Broken Bangles: Travel, Stories, Thoughts

  Earth Has No Boundaries Earth has no borders except natural barriers, mountains and seas. There are no barriers at all, given the travel technologies we possess.  Surreal the concept of borders is, yet, borders are quite concrete too; they can start wars, prompt mass exodus, and provoke all kinds of tricky emotions like national pride, a sense of belonging, unjustified hostilities, and fear of the other. Many national borders have no physical properties. No one can tell where one country ends and another begins by merely looking at them. For that, one needs maps and soldiers, fences and fear.  They are mostly barren land, rivers and deserts, these national borders that we hold on to at huge prices, costing human lives, diplomacy, weapons, and real money. They deceive you if you look at them for long- so normal, one could even feel tempted to step across. The invisibility of such borders evokes many sociological and philosophical questions. Were There Borders Always? At ...

  The growing perception is that the world is not a safe place anymore. Why bring children to a world torn apart by many wars and under the shadow of climate doom? This question is too familiar and relatable to the Gen Z generation.    In the US, the population projections reveal that the birth-over-death ratio will be in the negative zone by around 2040. Millennials and Gen Z are less inclined towards having children than their preceding generations.  The immigrants are expected to compensate for this population decline. Even the Covid 19 failed to bring about an increase in babies being born. It was expected, and signals even showed such a trend, but it was short-lived.  In 2020, BBC reported that 23 countries would see their population reduced to half of what it is currently by 2100.  In the 1950s, the planet had 4.7 children per woman; in 2021, the corresponding figure is 2.4 . The world population will start declining when the fertility rate fall...