100 Days!

#Day94sinceSIP

After more than three months, I finally went to my office today. The motivation was to avail the conference room big screen facility for an important client call. But I cannot deny that I was curious to test out if I am more productive at an office setting than at home. It was a weird experience to fill out a questionnaire about my level of healthiness in order to unblock access to my own office computer, and to roam around in the mostly-empty office wearing a mask! But the IT person/office facility manager was sure glad to have some human presence in the office.
The other unique thing that happened today was that I experienced my very first "video visit" with my doctor using an app. It was nothing serious, but wanted my doctor to check a slight swelling that I noticed around my ankle recently. I was curious to know whether it was a tennis/hiking injury that I overlooked. I was impressed by the efficacy of the app. I could send pictures of the ankle to the doctor ahead of the scheduled appointment and then we talked about the possible causes and a course of action to treat the swelling. My doctor has a 16-month-old baby at home. So she is glad at the opportunity to work from home. But she did notice that I was calling from my office and joked, "If I had an office as lovely as yours, then I would go there every day!" 🙂
It was really nice to be able to mix up all these social interactions to make the day more interesting than the typical stay-at-home-all-day-every-day routine. While the historic cultural and social changes are happening all around us, forcing us to process powerful stimulii one after another, the normalcy of sharing the mundane human experiences with fellow professionals was very very comforting.

#Day95sinceSIP 
COVID-19:The Great Equalizer—or the Grade Equalizer? Every student’s grades look the same! My son is loving this.



#Day98sinceSIP
Call me a dinosaur, but i never knew that finally setting up an IP phone at home (to replicate the office set up) would make me this happy! I am choosing to just accept the fact that going regularly to office is still a distant dream. Instead, employers are increasingly willing to invest in equivalent office equipment to be delivered to your home so that you are as productive from home as you are from the office.

#Day99sinceSIP
The day started with heart-breaking news for all tennis fans: ace tennis star Novak Djokovic has been tested positive for COVID-19 after the charity tennis tournament that he organized in Croatia. He took the risk to give the tennis pros and the fans of the world hope that things are going to come back to normalcy, but it massively backfired. 
As we all know, things that are the most dear to us are also our greatest weaknesses. I do not doubt Djokovic's heart was in the right place, but he probably should have been stricter in terms of enforcing safety protocols.
Well, we are all wiser in hindsight. All I can say is that I get why Novak and other players wanted to play. When I play, I forget that we are living through the most stressful episode of our lifetime. Pandemic, social isolation, racial tension, travel embargo, health crisis in family in India--everything gets blurred and you focus on that yellow projectile with 2.70 inch diameter coming at you--sometimes with a wicked spin--that you want to hit back to the other side of the net. Nothing cleanses your mind better! And when you add the unbridled joy of shared laughter, the happy sweat of burned calories, and the nostalgic ache of tired muscle to the equation, then it is a total win--even though nobody counted points or cared to remember who won the game, set or the match!


#100Days--June 24, 2020
Today marks the 100th day since the shelter-in-place took effect on March 17. Sadly, today is also the day Governor Newsom had to explicitly point finger at Californians for not behaving responsibly enough as number of new COVID cases spiked to record high of 7,149 new cases yesterday (https://www.sfchronicle.com/…/Newsom-pleads-with-California…). I guess there is no choice but to embrace the fact that we need to learn to co-exist with COVID. It is part of the ecosystem now. There will be many more dubious 100-day milestones for us to cross. As they say, it's a marathon, not a sprint. So let's just keep looking for our "happy" hour in the quarantine bingo that we are all playing now--willingly or not willingly.

Two Full Months Now...

Today is May 17, i.e. exactly two months since the shelter-in-place started. Just lining up the little Facebook posts from this week, my Sunday afternoon ritual for the last few weeks.

May 11: Day 56--Day 1 of Week 9

Engrossed in reading the Tesla lawsuit against the Alameda County word for word! #DinnerCanWait

My summary of the lawsuit: They hired a litigation powerhouse, so the complaint looks "sexy" with all kinds of constitutional due process grounds and all. But essentially they are saying Newsom's order makes sense, and Alameda's order is in conflict with Newson's order. So it should be preempted. I think Tesla might win this---may not on merit, but based on common sense political and economic sentiments.


May 12: Day 57--Day 2 of Week 9

Today, May 12, is Women in Mathematics Day, in celebration of Fields Medalist Maryam Mirzakhani's birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/awmmath/
The Association for Women in Mathematics offers free streaming of the documentary "Secrets of the Surface: the Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani," which examines her life and mathematical work . This is only available until May 15th. Fill out the form to receive your link.
https://lnkd.in/gCYc_EV
#WomenInMaths #May12 #May12

[Incidentally, today is also Florence Nightingle's birthday.]

