Earthquake !!

22nd Septmber, 2021. It began like any other day in lockdown, me logging in to work from home, on a cold, grey day. Promise of sun later in the day. First meeting ended about 5 minutes past 9am. I remember thinking: goodness, its only the first meeting of the day and it already went overtime. What a promising way to start.

And then, it happened. About 12 minutes after 9, my table began to shake. Slowly at first, and then a little more visibly. I ran into the adjacent room, and felt the table there. Yep it moved too. No sound. Then called the family and all of us took shelter under the big wooden table in the dining room. 

Now we could really feel the shakes, the entire house was shaking. I was surprisingly calm on the outside, but I could hear my heart beat fast. Mentally I was thinking what I need to take with us if we had to run out. Phone ,wallet, Ids, mask, jacket...It was 30 seconds of soft adrenaline pump.

I had read about earthquakes and what one needs to do in case one hits. And distinctly remembered taking shelter under a strong table, to protect from falling objects. And we had known there will be aftershocks too, in many cases the aftershocks are more powerful than the first wave.

Once the tremors ended, we took up what we could and ran out and down. Others had come out too, all looking around in surprise. But the majority of folks were still inside. We later found out that there were five more aftershocks later, but we didn't feel any on the ground. And around us, there were still people in exercise gear doing their morning runs, having no idea that an 5.8 scale earthquake had just hit.

After a few more minutes of waiting, went round the corner and got some coffee, they sure got some business in the morning. Nothing like a strong coffee to wake you up from a morning tremor.

Experiences like these are once in  a lifetime, I hope ! 🙄 That was a massive shake, and most cities give up easily, with buildings crumbling to the ground. Apart from a few fallen bricks, Australia didn't report any damage. Not one single death. And that is remarkable. Or maybe just lucky this time.

This is science at work, and nature. We are after all, inhabiting a part of a tectonic plate, which is constantly moving over molten lava. Yes, we can build strong , and discover new materials. But if the ground beneath gives way, whats the construction above going to do ? There are natural powers on this planet far more strong and un-controllable than human overconfidence.

Just another reminder that we are here as guests. Enjoy what we can when we still have time.

15th August. Is it worth celebrating ?

 All the news is now about COVID, that sometimes other news just gets buried underneath. 

It was only yesterday I heard that this year India will celebrate its 75th year of Independence.

75 ! Wow. We have come a long way. 

Or have we ?

What are we celebrating ?  Should we ? It is worth it ?

And how fast time flies !!

I remember the year India celebrated its 50th year of Independence. The celebrations were on for a whole year.

The news was all about hope, and progress, and success gained and success on the way. I was still in school , but I felt great about the country and the times. I felt this was the best place to be in the world right now.  There was no need to worry about the future, because WE will make the future.

I was naive. 

So if you are celebrating this year , good for you.

Most aspirant migrants won't be able to.

 Another half year done ! It is officially winter again in Australia, and summery-rainy in India. And with countries starting to take this vaccine-race seriously (except ScoMo, who prefers a stroll), things are starting to look better. Already countries are trying to remove travel bans, and come up with vaccine-passports, to allow unrestricted and un-quarantined travel internationally. 

Yes, very well aware of the fact that the vaccinated can still get COVID, but it won't be as deadly serious as it has been.

Which has brought back the attention to old conundrum- human migration. Unlike birds and beasts who can cross borders unrestricted, human beings need to get permission to move into a new country.

Over on reddit , clueless aspirants have always asked questions on how they can 'easily' move across to a more developed nation permanently, without the hassle of a higher education. And foremost among them are Indians.

People from every career and age group have been asking of the easy way to get out of India. And the answer is cruel. There is no easy way.

Most of the people asking questions about migrating, won't be able to follow through with their plans. They are the early stage of migrating, where they have not yet made a decision where they want to go to. The fact that they are asking questions on a free site for free information means they haven't done the cost and time analysis for a permanent migration.

Yes, moving permanently out of the country you were born into , to a totally new nation , with new rules, languages and culture is one of the biggest decision a person can take. And it is especially difficult when the mgirant is stuck in a third world country like India/Bangaldesh/somwhere in Africa, to a developed nation. And the reason for this is cost. The cost of the visa alone is unbearable , and many times the average  yearly salary. And there are additional costs and expenditures that play out when the migrant moves.

