Yes, your journalist did speak to me but the article does not reflect the conversation and uses an arbitrary two word "quote". Would you like to hear the conversation? I have the full audio recording.
As promised, this is the full recording of my discussion with NYT journalist Suhasini Raj about the Indian response to the Covid19. Conversation starts at 1:50 2/n
30 of 40mins was about the thinking behind India's policy response. As will be obvious, the journalist was not interested. She already had an agenda to push a pre-decided story. When I did not play along, she tries in the last 10 mins to put words in my mouth 3/n
Since I did not provide a quote useful to her agenda, I was just give a two word quote in the article just to show that NYT gave all sides a chance. I am posting the recording so that it can be used as a case study on how Indian officials can deal with biased Western media 4/n
Some of you have asked me why I even bother to engage. My view is that one should engage with all parties in good faith - it is not about my personal preferences. However, one should do it with one's eyes wide open (and a recorder by the side) 5/n
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In March, just before the lockdown, I climbed up up Dhosi hill with @ArjunSKadian. Near Haryana Rajasthan border, this hill has great historical importance as it was home to Rishi Bhrigu & his clan.1/n
The Bhrigus are both respected and somewhat feared alchemists in the Vedas. It was here that Bhrigu's eldest son Chavana invented early ayurveda medicine (including Chavanyaprash) 2/n
Dhosi is an extinct volcano & the top has a flat depression with a small temple of the Bhargava clan & the kund where Chavana is said to have been cured of disease by taking a dip. There is also a cave where he meditated. 3/n
Meanwhile Germany, which had ducked the worst in the 1st wave, is in danger of becoming the new hotspot in the second wave. It saw 23k new cases in 24 hrs, same as France, but the numbers are still rising
In memory of my father's cousin, Shyamal Dev Goswami, who was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for showing exemplary courage while directing artillery fire against invading Chinese troops during the Battle of Chusul Nov 1962 1/n
His outpost held out against overwhelming Chinese force till rest of his unit had been killed & he had passed out. SDG then struggled back to Indian lines albeit suffering severely from frost bite. Here is a description of events 2/n
The heroic resistance of SD Goswami and his unit is still commemorated in the army station at Chushul, Ladhakh. These events need to be remembered given the recent developments in the area. 3/n
Major reform announced for the ITeS/BPO industry. Here is the notification on the radical liberalization of regulations for the sector. Mark my words, this will create millions of jobs in next 5 years 1/n pib.gov.in/PressReleasePa…
The registration requirement for OSPs has been done away with altogether and the BPO industry engaged in data related work have been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations. 2/n
Requirements such as bank guarantees, static IPs, frequent reporting obligations, penal provisions etc. have also been removed. Requirements preventing companies from adopting ‘Work from Home’ and ‘Work from Anywhere’ policies have also been removed. 3/n
This is a fundamental fallacy. History is a complex adaptive system that is not deterministic. 50k of the "brightest" minds cannot predict the new "normal" as there is no such thing 1/n
After the event, some of these 50k "experts" will be correct and these will be hailed as great prophets. However, we have no way to ex ante know which ones. 2/n
So what should we do? Invest in resilience (ie hedge for cliffs) and in adaptation. Then make a few bets that may just work, but with a willingness to ruthlessly shut them down if they fail. 3/n
The worship of Durga (and Shakti more generally) is very old in Bengal. Excavations at Chandraketugarh, just north of Kolkata, have revealed several representations from circa 200 BC, except the weapons appear like a halo behind her head, not in her hands. 1/n
Although similarity to modern representation is obvious, the early form of Durga is not Mahisamardini (killer of the buffalo demon). Although latter would become popular across India by Gupta era, the almost exclusive identification of Durga as Mahisasurmardini came later 2/n
So why did the Mahisasurmardini form become so popular in Bengal? One possibility is influence of the Sen dynasty that ruled Bengal till 13th century. The Sens were from Karnataka (Mysore?). Thus, the modern idol is the result of Kanndiga influence 3/n