My Eyes Through The Corona Virus

Documenting some history for future use, during one of the most odd times in the history of the world. Textbook material history is being witnessed at these and the following moments.

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The World Feels a little bigger now.

It’s been a while since I made a post on this blog because of graduating high school, the tension of passing, trying my godly-level of trying to be productive in a time where time is literally in my lazy hands, and lot more. Many of you reading this probably wouldn’t know that I am a high school senior, that just graduated in June. 

Contrastingly, my graduation ceremony was better than I expected, learnt a lot, and missed many opportunities to make memories, but then just moved on with the fact that life is like a string, how much ever you want it to vibrate with the most deviated amplitude, it just stays in its equilibrium position (yes, I am a student of physics). I am literally writing this about a month since I graduated and it just seems like the world is bigger because of the fact that the airport and flying services are closed down. And there is a lot of uncertainty at this point. I am heading to college though. 

Which is cool but I guess I will be part of the group of people that will not be able to completely relate to the “conventional way (or idea) of starting college”. You what I am talking about. People say that the experience of attending college for the first time is treasure because of its deviation from the equilibrium position. It honestly feels like when Hogwarts becomes unsafe and the new first years have to enter the school during the “dark times” when He Who Must Not Be Named (***cough*** Voldemort ***cough***) arizes and completely instills the fear of his presence to almost every character in the Wizarding World. I literally have so much to say that my mind has become like an nucleus with electrons just orbiting at high speeds, with no meaning. Sometimes my thoughts are like quantum particles, they disappear and appear somewhere else (in another time or context), two of my thoughts are so dichotomous but there is some connection that my mind builds and it’s all just thinking. 

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ICE?? WTH??

Yes, I am talking about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement established in and for the government of the United States. If you’re not aware, recently, the “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday (July 6th 2020) that international students taking classes fully online for the fall semester would have to transfer to a school with in-person classes or leave the country.” (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/08/world/asia/08reuters-usa-immigration-students-uncertainty.html?searchResultPosition=20 - New York Times). 

Honestly, that is one of the most inconsiderate, ludicrous, and injudicious things I’ve heard in the past couple of months. I just feel like saying from my intuition that this is going to spur something big. If this the president’s indirect and formal way of telling the international students to go away just because American universities are conducting online/remote/virtual classes, then I don’t know what to say. Some of the biggest reasons the American universities are running the way they are because of the international students. International students are the biggest cash-cows for american universities. One thing is for sure if this takes effect, the whole America is a land of the free and home of the brave becomes a mere jest. Paying so much tuition for students who would be in their homes taking online classes (that are happening in the United States) would become unjustified. Because even though American universities have established a monopoly-like prestige to them in the world today, there is a price to pay, and a heavy one at that. 

As an incoming freshman college international student myself, it is really disheartening to see the actions of a government to, lack of a more accurate word, “shoo” away the hopeful and aspiring individuals who intend to pursue an education to survive in the world, ready to pay the price, just because of the fact that they weren’t born in this territory or they don’t hold the “correct” passport.

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SpaceX: To Infinity and Beyond

In the midst of all the negativity that’s going on in the country and in the world right now with the civil unrest, China’s border disputes with India and foriegn disputes with places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea, we have one thing is going to make history in positive times. 

As an aspiring engineer, I’ve been following this for a long time. SpaceX, a company by Elon Musk, is finally making history. It is the first time a private company is launching astronauts into space, with the help of NASA. Additionally, it was the first time a rocket would be launching on American soil since the shutting down of the space shuttle program long time ago. 

Those are the two pioneers of private space travel, Douglas Hourly (right) and Robert Behnken (left). Hope the US laws will allow non-american citizens or green card holders to work for SpaceX. The launch was a huge success and I couldn’t be appear to believe that we are heading in the right direction in terms of the future of space travel. It was launched on June 5th 2020 as the Crew Dragon. 