But there is also the red-tape that comes from the nations being so different. In India , for instance, many youngsters choose to study courses which don't have a worker demand in foreign nations. Like Art, or History. Nowadays the modern age has given rise to digital nomads, who 'specialise' in digital marketing and social media management. But these professions cannot help one move over, as they do not require special skills. Also courses taught in colleges in India need not be in tune with those taught abroad. This is why a thorough skill assessment is done during the the PR application process, to assess whether the candidate's education and work experience will be relevant in the target country.

But then there are the cut-offs. Countries which offer a points based migration path have upper limits to age, which leads to tricky situations. You could have 15 years work experience, and gain points, but by that time you will also be in your thirties, which means you lose points for age. The reality is this: if you have not migrated permanently by the time you are 30, your chances diminish rapidly after that.

Then there is the language problem. Except for a few countries like US, UK, most developed nations use a different language for everyday conversation. And this poses a big problem for those trying to move to Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands...etc. Even Canada uses French. So moving to such countries automatically means gaining the required expertise in whatever language they use. This means additional cost, and time, to train and take the language test. And yes, the tests are strict, and there are various levels that accurately measure exactly how fluent you are.

And finally, there is the harsh reality that getting a visa to move is just step 1. Step 2 is to get that first job. And there is no guarantee of how long it will take you to land your first job in the new country, after having moved there. Companies are hesitant to make offers to immigrants who have just moved in. The afore mentioned differences in language and culture are some reasons, but most employers are just not willing to take that risk, until they can get a proper reference from you. I have heard stories of people who spent upto 6 months looking for jobs, and had to return when they couldn't land one.

Moving countries is not easy, and needs investment in money , time, and patience. And most important, a plan. Like most things in life, there is no easy way out.

But people have done it, and continue to do it. And that means that it is not impossible. The pandemic has dealt a blow to the migration plans of many millions, and changes in the way people and companies work means things will be visibly different from now on. 

To summarise, most aspirant migrants wont' be able to do so. But for those who are committed to the cause, and willing to go any length, maybe, just maybe, they could.

How much are you committed  ? 

It was good while it lasted

 Yep. We had a good run. And it was good while it lasted. I am talking of the relative COVID-free time that the State of Victoria and the city of Melbourne enjoyed for maybe about 6 months. 

Victoria had come of out a severe and extended lockdown by the end of 2020. Cautiously, and tired, people ventured out, to celebrate a well earned summer break. It was beautiful. The sun was out, people were back. But more important, there was hope. That that would be the last time we Victorians had to endure such a collective trauma. And this was evident in the news: after headlines of people suffering and dying from COVID, the news reverted to people getting bitten by sharks and jellyfish, and another set of possible summer bush fires.

Most places of work started taking down their restrictions. Employees returned, cautiously I should add, to their workplaces all over the country. But it was clear that the next step in this fight was to get the vaccines, in order to provide a lasting protection against the isolated cases still trickling down into Australia. You see, the airports and the borders had reopened, and this meant that Australians stuck abroad could now return, in small numbers.  They had to quarantine for 14 days, and it was in these hotels that the next set of cases began getting out. There was  a breach in South Australia, but the numbers were down in single digits. But there were also talks of new, severe mutant variants of COVID, which spread faster, and with fewer symptoms.

But people trusted the govt, and waited for the vaccine shots. Patiently. And the govt, kept falling off the train. The country does not have any pharma company that could make the vaccine themselves, so they were completely reliant on imports, like they are for most things. And the EU blocked further exports of the vaccines as AstraZeneca was behind committed shipments to EU states. It was becoming clear that the federal govt had no clear set goals to this target.

And so we had no option but to wait. And slowly and steadily, the masks came off, and people came out to enjoy the rest of summer and whole of Autumn. The govt was more concerned that people were reluctant to return to the cities, and less concerned that those who were willing to get vaccinated, were not getting the shots. There were huge plans announced to try and entice city foot traffic back, which included free coffee and restaurant deals !

Too soon. Because winter brought bad news. A new COVID variant has now hit the state, and is spreading rapidly across the city. This new variant was first found in India, and got of hotel quarantine in SA again. But by the time it was found, patient 0 had visited some very populous parts of the city. As of today the count of total cases stands at 60+. And they are still rising. 

Starting last week, the state was pushed into another severe lockdown. And just like that, were all back in our homes. A bitter reminder that the pandemic was still not over on earth. 

While other countries are still fighting the virus with primitive healthcare, we in Australia has so far had a better run. 6 months of relative freedom was not that bad, to be honest. I got to go on a short holiday. We got more sun than we thought we would. There were days we celebrated, and evenings were revelled in. Even had a get together at work. All of that was a welcome relief from a year of being locked in. 

It is not over yet. The wait continues. 

We should not forget this happened