Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Very interesting Western Spaghetti movie (made in 1967) as the hero is a Mexican super gunslinger and the villains are white guy gunslingers (Gringos). This is the opposite of most Western Spaghetti movies. So I enjoyed watching Pecos Martinez (played by Robert Woods) take on the bad guys gang and win! My Name is Pecos | WESTERN MOVIE | Full Length Spaghetti Western | Cowboy Movie | Classic Films, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlWp5Hq2_nM , 1 hr. 25 mins. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060351/ states, "This film made Woods as internationally known as Pecos in the third world countries as Franco Nero was known for Django. A Mexican hero against a gang and a town full of gringos- what more could you ask for?" https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/My_Name_is_Pecos_Film_Review says, "The story is basically a retelling of Return of Ringo but with a nice reversal of stereotypes: in a spaghetti western the villains are usually Mexican while the hero is a so-call...

My stand in short 1) COVID Vaccines are one of the key ways in which top medical research organizations in the world (WHO, NIH in USA), including in India (ICMR), are planning to fight the COVID pandemic, with many vaccines under trial now. Some, or perhaps all, of these vaccines may have safety issues with them. I am open to reading about such safety concerns but I place a lot of value on the views of these top medical research & development organizations. 2) Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) along with Azithromycin and Zinc (or HCQ with some other medicines) is reported to work as a cure in some COVID cases (where COVID is detected early). My understanding is that India allows such treatment (under medical supervision). But I don't think it is viewed by top medical organizations in India (ICMR) and in most countries of the world as a wonder-cure for all kinds of COVID cases. I am not convinced by what I have read so far that there is some concerted conspiracy by some powerful p...

[USA] Georgia congressman John Lewis dead at 80, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXxCwteFXBs , 4 min. 44 secs, published on 18th July 2020 by ABC News. First my standard politically neutral statement: Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the USA. Over the past few years as I watched USA Congress' publicly shared debates & hearings on contentious matters, and saw how policy decisions got passed in USA federal administration (Congress + President), I have seen a little of bit of Congressman John Lewis. I was very impressed with the little bit that I saw of him. I learned later that he was with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the fight for civil rights for African-Americans in the 1960s. So he represented a living legacy of that aw...

Very impressive straight and sensible talking from WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan in this interview with India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai where Sardesai asks many currently relevant questions. Swaminathan adroitly avoids getting into controversial responses, and perhaps ducks parts of a few questions, but overall she does a superb job in answering key parts of these questions in clear and simple language. I am very happy to see an Indian scientist play such a leadership role in the global fight against COVID-19. Fighting COVID-19: Is Coronavirus Airborne? Speaks Dr. Soumya Swaminathan | News Today with Rajdeep, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1hZx4mP1ZM , 24 mins. 46 secs. published on 8th July 2020 by India Today. The associated text article which covers some part of the video: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/coronavirus-covid19-airborne-transmission-what-it-means-who-chief-scientist-explains-1698495-2020-07-09 . For those who are really interested to get a vie...

How Dharavi curbed the spread of COVID-19, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCrmO4JaBnc , 3 min. 35 secs, published on 6th July 2020 by The Hindu. Note that in the 1980s I have visited Dharavi for some social work - if I recall correctly, it was as part of my Ruia college (National Service Scheme) social service work (Ruia is in Matunga in an affluent section of the city, but is quite close to Dharavi).