It was around the news that Elon Musk had infringed the cdc guidelines of social distancing and the limit of the number of people in a certain area. But, I believe that it was necessary. People (who are not scientifically driven) need to understand that launching a rocket only has a specific time interval in which (with some maneuvering) it can successfully meet the orbital path of the space station. They can't launch at any time of the year because that wouldn’t be efficient because maneuvering the rocket would be way longer and tougher. If they delayed it now, they would have to wait for at least a year. So it's best to get it into space now. And delaying the mission by about a year would cost a lot of money. I am just so happy today!

At least we can say that the covid-19 situation wasn't all that bad, there was a very historical rocket launch.

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Another Perspective In the Midst of Black Lives Matter.

One thing is shocking to me. Even with all the protests going on across the United States, there hasn’t been a drastic or a significant increase in the confirmed cases of the coronavirus. This is somewhat of a good indicator about the situation of the virus in the United States. 

Anyways, I found this recently uploaded video by Patriot Act on YouTube. The host is Hasan Minhaj, and he presents that (I believe) is necessary, the Asian perspective. And by the “Asian”, I mean the Asian, South Asian, South-East Asian perspectives. 

It’s an interesting and illuminating watch!

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R.I.P George Floyd

I can’t believe it. Was the coronavirus not bad enough that there’s civil unrest in the United States now? I am not saying that the civil unrest is unjustified or unnecessary. 

It is indispensable at this time. To start, George Floyd was an African-american man residing in Minneapolis, MN. He was murdered by the police force. There were 4 police officers. George Floyd was literally taken down and had a knee on him for about 8-9 minutes. With that much force being applied onto someone, I doubt any average man would be able to survive that. He screamed “I can’t breathe! Sir”. “Please”. This brought tears to me considering how inhumane our society can be these days. Additionally, the crime is being done by the people whose job is to protect and maintain peace and security as ensured by law enforcement. This happened on May 25th 2020.

Now, the protests are a very good thing now, and this moment should not be missed. Many black people have been killed or injured for absolutely unjust reasons without obtaining justice. The police in the United States is no joke. As an immigrant, the police brutality is something to fear for life. The police in this country needs to be trimmed of their privileges in terms what they can do without justifying themselves to civilians. I am seeing that many of the people protesting are saying that the world finally gets to see the reality of America. It’s not the paradise that people around the world think it is. Problems like Insurance, Higher Education Costs (resulting in trillions of dollars in Student debt), Informal racism, and even federal leadership (that last one was my trump card). And I agree. But being a citizen of a country means that a person celebrates the achievements of the country, but also embraces the failures of the country as a system. 

Another thing is the immense amount of looting that’s going on. People are literally storming convenience stores and local markets and snatching and stealing goods to keep for free or sell at higher prices. Part of me says that there is a correlation with the protests of the black lives matter. But then, part of me says that there are unethical opportunists in the country to misinterprate the message that’s trying to be spread out (something that is morally right) and just using it for looting and causing a loss the business owners. And it is just a very sad scene. It is a very dark moment in the history of the United States.

Ultimately, each and every individual on this planet has a right to exercize his/her/its fundamental rights in situations of where it is needed. There should be a complete minimization of bias against civil issues, especially from the judicial point of view. Discrimination, racism, segregation are things that need to be condemned not only on this country, but everywhere around the world.

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A Democratic Hong Kong

In the midst of the coronavirus, there’s another struggle that we in the west aren’t necessarily noticing. That struggle has been oscillating for years and it is time that the struggling party get the recognition and support they need in order to establish themselves as an independent and democratic entity. This is the struggle of Hong Kong against China. China has been holding onto Hong Kong as one of its own territory. And now the protests for a democratic Hong Kong have escalated again against the Chinese government. The Chinese government has employed the use of force to oppress the people of their own country wanting a democracy. I hope this escalation doesn’t establish the destiny of Hong Kong to become another Tiananmen Square. 

