Almost there...

But what after 2020?

I’ve had two conversations in the past week where somebody said something like:

I’m as keen as anybody else to put 2020 behind me. At the same time, I can’t help but feel that 2021 will be a little disappointing - maybe even anticlimactic - if people are tying up too many hopes with it.

The masks are not coming off all of a sudden. The virus is not going away. The vaccine - when they find one that definitely works - will take months to reach us, if not years. It’ll take years to vaccinate enough people in India to achieve herd immunity. From the Covid pov at least, 2021 might just be as messed up as 2020 - except that we would have learned to adapt and find ways to live, despite the restrictions.

Accepting this seems like a healthier approach to life. It makes me grateful for the little things today. Does it make me a pessimist, unlike a certain President who claimed that all this would be over, come summer? I’ll live with that!

What are your hopes from 2021? Write in and tell me!

Here are some things I liked during the past week:

If you think that by moving to Spotify/Apple Music/whatever you’ve lessened your environmental impact, you need to read this New Yorker piece about the hidden costs of streaming music.

This one is unmissable. The Codex Atlanticus is an interactive application where you can explore the largest ever collection of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci. All 1100+ pages of it and the only thing you need is an internet connection. The pages cover everything from architecture and geometry to art and science. Goosebump inducing.

Read about the strange broadband mystery that left a Welsh village wondering?

A 4G network is coming to the moon in just a couple of years, thanks to NASA and Nokia. In my apartment, I’ll settle for anyG that works :-(

Of calls for help from a bike graveyard in China…

Find of the Week

Hyderabadi Khatti Daal is something I’d never heard any mention of till I moved to this city, but it’s the one local dish I’ve totally loved! It’s basically yellow lentils, extremely tangy and tasty.

That’s it from me for now. Till next time, keep the faith!

Love

Neha