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
May 13: Day 58--Day 3 of week 9

Went to buy pet food today. There were significantly more cars on the road than two weeks back when we last visited the store. Customers were all wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Heard the most encouraging news from the owner of the store---a small 'mom and pop' establishment that we often go to. He said with reduced hours, he has been able to cut some operational cost, but has been able to earn roughly 80% of the revenue even during the SIP. Bless the pet owners and the staunch supporters of the local businesses!

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries

May 15: Day 60--Day 5 of Week 9

Morning post:

Signs of the time! Vending machines dispensing personal protective equipment!

Afternoon post:

Unexpected perks of the shelter-in-place. Tesla sent their servicepersons to my doorstep to replace a recalled part. Everything was done on my driveway. No struggle deciding how to manage having to take the car to the service station on a workday. WFH FTW! (Work from home for the win!)

May 16: Day 61--Day 6 of Week 9

Glad to have virtually met the founders and key players of Kolkata Foundation over a zoom call today--right from my backyard. Didnt matter if they were here in the Bay area or in New Jersey or the Washington DC metro area. Detailed Excel spreadsheets can be so motivational when you see the impact of your contribution and appreciate the hard work that goes on the ground to make it happen. https://www.kolkatafoundation.org/

Fifty Days and counting: Semblance of normalcy at last?

This week we crossed the milestone of fifty consecutive days of shelter-in-place. This was also the Lawyers' Wellbeing week.

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 50--Day 2 of week 8

Today (May 5) is the 50th day of shelter-in-place! If I didn't journal, no way I could have remembered that! Today is also Giving Tuesday--a part of the global generosity movement! I hope you have considered opening your hearts and wallets today for a COVID-related cause or some other cause that you care about in general.
One great thing about this pandemic is that it has really brought out the kindness in many people who realized their privilege vis-a-vis the less fortunate. That realization prompted many to spring into charitable action, either by volunteering, or contributing monetarily or otherwise. But at the same time please be cognizant of "compassion fatigue," which is defined as "indifference to charitable appeals on behalf of those who are suffering, experienced as a result of the frequency or number of such appeals." We need to preserve our positive energy and purse for the future too, because the world will continue to need our compassion even after the pandemic is over.

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 53--Day 5 of week 8

May 4-8, 2020 is the lawyer well-being week. Our firm has been sending great TED talks, reading materials and educational videos every day of the week. Liked today's suggested video a lot, so sharing here for others to enjoy.
At the time mark 6:15 min of this 15 minute video, learned something that made me smile ear-to-ear. The word "metta" (https://thebuddhistcentre.com/te…/loving-kindness-meditation) is phonetically so close to my nickname "Mita" and even closer to what my engineering friends call me: "Meta" (inspired by Metadata, phonetically invoking "Mita Datta"). :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6KrOi_Ohhs

Also liked another TED talk shared earlier this week that focused on dopamine--the happiness hormone-that trains your brain to focus on the positive than the negative, and that unlocks the capabilities of better decision-making and creative solution-finding that are already there in your brain.

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 55--Day 7 of week 8

Today, May 10 (Sunday) is Mother's Day. And finally it felt like an almost normal weekend! In between breakfast, lunch and dinner with family (cooked and arranged lovingly by the junior and senior), I could fit in some social activity with friends. Played tennis early in the morning with another mom, and it felt so good to touch the racquet after two months! And in the afternoon, a bunch of us gathered in Milpitas to show solidarity to fellow-tennis-mom Renisa Satrijo's ice cream shop Sugar Mama Desserts (https://www.facebook.com/sugarmamadesserts1/), which opened this weekend after the county-mandated closure. While we appreciate that running a small business while maintaining all the social distancing protocol is challenging, I was glad to see some signs of life all around the Bay area as I drove on the highway for the first time after March 16. And with Santa Clara County's new COVID cases remaining consistently low, may be we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

And my favorite art news this week was graphic artist Banksy redefined superhero in a sketch that he donated to a hospital in England. 

And did I mention that I recorded my first ever karaoke song at the request of my childhood schoolmates and positively instigated to action by my brother and sister-in-law? This is one part of the lockdown that I don't mind at all---I am way more open to experiment with skills that I gave up on the road to "adulting."

