiple time zones on tight project deadline. The prolonged isolation has its effects on the productivity and health. Then the school started in June. For a week I observed the routine of my son during the online classes. He would get ready before the class, have his uniform and change it once the classes are over. This caught my attention, and I have tried to follow this to come out of the 'Pajama-habit'. Treat the office time similar to how I used to do it before the lock down, minus actual travel. Do exercise/yoga/walk in the morning Get ready before being active on office network. Menta

The young generation of pre-independence era in India included the likes of Swami Vivekanand, Bhagat Singh, Ram Prasad Bismil, Chnadrashekhar Azad, Vinayak Savarkar, Ashfaqulla Khan, Taraknath Das, Ras Behari Bose, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Bhikaiji Cama, Surya Sen, Bina Das, Kalpana Datta, Pritilata Waddedar,Muthulakshmi Reddi, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Udham Singh, Sucheta Kriplani and many others, who were passionate, eager to learn, had acquired knowledge of Indian history at very young age, had clear goals, and were willing put in the hard work. Then came a generation where along with securing jobs through a lot of hardships, youth were busy making advancement for the country in diverse fields. It took them many years to reach any reasonable success. After that came the so-called IT generation that accelerated migration from small towns to metros. They became the first beneficiaries of the globalization. They started exploring the world, earning more and spending more.