May 22, 2021 Commentary from a dark room

May 22, 2021 Commentary from a dark room: This dark room has been good for me. I can go places from here. The whole idea of cinema was to whisk you away to a different place. This afternoon I was back in Chicago again. Spent a lot of time there, and watching Paul Newman and Robert Redford sting the guy from New York took me back to Halstead and Michigan Avenues. Good old Van Buren and the old Greek town and the Gyros that were heavenly. For two hours I was romping around State Street and was south of the river. Those days of driving up highway 57 and listening to PBS give the reports on the futures market on corn and soybean. Memories. Eventually emerging into a reality of COVID-19 and the heat of the afternoon. The chill of the Windy City was replaced by an afternoon shower, perhaps a precursor to the big storm on the way. What destruction awaits. The government is clamoring that COVID-19 work will not be interrupted by the impending storm. But the added anxiety is having an effect. A bondhu of mine was saying how people are already starting to panic. There is a buzz that bad things are about to happen as the storm is expected to make landfall next week. But storms have their own ways and just like many other things especially in these days where the unpredictability of everything around us makes any decision making nearly impossible. In this ecosystem of anxiety and insecurity there are some who are trying to bring some order. The efforts funded by colleagues at Wake Forest has resulted in the establishment of a single phone number that people would be able to call and explore reliable options for O2 in Calcutta. Our team is waiting to see what we will be able to do. For the past few days, I have not had any requests, but I have a sense once this number is released there will be a slew of calls and we need to be ready. Nervous. But I trust the team. This is important, there is a deficit of trust because the motives of everyone are unclear. Individuals in good faith send out bad information never knowing whether the information is good or bad, those in “power” are interested in power and thus that information can be dubious So what are we to do? Take a part of the bull by a part of the horn and go to work. As I have said before, the only thing we can do is do what is needed, find the solutions, good or bad, and be sure to put in due diligence. In the post-COVID-19 World, perhaps we have to become much more self-reliant than ever before because it is our life and wellness that is at stake and we need to be responsible. This is the message that we are trying to send to the families that the Wake Forest funds is attempting to support. The Becosule tablets are just that – take the precaution – do your own part. This simple message is not going out universally though, in the World. A bondhu in America shared statistics of vaccination – while good it is not complete. Yet the masks are coming off in America. People from UK are welcome to travel to Spain. At the same time Germany is barring people from UK from traveling. These are confusing moments and we are in a post-modern reality of the “real” being constantly transgressed by expediencies that does not always have “me” in mind but surely affects the me in what I can or cannot do. In these moments, the romantic fixity of Sinatra provides a much-needed comfort, and he takes me back to “my kind of town” with the Lake Shore Drive of Chicago.