Hello and how’ve you been?
In the 5 weeks that I’ve been away, I moved to another city, got myself a place to stay, worked crazy startup hours, and got caught in apparently the worst rain and flooding that Hyderabad has seen in decades…
Been following the news as much as I could. The string of negative news like Hathras (and many more like it), natural disasters, communal issues (could the Tanishq ad debacle be more disappointing?) and the non-stop tomfoolery of our politicians sometimes leaves my mind numb.
I’ve lately questioned this newsletter’s contents. With so much negativity and unhappiness around, would an email pulling 4-5 random happy things from around the world into your inbox make a difference? I am hoping it will. But don’t be surprised going forward if you also find me sharing a serious piece with you occasionally. Not to add to the negativity, but to share something that I found helpful in dealing with it!
This week, this is what I want to share!
Machu Pichhu was opened for 1 single visitor - a Japanese tourist who’d been hanging out in the town of Aguas Calientes since the March lockdown. He finally managed to visit after getting special permission from the Peru government. Thumbs up for Jesse Katayama!
Here’s a picture of the world’s largest rooftop organic farm. Covering more than 7,000 sq. metres in Bangkok, the farm provides 80,000 organic meals for students and faculty each year!
An unexpected side-effect of the pandemic - rise of the “Zoom towns” in the US. Although really, this is now more or less a global phenomenon. Did you know that Gokarna hotels (the ones that were open) in June were full of folks from Mumbai and Bangalore on WFH jobs?
This last one is something I have gone back to more than a couple of times over the last few weeks. Read it when you have a few free minutes. It helped me understand something about my own ups and downs of the last few months; reading it might help you understand someone else!
Now as you might have noticed, I’ve landed in your inbox on a Monday instead of a Friday. As a lot of my writing is now getting done on Sundays, I think it’ll just be better to send you everything right away. So, you’ll be hearing from me on Mondays now.
Till next time, keep the faith!
Love
Neha