Every Sunday, I share with you my creations, weekly discoveries and analysis of how the world works. Subscribe here.
Do things get easier or harder for me in the second phase of my Myanmar shoot?
This is my ongoing BTS video-series that I had finished shooting in Feb. In case you have not yet seen the earlier episodes, here is the link to part 1 and 2. Watch these – you will have fun.
Did you know that when you just watch someone having fun, your own brain registers the same activity as it would do, when you yourself are having fun?
That’s the magic of mirror neurons – that are used to study empathy. Talking about empathy, let me ask you something.
If everyone had friends from minority groups, would there be less bigotry overall?
I explore the answer to this question in my new blog. I also introduce a very interesting 2019 book called ’The War For Kindness’.
Some people don’t think bigotry can be brought down by ‘friendships’ (because friendship is easily faked / can be just superficial). But then, there actually is enough evidence to suggest that bringing people together, does work (CONTACT HYPOTHESIS). Read my blog – there are some very interesting experimental data that I have shared. It’s a short insightful read.
You can also listen to this Contact Hypothesis topic on my podcast. Search for VATSANALYSIS on your favourite podcast-platform and do subscribe.
Not all bigotry is natural of course.
What Arnab does in his show for example, is by design. A performance. I had fun this week creating music to bring out how predictable this asshole is. Watch the above 1 minuter. If you want a more ‘melodic’ take on Arnab’s by-design stupidity, Mayur never disappoints.
Irrespective of what other drama is happening in our country, Covid is still around and only getting stronger. Once again, I do have my weekly death projection updates ready.
Reported death count now stands at over 85k. We will cross 1 lakh deaths in just two more weeks (as per my estimates – that I have explained in my blog). And if the growth continues the way it has been, another 1 lakh will be dead just in October and November!
Check out my full analysis to see how we have no other option but to live under the shadow of Covid for many more months to come. Not all shadows suck this much though.
When shadow becomes art…
While you cannot have a tree inside your room, you can definitely have plants. If you’ve been discouraged from getting plants because your room doesn’t get plenty of sunlight, check out this super useful Twitter thread by @batonthemoon where she shares a wonderful list of plants that you can easily grow in a window-less room! You are almost towards the end of this newsletter now.
Oh by the way, you should also check out what my friend Shweta creates on her @amillionforestdotcom insta channel. Below is a photo I recently took of Princy (my wife), with one of Shweta’s creations – some very cool planty stuff.
Now that we are on the theme of plants and nature, let’s look at what’s happening in one particular rice field and as we watch, let’s exclaim together…
WHAT THE DUCK!!
That’s all for this week. Stay safe, consume less, create more, make this world a better place and I will get back to you next Sunday!