Pandemic Chronicles

My blog posts while being in self-quarantine/isolation during the time of COVID-19 Pandemic

What’s so great about summer?

San Francisco undercover. Made with iPhone 12 Pro Max

What’s so great about summer? Quite a few things, but for me, it is Fogust: the foggy month of August that we get to enjoy in San Francisco. August is the perfect staycation month for me. 

First of all, I am extra cautious about the emergent strain of the virus — and see no reason to take any risks by traveling. Secondly, I’m not too fond of hot climes. While most of the northern hemisphere enjoys hot days and balmy nights, I much prefer my backyard—daytime highs of 65 degrees and nights that dip down to the low 50s. 

The fog is also a chance to exercise my camera. And spend a lot of time reading — long articles, books, and of course, research papers. I hope that with the arrival of the new month, I will find my writing rhythm. Over the

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Musings
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An unusual week

It was an unusual week. Unusual in part because of how normal it felt, like the days before the pandemic. And yet, by the time the weekend rolled around, it was clearly anything but ordinary.

My schedule was packed to an extent it hasn’t been in quite a while. I had a couple of board meetings (still completely on Zoom). I did quite a few everyday pre-pandemic things, like getting a haircut and a straight razor shave. I even visited my local tailor, because I lost enough weight in the pandemic to get my pants taken in. I have had enough of living in easy pants at home. I want to wear grown-up trousers, proper leather shoes, and shirts with collars. 

I popped over to have lunch with Brad Stone of Bloomberg Businessweek and talk about his book, Amazon Unbound. I am halfway through the book, and I find it

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Musings, Technology
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Reopening Day

Fog over Pacific. Made with iPhone 12 ProMax. Apple ProRaw enhanced with Adobe Super Resolution.

It is reopening day in California — and to finally call it summer. It has been a long time since we have been able to do things that can be deemed normal — mundane activities like walking out without a mask and look at each other’s smiles. Or get a cup of coffee at a cafe. I celebrated the comeback from the pandemic — at least in our part of the world — by getting a haircut and a straight razor shave from my favorite barber. It is such a simple thing, and yet the only thing I could think of that could give me such immense joy. I hope this mundane normalcy comes your way — and even if it does, wear a mask in crowded places. I hope you get a jab (or

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Musings
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How to help with India’s COVID-19 Crisis?

It has been a rough few days for the citizens of India, who have been struggling with the rampaging COVID-19 virus. The pandemic is more widespread than either media or official figures seem to indicate. Many of you emailed and asked about what is the best way to offer help and aid. Here is a list of simple resources to get you started. 

  1. Joy of Sharing: This is a Norwalk, CA-based charity group that gathers funds for vital supplies. Please select COVID-19 INDIA to designate your funds. 
  2. Aid India: Like Joy of Sharing, it too accepts credit cards for online donations. 
  3. Mission Oxygen: This is an initiative by a community of founders from the Delhi region to donate life-saving equipment to hospitals.
  4. Give India is helping organize funds for oxygen, food, survivor support, and other needs for those who desperately need it. 
  5. Hemkunt Foundation is helping laborers and migrant workers who have been made jobless and

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Musings
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Nitin Sawhney

For a long time, Nitin Sawhney has occupied a prime slot on my very short bucket list of people to interview. I first encountered his music in the early 1990s, and to a great extent, he has provided the soundtrack to my adult life. Perhaps that was inevitable. After all, we are part of the same generation, and his albums capture the reality of the world as seen through the eyes of an immigrant. I had once described him as the Dylan of the connected, wired, post-globalization world. Sadly, that world is fast becoming a faded memory.

Born and raised in Kent, England, Sawhney is British of Asian origin. Early on, he studied law and worked in a boring day job, which he eventually quit to work on the seminal show, “Goodness Gracious Me.” Accomplished in disciplines, he is particularly known as a musical renaissance man. Unpredictable and difficult to

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Interviews
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Inside a COVID Ward

Bryan William Jones, a good friend and a professor at the University of Utah, is a fine photographer. Like me, he too is biased towards Leica, and Leica SL in particular. He used Leica and the Apple iPhone to capture moments from inside the Covid-19 MICU at the University of Utah’s Medical Center – the state’s flagship operation.  The staff wanted their story told, and finally, it can be told. Bryan made some powerful images and shared them in this visual essay.

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On Photography
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Too much Internet?

According to some estimates, over 300 million new people around the world signed up for the Internet in 2020, and there has been a 13 percent increase in the number of social media users. According to CTIA, a US wireless industry trade group, data traffic was up 20 percent last year. And that is when we weren’t going anywhere. According to a research firm, Leichtman Research Group, the mean self-reported time spent online at home in 2020 is 5.3 hours per day vs 3.7 hours per day in 2019. 

Call me crazy, but one long-term side-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that we have turned to the Internet for the community, and that is not entirely a good thing. Whether it is treating stock markets as a game or crazy conspiracies becoming acceptable, we don’t quite know the unintended consequences of the mass shift to the Internet as a replacement

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Technology
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The Day After

grayscale photo of dome building
Photo by Cameron Smith on Unsplash

Today is the day after. It was one of those mornings where you wake up and wonder if yesterday was, in fact, real-life — or was it some movie or staged reality show that you watched? Today is the day after we realized that democracy always hangs by a thread. It is just one step away from being overrun by a demagogue and his lunatic fringe. Many of us who are not from here know this all too well. But many of my fellow Americans are just waking up to the reality that you have to work hard to keep your ideals, your freedoms, and your democracy.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my continued optimism in America. In the context of the recent events, you might ask if I am beginning to have second thoughts.

My answer? Not really!

Despite a mob

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Technology
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