It May End by the End of May

This week has been interesting. On the very first day of the week, the Governor of California announced that the shelter-in-place (SIP---I have finally started using the acronym) is extended at least till May 31, though businesses and facilities will be opened in phases throughout the month of May. That announcement was kind of depressing, as we were looking forward to resuming normalcy mid-May. And to make the week worse, some universally beloved acting and sports legends (Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Chuni Goswami) in India passed away within a span of 48 hours in the middle of the week. But on the other hand, my father-in-law has been steadily improving in the hospital slowly remembering things from his past. So I guess the emotions balanced out. The last part of the week has been productive and cheerful (as cheerful as it can be given the current situation). Each passing day in May brings us closer to the end of the SIP. So it cannot be all negative.

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries

Day 43--Day 2 of week 7

Ordered masks quite a while back. The Amazon shipment for N95 grade mask was expectedly delayed in view of the high demand. (There's even a trademark lawsuit involving N95 masks!) So went to Etsy (online), thinking local artists will be able to ship quickly and make some money in the process while expressing their creativity. Ironically, both masks got delivered on the same day! Finally! Until yesterday I was thinking it is too late for the masks to arrive, but now that the California shelter-in-place order has been extended till May 31, I guess we will have enough opportunities to utilize the masks.
PS. I just realized during the evening walk with the mask and earbuds (for music) on that having all the facial orifices (ear, nose, mouth) blocked is a pretty weird feeling!

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 46--Day 5 of week 7

This morning I had the chance to attend a webinar organized by the Utah State Bar (we have an office there) on the topic of "Reducing the Gender Bias in the Legal Field." One of the main focuses of the webinar was effective communication for women lawyers, and for that matter, for any lawyer. Our profession demands us to be "communication ninjas," as we have to constantly thoroughly assimilate a lot of information and distill it in a form that is easy to communicate. And we need to do a proper "code switching" depending on the target audience that we are communicating the information to (https://tinyurl.com/y7muaa4d). For example, you will not talk to a layman pro bono client in the same way as you would talk to a sophisticated business client. That "code switching" becomes so much more difficult in the absence of face to face interaction, as we are all forced to deal with in this time of mandatory virtual meetings. On top of that, people's attention span now is 6-8 seconds in the digital age. I myself can see how difficult it has become to concentrate on a long article, when there is a constant deluge of new content coming in, especially during these lockdown days where people's urge to share content as a form of experiencing human interaction is understandably heightened. So effective communication has become even more important in the present situation. To make the long story short, the presenter Natalie Bradshaw was a very effective communicator herself, if I am blogging about her presentation at 11:30 pm on a Friday night after wrapping up a busy work week. Have a restful weekend, everyone!

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 47--Day 6 of week 7

It is May already. The whole month of April just disappeared into the shelter---forever. In his poem 'The Waste Land,' T.S. Eliot famously wrote: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Let's hope we have buried the dead in April and may this month of May bring rejuvenation to all of us.
During today's hike, we spotted a tree which literally symbolized rejuvenation. New branches emerged from the old chopped-off stump and flourished with emerald leaves bursting with life.
May is national mental health awareness month. As more and more outdoor exercises are being permitted by the Governor, I hope Californians enjoy the privilege responsibly while making nature part of their mental health maintenance routine.

Six Weeks Down and Counting...

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 39--Day 5 of week 6

This week is almost over and this is the first time I am writing my stay-at-home journal in the last eight days. The workdays seem to be zooming past and we the work-from-home warriors are all suffering from various degrees of "zoom fatigue"--a newly coined term to describe the effect on your psyche because of the constant focus on your facial expressions during the video calls. (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/…/coronavirus-zoom-fati…/). Still, today was a rewarding day because i got some unique first hand perspectives on the impact of the COVID crisis on the educational industry from two very different people--the first one is a graduating high school senior from an under-privileged East Bay school, Scarlett Chang (who became the youngest member of my LinkedIn network), and the second one is Dr. Robert Briber, the Dean of the Engineering School of the University of Maryland. Scarlett is a student participating in the Development School for Youth (DSY) program through a non-profit that I volunteer for (All Stars Project). I conducted a mock interview for Scarlett, so that she is better prepared for a real interview when she is ready to enter the workforce. While Scarlett is happy that her community college will still offer online classes in Fall, Dean Briber of University of Maryland was understandably cautious. He shared how challenging it is going to become to offer certain types of classes this Fall that require a lot of hands-on participation, for example physics/chemistry/materials science labs for the undergrads and the graduate students. Being at a law firm, serving tech clients, and volunteering for pro bono law clinics, I have had some exposure to the challenges faced by big and small businesses. I now feel humbled to realize what a challenge the educational leaders of the country are facing trying to make sure that the emerging workforce, who we will need to count on to revive the economic engine, gets the right training. Still, I remember Scarlett's optimism and spontaneity as the high point of my day, and my entire work week for that matter. That is the power of youth! It rubs off on you.