As global citizens, it should be our responsibility to help Hong Kong gain its independence from China. And we know China isn’t a fair team-player. There are numerous instances which show that China follows America’s Isolationist policy to a whole new level. They ban Google, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook and many more. They have their own space station. They publish manipulated statistics which give a wrong picture. There is no freedom of speech against the government and criticism of the government is a punishable offense. What kind of an insecure regime does that?. These are just some of the examples that make China very different in a world that tries to follow democracy. The problem is the enforcement of the laws of social distancing and quarantine. Public malls in Hong Kong are being flooded with people and propaganda for a democratic Hong Kong, wearing masks but not social distancing. I hope there is no surge in the number of covid cases there. But the funny thing to me is that China is enacting a policy for the security of Hong Kong. And that policy would indirectly tear down Hong Kong’s Democracy and their ambitions of democracy. Wait a minute, China is enacting a policy that contradicts the Hong Kong Constitution, and enforcing it onto the people of Hong Kong. Isn’t that unacceptable in international politics?

An interesting person I have come across is Joshua Wong, who is a pro-democracy activist and arguably one of the leaders for the democratic movement in Hong Kong. I saw an interview of him asking for international support in order to overthrow the Chinese oppression and colonialism in Hong Kong. He seems to be like a promising person with strong intentions of establishing the democracy in Hong Kong. I’ve become a fan!

Peace

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Taiwan Needs The Big Stage, And for Good Reason.

I saw this video on YouTube. It is by WION TV (a.k.a World Is One News). And I believe that it is a proper video which shows the effect and importance of honest and accurate journalism and how it can lead to the generation of right propaganda. China, being one of the world superpowers, has exercised some of its foreign territorial disputes with other countries that have tried to emerge as independent countries. One such country is Taiwan. Taiwan is known to the world for many things like the Taipei 101 Building and strong cybersecurity. One of the things that surprised me was that Taiwan, as of today, has only 440 cases with 7 deaths. This shows the immense amount of precision in exercising the precaution and the enforcing the laws like social distancing and quarantines. 

Taiwan has been getting international support for their efforts in containing the virus in their country, but are shadowed by China. They are restricted by China, who thinks that Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, Ladakh, belong to them. This is both irrational and unjustified in the modern age where even informal international colonialism is not tolerated. But why this is important is that Taiwan hasn’t been granted a seat in the World Health Assembly due to China, so the big stage being the World Health Assembly 2020, requires Taiwan’s presence, at least as an observer. Because their tactics would help other countries in developing their strategies against the COVID-19 virus. And their data and experience in dealing with the virus can be very beneficial in developing the new global guidelines for safety against the coronavirus. We need support for Taiwan on the international stage for the world. Additionally, the thing that strikes me the most is that India has a big influence on this campaign (for Taiwan’s seat in the World Health Assembly). India is known as the pharmacy of the world, and that is not exaggerated. Because India supplies almost 15% of the world’s regular drugs and medications, it holds a leadership position. So, India’s verdict on Taiwan’s attendance at the world health assembly would be very critical. 

Hope the right decisions are made with an absence of manipulation and threatening, something the Chinese government is used to conducting.

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U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top One Million as Some Lockdowns Ease

Wall Street Journal Article

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Reflections on IB and Quarantine

One of the most unexpected things was the cancellation of the IB exams around the world for the May 2020 session. And as the news came out, I didn’t know how to react. I thought I wanted to reflect on this matter because it is something that pertains to me and it is something that would affect me in the future (well, near-future). Honestly speaking, I was slightly sad that the exams were cancelled because it felt like an opportunity to increase my chances of getting the diploma, just snatched away. But on the bright side, there is less pressure in my mind for the exams. Now there’s just the IB assignments that will be evaluated to assess the grant of the diploma. 

I mean I never thought that I would end my 12-year school without final exams. And my mind was like “seriously? it ends like this?”. But, I know I need to move on from it because, after all it’s just a realization and embracing the reality. A reality that definitely doesn’t seem real. It seems like there has been a computer virus injected in our matrix reality. Or some programming virus in our Truman Show. That’s life. It’s a show. Where your youth is the performer and your old self is the audience (in my opinion at this point).

Additionally, one of the brightest sides that I’ve experienced in a long time is that people are finally tickling their creative side in this time of quarantine. I see such cringy, but creative content across the social media platforms. I’m pretty sure this would go down in history as the time where social media usage exponentially rose and creativity spread around the world in expressing the solidarity, and some entertainment in these trying times. Memes, Short Stories, Stand Up Comedy, Song Parodies, Dubbing videos, are all sources of short-term content. 

