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Seville

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SEVILLE Sevilla After living up to some wonderful moments at Granada, the birthplace of the renowned Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, we decided to further our coadventure through the heartland of the southern Iberian Peninsula, composed of lowlands, mountains and valleys. You’ve got it right. To arrive at Seville, we traversed the fascinating Spanish heartland. The landscape presented some vistas composed of rustic plains, lowlands, winding roads through the Sierra and then vast stretches of olive orchards. About 200 years back, a couple of decades after Napoleon’s army plundered and destroyed parts of Alhambra, an American diplomat and writer, Washington Irving and his Russian counterpart traversed the path from Seville to Granada. It was highly adventurous then, because of the fact that the transport system at that time was horse-drawn carriages and muleteers. It was such that they could ‘wander among the romantic mountains of Andalusia’ (Tales of Alhamb...
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Pandemic Pandemonium

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Rajat Sarkar of Hamburg, Germany briefly expressed his opinion on the WhatsApp page. What impressed me is his satiric style and the crispiness in looking at a dreaded virus that has suddenly taken mankind by storm. Read on :

Pandemic Pandemonium - Tracking the Virus 

by Rajat Sarkar 

Tracking the virus and the actions of the medical institutions have so far come a cropper. Many experts have been giving their ‘invaluable’ opinion since the beginning of the pandemic. People have been arguing which vaccine works better. ‘Research papers’ are floating all around. Without knowing what they are, we have been using jargon like antibodies, mRNA, mutations…. Treatment protocols are being constantly upgraded – serious business! As early as May/June of last year, a vaccine scientist told me there would be vaccines available by the end of the year 2020 and that companies are working round the clock. All would be okay. It has been amusing, to say the least, to listen to the weighted points of view of the ‘experts’. In my typical ‘Paglaa Dasoo’ (Sukumar Ray) style I tried to find humor but not without chagrin The Covid vaccine business started with it being touted as the elixir of life. Soon after the launch of vaccines, there has been a shift to the ‘brands on the ramp’. People discuss which ‘brand’ of vaccine they have got or intend to get. BioNtech/Pfizer seems to be the Giorgio Armani of pokes. It is laughable! For me, the only disturbing thing is I have to once again learn the Greek alphabets which I happily forgot after leaving school. 𝛿 followed by 𝛿+ and now λ scares me. Of all the people I have spoken to only one person has said, ‘Rajat, we know nothing about the virus. This virus proves that medical science knows very little about the human body. We are all living RAM BHAROSE. STAY SAFE!’ I keep wondering if it is nature’s way of teaching humans a lesson. But humans have brains. Sounds snarky – read David McRaney’s You Are Not So Smart! In a world full of wisdom I have understood it makes sense to keep my mouth shut. WEAR THE MASK!

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