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 40--Day 6 of week 6
Feeling lazy to write today, but took some good photos and videos during today's 6-mile hike at the Stevens Creek Reservoir, capturing Biscuit swimming the longest distance ever in the reservoir, me wading in the clean water of the creek, Gogol leapfrogging across the creek, the rare planes creating contrails in the bluest of blue skies, and wildflowers regaling the masked hikers. Nature heals! April 22 was the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day. I believe this must be the most uniquely celebrated Earth Day since its inception!

#StayAtHomeIrregularDiaries
Day 41--Day 7 of week 6

Weekend afternoons (4 pm-5 pm) have become quite enjoyable listening to authors being interviewed about their latest books as part of San Francisco based book store Book Passage's "Conversations with Authors" series. (https://bookpassage.extendedsession.com/). Last weekend it was Khaled Hosseni talking about his book "Sea Prayer." Yesterday it was Iranian-American author Jason Rezaian being interviewed by his wife journalist Yeganeh Rezaian about Jason's book "Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison," published in January 2019, which details his experience in captivity in Iran.Today's interview was particularly enjoyable, where the Irish author Colum McCann was interviewed by another fantastic author Dave Eggers about Colum's book "Aperiogon," which apparently means a polygon with infinite number of sides! I loved how he explained that an Irish author writing about the Israel-Palestine conflict can either be seen as cultural appropriation, or as a cultural celebration, depending on your perspective.

Slow Down

As somewhat expected, my blogging has slowed down this week, and for good reasons. Last Friday night (April 10 night  in America; which was April 11, Saturday morning in India) changed a lot of things. My father-in-law met with a severe road accident in India, and has been in the ICU since then. We could not go to India because of COVID-related travel restrictions. He is stable now and his life is no longer in danger. But it is a long road to recovery.

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 28--Day 1 of week 5

When you go to the grocery store to buy food and the first thing you pick up is a bunch of sunflowers, then you know how much you need color in your life right now!

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 31--Day 4 of week 5
#BreakKeBaad (translated in English to "After the Break")

I remember March 16 vividly. I remember the announcement in the middle of the day that the "shelter-in-place" order will take effect from midnight. I remember the madness all around to stockpile supplies. And the stillness that I felt, somehow convinced that things will be OK. Happy to say that one month later, today on April 16, things are OK. It has been an eventful month, and especially an eventful week from last Friday. So I decided to take a mini-break from writing my daily accounts. But sometimes the thoughts control you, and they wont let you rest until you give them a place in yours words. So here I am, acknowledging my thoughts--triggered by two concrete events today.
The first one is not quite an "event", but more of a silent moment. While taking my mid-day walk today, I noticed my 89-year old neighbor working intently in her yard, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. She had no clue that I was standing barely 6 feet away outside her green hedge, admiring how calm she is amidst all the doom and gloom. I didn't disturb her peace and simply walked back home--filled with reassurance that she is still healthy and fit enough to enjoy gardening.
The second one is indeed an "event", and quite a unique one. One of my colleagues is due to give birth in a few weeks. Her baby shower was scheduled for April 16 long before everything shut down. We decided not to back off and give her a "virtual" baby shower over WebEx! It was genuine fun. We even ended up participating in the typical baby shower games, including "Guess the price of baby items," "Mom or Dad" quiz, and "Guess the baby photo" contest.
The day simply proved that the force of life is much more than that of a crisis. And I am happy to break my streak of silence.

A Whole Month Now!

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 21--Day 1 of week 4

For a little more than a year, I have been volunteering with the All Stars Project, a national nonprofit founded in 1981, that uses a performance based approach to help tens of thousands of inner-city youth and their families create success in their lives.Today was their National Development Day, originally scheduled to take place at the Lincoln Center in New York. Obviously that could not happen. So almost 200 attendees, including the All Stars executives, volunteers, well wishers and of course the students at the heart of the initiative, convened on Zoom to celebrate continued development while social distancing. Some of the students performed raps and sang for the audience. One student shared the story of her personal loss--she lost her uncle in New York last week. She still smiled and radiated hope. It was uplifting for us in so many ways! And as a bonus, I got to participate in virtual synchronized hand gesturing with all the other attendees and learned how to "applause" via Zoom emojis (called Reactions). All in all, a great start of the work week. #DevelopWhileDistancing