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United States says NO to Immigration...for some time

That’s right. President Trump tweeted that he would be suspending the immigration into the United States for the next 60 days. That’s almost 2 whole months. Due to the infamous COVID-19, now immigration cycles are affected. Although this might not be a big issue for the American population and naturalized Americans, It is a big wall for the people who aspire to establish a stable and respectable quality of life in the United States. I can say that because I am an immigrant in this vast country. I’ve seen the struggle that people go through just to enter or just visit the US once in their lives.  And now with the suspension, all those people aspiring to work in the US, the international students, the families moving from another country, are going to be delayed for a long time now. Because American embassies and consulates around the world are closed now and there is no guarantee of the processing of all those visas that are either going to be delayed or blindly rejected. I am from India, and one of the biggest cities in India that houses an American consulate which caters the population of South India, is Chennai (or known as Madras thanks to the British). The line outside the consulate just to get an interview done is astounding. The line extends to almost kilometers, and that line is present for hours. I remember the time I stood in that line for a few hours outside in the sun. And I saw the people around. There’s middle-aged men and women, kids, college students, all with the same ambition of landing into the United States for a secure lifestyle. 

But anyways, there’s nothing that can be done about it. Contrastingly, I would presume that this act would also affect the immigrants currently residing in America. I’ve seen many videos on the internet about foreign students being stuck as their college dorms are stuck and foreign employees being laid off. It is a problem of a grand-scale. And patience and productivity of the front-liners and the people working from home is at utmost importance. 

But this too shall pass. 

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Economy Tanks

Well this was something very predictable. The economy of any country inflicted by the corona virus is prone to go down or decrease due to obvious reasons. The economy is majorly dependent on the employed working everyday and producing productive products and solutions. The whole world of transactions needs to be alive to ensure the flow of economic capital in the economy. Additionally the balance of international payment deficit also comes into play. If a country is importing more than they export, they fall into a debt to the international market. And if the deficit is negative, indicating that the country exports more than it imports, then it deserves a right to hold a bigger stake in the international market, progressing the economy forwards. 

One of the biggest causes for the economy to decrease is the increase in the unemployment rates. And the problem emerges because major percentages of populations around the world work for daily-wages or minimum-pay. Additionally, there are relatively low paying jobs in the corporate world, so as private companies need to store their revenues, they either need to enforce furloughs, or just lay off people. So, there is a constant rate at which people would suffer without incomes, and they won’t be able to pay their bills, causing a void in the world of economic transactions, and there is a debt that is generated. And this would not only happen in China, but countries across the world. United States would be a big victim of unemployment. As for now, the lockdowns have caused a lot of unemployment. And this is only the start, there would be a series of chain reactions, which really affects every country. And new questions emerge about how will international trade run and how will the world bank manage the loans that they would have given out to the countries fighting against this virus.

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The US Cases > Italy Cases.  South Korea👍🏽

Yes, it’s true. The number of confirmed cases of people due to COVID-19, a.k.a the coronavirus, in the United States has surpassed the number of cases of Italy. Italy, until now, was known to the world as the highest cases reported due to COVID-19. But now, the world looks to the United States to see how it responds to this infamous virus. The major events until now have been the suspension of travel from to Europe for about 30-days. It seems interesting that countries around the world like India, have completely suspended international travel and even domestic travel, but the United States has only blocked travel from Europe. Anyways, I am not a credible person to answer the question of why only Europe. Italy was literally closing down everything: football (soccer), theatre, schools and universities. And still they had such high cases. 

Many people across the United States say that the number is very high because the amount of testing has gone up. So it’s only awareness. I’m like a confirmed case is a case to be investigated and solved. So, whatever happens the number of confirmed cases should be low or reduced.

Now, from the other side of the world. There’s South Korea that is using the power of ingenuity and technology to help is citizens and try to enforce the rules of social distancing and quarantine. They are going to impose something like a bracelet.

