Ripples In A Teacup

The Ukraine war has killed thousands, uprooted millions, and appalled people around the globe. My father tells me that war came to his living room when Saddam Hussein invaded Iraq in 1990 and CNN broadcast war visuals live . Well, I wasn’t even born then and for me, this is the first time, after I started paying attention to world politics that I have seen so much of fighting on television.  How can Putin decide whether Ukraine can or cannot join NATO?  This is not the first time Russia is invading Ukraine. They got away with it in Crimea. They have been getting away with it in the Donbas region for many years. It looks like Putin will not get away with it this time, since the Ukrainians have a very good leader in the form of President Zelensky and are giving it back as good as it gets. For Russia, it seems to be a repeat of their 1939 invasion of Finland . Don’t they say history repeats itself? Russia is attacking civilians, bombing hospitals and killing non-combatants. These are wa

Today morning I went out cycling as I usually do on weekends.  I had learned to cycle when I was eight, but it is only in the last one year that I started going on solo trips, without my dad accompanying me. Today I cycled towards Bandra, planning to cycle down Carter Road, towards Khar. Carter Road hugs the sea and is quite scenic. It was a pleasant day, not too warm, slightly cloudy, with a hint of the monsoon that’s just a month away. At 7:00 am, Carter Road was crowded with a number of cyclists, walkers, runners and the occasional vendor selling tender coconuts or street food. On reaching the point where one turns off to go to Union Park, I turned right to buy myself a coke from my usual shop, drank half of it and continued to cycle towards the end of Carter Road. I was about to do a smart U-Turn and retrace my route back home when I decided, on a lark, to explore a bit before I returned home.  I had my mobile phone with me and planned to use Google Maps to find the best route home