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 22--Day 2 of week 4

Breaking news today is that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pledged to donate one billion dollars to fight the coronavirus! That is huge! This news will probably again fuel the friendly tension between the biosciences sector and the high technology sector about which sector is more crucial in combating the corona monster (I am borrowing the President's vocabulary here. He repeatedly calls the virus a "monster.") Life Sciences were front and center at the President's daily briefing yesterday. He specifically mentioned Gilead, Genentech, Amgen, Regeneron, Abbott, Johnson and Johnson etc. I was chatting with my friend, a biotech patent attorney, yesterday. And she said that she and her husband, an artificial intelligence/machine learning expert at Google, frequently engage in healthy debate about which technology would get to the solution first. I guess the answer lies in the synergy between all possible technologies springing from human ingenuity fueled by the universal desire to get the better of this crisis. After all "you cannot let a good crisis go waste." (Learned this quotation from Khan Academy founder Sal Khan during his interview with Bill Gates.)

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 23--Day 3 of week 4

Today is all about music! The day started with listening to a song clip sent by my cousin in India, where he is singing a duet in unison with his friend from their respective homes. Then during my lunch break, my friend sent a rare gem of a re-imagined old Bollywood song audio clip, where two playback legends' (Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi) voices were seamlessly mixed to create a refreshing version of the song. And finally, while writing this, I am listening to a video clip that my sister sent, where a few Indian classical musicians pay tribute to sitar maestro Ravi Shankar on his birth centenary (he was born on April 7, 1920). For the first time since the shelter-in-place order went into effect, I didn't feel the need to check how many people have died today. Music does heal.

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 24--Day 4 of week 4
#NeighborhoodEdition

The walks in the neighborhood, with the dog, are becoming more and more interesting in these shelter-in-place days. Three days in a row now I have encountered a masked runner. The first day I thought the runner was judging me, because I was not wearing a mask and he was. The second day both of us wore masks, and I felt there is nothing to judge. Today, the masked guy waved at me! If this is not neighborly, I don't know what is! I have no idea who the person is, how he looks like (because the face is mostly covered), or which house he belongs to, but there is no doubt that he lives in the neighborhood. And he can always recognize me (masked or not), because I walk with the same unmasked dog! 🙂
I am also seeing some old furniture being retired by some households in the neighborhood, as they are placed by the curb to be taken away. Now that people are having to spend so much time indoors, they need to have the right kind of furniture. That is especially true for the work desks and chairs, because you need an ergonomic and efficient set up to be productive. The other day I saw an abandoned desk. There were built in CD racks in the desk. That simply tells you that the desk is dated. They don't make those desks with the CD racks any more. The world has moved on to streaming over the Internet. And thank god for the internet that was built during the cold war with a 'hunkering down' situation in mind, as described in the article (https://tinyurl.com/qww8vuv) that I posted earlier on Facebook, titled, "Your Internet is working. Thank these Cold War-era pioneers who designed it to handle almost anything."

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 25--Day 5 of week 4

Challenge accepted! Vijay Vusirikala tagged me for the dog photo challenge. While the masks are still in the mail, we are improvising with the eye covers that you get to be able to sleep on the plane. This was Bikash's idea. Finally all his business travels and the goodies that he got for enduring those long flights are coming to good use. May be the airlines should think about pivoting their business model to mask production now that nobody flies but everybody wears a mask? 

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 26--Day 6 of week 4

I debated a lot today about whether to keep writing my daily journals, because things in India changed a lot from last night. But then I realize, when there is a lot to handle and a lot to process, then writing is my way of organizing my mind. So I want to finish archiving at least this week in its entirety. And then relax the commitment to write daily.
One of my biggest realizations today is how much my brain wants to solve a puzzle to achieve a sense of tranquility when there is external turmoil. It has become very popular to share quizzes and puzzles among like-minded friends over various social networks in these stay-at-home days. But now I need those more than ever. I am extremely fortunate to have some awesome female geeks in my network who seem to have an endless supply of challenging but fun math problems and logic games to send my way. We solve the problems. We discuss our methodologies. We take care of our families. We take care of business. And we soak in the "kindred spirit" feeling. I am a proud female nerd. 

#StayAtHomeDiaries
Day 27--Day 7 of week 4

Today is Easter Sunday. At one point Trump wanted to open up the country this weekend. That didnt happen, and for good reasons. But thankfully Dr. Fauci shared some good news today that "rolling re-entry" of US Economy is possible in May. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I count my blessings that in California, we are not under a complete lockdown, but under a shelter-in-place order instead. Outdoor exercise is permitted as long as social distance is maintained. Nothing nourishes you mentally and physically simultaneously like the weekend morning hikes, breathing in fresh air. Stevens Creek Reservoir is as beautiful as it gets at this time of the year, with bursting greenery. A sight for the sore eyes and hearts alike.