It notifies the police if a resident leaves their house. Now, I know that goes in other direction when we talk about things like invasion of privacy and framing other people. I believe that this is a valid approach because 1, the intention of the government isn’t to cause chaos by invading the privacy of each and every citizen. And 2, it unites the people of South Korea. Additionally, it gives lots of data that can be analyzed to take better decisions by the government. I’ve always believed that the true intention of a certain action is correlated with how the action is received in a certain society. So, I think this would really help the government organize their strategy and response to the COVID-19 virus. 

Additionally, I think that apart from social networking and virtual networking, we should really capitalize on the technology that we have to produce solutions lie this that can at least help us be more informed about the situation of the virus. 

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World Under Lockdown

As of today, all I can read on the news is how and when each and (almost) every country is going into lockdown. One things that occured to me was the definition of lockdown is different for different regions. This is because of the occurrence of variation in the amount of restrictions for each country. Some countries like India and Italy have enforced the ultimate lockdown, where coming outside the house is dangerous. Only important and rudimentary services are availed. Because no one wants to spread the virus or worse, be a victim of the virus. And here in the United States, according to the Federal Government, the states are at their discretion to conduct and regulate their response to the virus in terms of the restrictions being applied on public places.

I wonder if the amount of restrictions, a country applies, is somehow connected to the (I mean everything is connected but) economy of the country. Countries like Singapore where things like tourism provide a big percentage of revenue to the government, would be most affected by the virus as tourism is technically public entertainment and comotion together. And on the contrary, countries that have a diversified source of revenue for the government and hence, can run the economy with a diverse range of sources of capital, the restrictions would be more because they can afford to lose money on a couple of days of tourism and local trading in daily markets. 

There is an insurmountable need to understand and employ the phenomena of Social Distancing. Social Distancing is exactly what is sounds like. Doctors around the world have suggested that there has to be a minimum 6ft of distance between 2 human beings in order to prevent the spread of the virus. And I think that is necessary in the world today, considering the fact that the virus has spread pretty quickly across the world just by people travelling internationally. Ultimately, the ideas of social distancing and lockdown are important to follow because (I am a believer and follower of science) it’s what’s being recommended by science. Only science can tackle a scientific problem. So better follow the rules, or hope that you don’t contract the virus.

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Honourable Mention

Even before the start of this venture, I wanted to address one thing. And that is about the death of Late Doctor Li Wenliang. He was a Chinese ophthalmologist who worked at Wuhan Central Hospital. He was the person who tried to spread awareness of the spread of an unknown pnuemonia virus.

The following information presented in the post is supplied by bbc.com, at this link

“Dr Li, an ophthalmologist, posted his story on Weibo from a hospital bed a month after sending out his initial warning.

The 34-year-old had noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars - the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003.

On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.

Four days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".

He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours" Local authorities later apologised to Dr Li.

In his Weibo post he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on 30 January.”

How does it feel to read that? Not good right? 

One of the world’s biggest and most aggresive regime censored the one person we needed the most to prevent the future spread of this virus. His knowledge and expertise in identifying this virus would’ve acted as a catalyst in understanding the virus and, maybe, the research and development behind the antidote or vaccine for the virus. Atleast I’m glad he didn’t pass away in a manner connected to the government (or I hope so), but he passed away with a cause. A cause worth dying for: to protect the lives of the world, from this deadly virus. 

Thank You Dr. Li and Rest in Peace. It is now our battle.

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Journalling the Present

As a high school student, the habit of learning about the times as they pass based on the situation of society is something that never really leaves. And in these kinda times, where there is so much adversity across the world due to a single virus, the wave of precaution has hit the United States, and there have been many actions taken by the countries around the world. 

The biggest rise in confirmed cases for the corona virus, aka COVID-19, has been Italy, where many of the forms of entertainment have been taken out of the general public. One thing is for sure, this virus is here to stay and I feel like there is a certain metaphysical message being made visible to us with the spread of this virus. Seeing the damage this virus has caused (and hopefully doesn’t cause more) is the loss of population and the loss of economic functionality, which are somethings that are indispensable for a nation to prosper today. Still, the amount of international travel happening is the same but there is no knowledge of whether there will be a complete stop in international flights or will it be minimalized.