India in Googletimes

By Vijaya Pushkarna



Ram is back, and how !
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath  began his lockdown and social distancing at Ayodhya. In defiance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction to hold all religious gatherings in abeyance and work from home during the three weeks , Adityanathparticipated in an event to shift the idol of Lord Ram to a temporary structure in the Janmabhoomi compound at Ayodhya, pending the construction of the grand temple.

Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister for Informationand Broadcastig announced on March 27 that Doordarshan, the public sector broadcaster will telecastRamanand Sagar’s Ramayana.
We will know  in due course how many people watched it this morning,and whether the viewers were just nostalgic oldies or had a sprinkling of curious, story hungry, or bored young ones staying at home!
The serial, when originally telecast, mesmerized the nation .Most of India wore the kind of look it wears today—people stayed home, on their own, and remaine…

By Vijaya Pushkarna



There is lightness in the air, literally and palpably. The corona threat with accompanying threats of breathing problems is real, but as real is the fact that on Day 3/21 #IndiaLocksDown, the sky was more clear  and air more clean than it has been for months now , theAir Quality Index in the national capital was a rare and happy "moderate"-- not poor, very poor. After so, so many months!
True , there is no stubble burning in Punjab or Haryana. But also there has been no movement of the fume spewing buses and bumper-to-bumper traffic on the roads. And there have been few footfalls of human beings, their three-wheelers and four-wheelers loaded with water,chips, nimboo pani etc. All this has resulted in absence of irresponsibly tossed plastic disposable cups in which irresponsible people have had tea by the roadside, and the tons of low-grade plastic bags.
For almost as far as I could see from my sixth floor balcony in Kaushambi across Anand Vihar in East D…

By Vijaya Pushkarna




Telephone conversations -- there are no drawing room conversations these days—amongpeople with certain interests have one common wish from Prime Minister Narendra Modi ---that health spending ought to be prioritised, and that fixing an economy already under terrible slowdown can wait.
 Hisannouncement of a total three weekcurfew like lockdown of the country beginning March 25 was widely hailed, with senior Congress leader and former finance and home Minister P Chidambaram being among the first to welcome it, saying “I told you so”.
 While some quarters were disappointed that the Prime Minister  did not announce relief for those who have been hit by job losses, there was relief that a Rs15000 crores immediate fund was announced for Covid19 induced healthcare needs. The Prime Minister is not expected to mention the nitty-gritties like relief for different sections, Direct Benefits Transfer, free rations, etc , but only indicate the broad  direction he is taking the co…

By Vijaya Pushkarna


Almostas soon as the “Janata Curfew” ended on Sunday evening, many state governments announced partial to total lockdown, indicating that ourstay-at-home during the day was a dry run to longer spells of life indoors. As citizens across the country came out on to their balconies and cheered the brave hearts in the frontline of the war against the corona virus, Air India called out thankless people, and stated that vigilante resident welfare associations and neighbors were ostracizing and calling police on its crew members who went abroad on duty.