Wednesday, April 29, 2020

How did India, Japan and Singapore do in April 2020 in handling Coronavirus?

This chart is based on data from the following source. Only data for India and Japan are extracted.

Data of interest from April 01 - April 29

https://covid.ourworldindata.org/data/owid-covid-data.xlsx




Thursday, April 23, 2020

Wow! What a transformation?

It has been observed world wide that pollution levels are at their lowest. I saw some incredible pictures of clear skies and fog free cityscapes. Corona virus did what no government could do.

Here is a picture I cropped from Times of India.

"A NASA image, part of a study, shows that the lockdown has led to air pollution levels declining to a 20-year low in India, especially northern India."

Friday, April 17, 2020

This all we saw in Italy in 2017

Italy is undergoing a horrendous loss of life, economy and the landscape is devastated with the morale at its nadir. This happened soon after the devastating rains in Venice which destroyed the storied destination which most travelers never miss.

We, a group of tourists visited Italy for 17 days when the sun was shining and there was music in the air. San Marcos plaza was buzzing and the Spanish Steps was too crowded to climb. We enjoyed not only the great cuisine of Italy but also the wine from different parts of Italy. Every day it was a new experience and some of them unforgettable; a new place to explore and learn.


Assis's main square


San Marco's Plaza

 Florence: Vecchio Palace

Spanish Steps 


It is these memories that form part of a story I would like to share. In these Internet links, you find where we went, what we did, what we saw and what we missed then and what we miss now.


September 19:

Naples to Maiori


September 20:

Walking Tour of Amalfi & Boat ride:


September 21:

Pompeii:


September 22:

Montecassino


September 23:

Vatican, Pantheon, and Trevi + Spanish Steps


September 24:

September 25:



September 26:

September 27:

September 28:

September 29:

September 30:

October 1:

October 2:

October 3:

There is no doubt things will get better and may be you can visit again soon.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Does a spider dream of Waikiki?

It is time for introspection and looking out for things that one may not notice usually. There are always wonderful and deadly(New Corona Virus) things in nature. They humble us and bring us to our knees. We have come a long way from our primitive beginnings, but have we really conquered the world with our superior knowledge.  We probably have made just a little nick in knowing the existing universe.

Here is an arresting picture of the clear skies by Ben Lockett that appeared in BBC's article. The photographer found easy to capture this courtesy of corona virus with no flights spoiling his picture.



Here is my attempt to capture a spider's web on my lilikoi (passion fruit) creeper. I tried to juxtaposition Waikiki in the distance and barely made it.