@Kyouma29

@Kyouma29 28 June 2020

Fund suddenly reduced? I noticed just now that the fund has come down to $89k when it was like 100k 2 days ago. What's going on here? Any explanations? Perhaps read.cash put it in some kind of reserve? or maybe invested it into the website itself?

@Kyouma29 13 June 2020

Ability to send private messages to other users? Wish something like it would get added, sometimes a user has made a mistake that you don't want to point out in public. Private communication would help in that case.

@Kyouma29 12 June 2020

Ban on Cryptocurrencies - The Indian Government is planning to make it law As you may be aware, a while back, the Reserved Bank of India (RBI) issued a note to all banks operating in India ordering them to not accept cryptocurrencies for transfers. However, things didn't work out quite as well as the government expected them to. Cryptocurrency transactions still happened around the country normally. So, the government now thinks that the note alone has been insufficient for banning cryptocurrencies, and as a result, a bill has been drafted. The bill is quite harsh in what it suggests, and if it is passed, cryptocurrency will effectively be killed in India. According to the bill, any direct or indirect use of private cryptocurrencies will be punishable by a fine up to ₹25 crore (about $3 million), and imprisonment up to a period of 10 years with a minimum of 1 year. Repeated offenses may fine the person up to 3 times the gain they made, 3 times the loss or harm they caused, or up to ₹25 crore and a minimum of 5 years of jail (maximum being 10 years). What the bill essentially means is that it will become illegal to issue, mine, transfer, hold, sell, or use cryptocurrencies. If it indeed gets passed, the consequence will be that the currently exponentially growing cryptocurrency industry will receive a huge blow. People are holding out hope that the bill will be modified before being passed, or that it will simply not pass at all. The worst outcome would be if it gets passed in its current state unmodified. Whatever it is, we will need to work towards making cryptocurrencies more acceptable by governments around the world, and to do that, we need to make more and more people adopt cryptocurrencies.

@Kyouma29 9 June 2020

I liked the previous website layout much better, with those big vertical boxes. The current one somehow doesn't feel as good to the eye. Anyone else feel similar? I wish we just got an option to switch to that one (or if there is already an option like that, please do tell me because I can't find it)

@Kyouma29 8 June 2020

The Story Behind Steam Dropping BTC Support (And How BCH is a Viable Alternative) Valve's Steam, the most popular PC gaming online store and launcher, started accepting Bitcoin (BTC) April 2016. At the time, Bitcoin was worth around $450. Now, as you know, Bitcoin had some wild price changes soon after, and thus it's of no surprise that it became an issue not only for Valve, but also their customers. An example to illustrate the problem at hand: Say you want to buy a game worth $30. You would transfer Bitcoin worth $30, but as soon as you make the payment, the value drops, and now you need more Bitcoin to complete the payment. On the contrary, if it rises, Valve will need to refund some of the Bitcoin back to you. It becomes very clear here how that can be a hassle to manage. There is also another problem with Bitcoin and that is the common complaint of high transaction fees. A higher transaction fees means that some purchases that do not cost high enough become unfeasible to purchase using Bitcoin. It becomes even worse when you consider the previous issue of sudden price changes. If the price lowers, you will need to pay more Bitcoin, and thus need to transfer this additional amount, and again getting charged for the transaction. Similarly, if the value goes up, Valve will need to refund some amount to you and they get charged with some transaction fees. So, as you can guess, what happened is that in December 2017, when the value of Bitcoin was around $14,800, Valve finally dropped support for Bitcoin stating the above issues as the factors that lead to them making this decision. This is where Bitcoin Cash (BCH) comes in, Bitcoin Cash is both relatively stable and has very low transaction fees. Pretty clear how it's virtually free from the drawbacks that Bitcoin offered. Okay then, what's exactly stopping Valve from picking up Bitcoin Cash, then? Truth be told, nothing in particular besides some inertia. I believe that if enough people show their support, it can absolutely happen. Valve accepting it will be a huge step towards Bitcoin Cash becoming more mainstream, which is something I am sure a lot of people would desire. Thanks for reading. If you want to show your support, please pass this article around!

@Kyouma29 2 June 2020

Mysterious sound in Bangalore, India - What's the real explanation? During an afternoon a few days ago—20 May 2020, to be precise—a loud mysterious sound was heard in a large part of Bangalore, a city that's popularly known as the Indian IT hub. The sound heard was like that of an explosion and it left windows rattling. This sound created panic among the locals. Some thought it is an earthquake, while the others thought it was an explosion. Then there were a few who had the more likely explanation and it was: A sonic boom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xawhoZuX5YI What's a sonic boom? In simple terms, it's the sound you hear when a jet is traveling at a speed more than the speed of sound. More scientifically, it's the shock waves created by an object which has broken the sound barrier. The sound is often so loud that it shatters the glass used in windows and stuff, if it happens close enough. So windows rattling matches up with this one. An interesting thing the locals noticed was that they noticed quite a few jets passing by that day after the sound was first heard. Some passed by immediately after it. So was it some kind of drill going on that produced it? The sonic boom explanation fits the bill here too. Hours passed by and there was still no official explanation. Though, that doesn't mean they didn't recognize it officially. An official statement was indeed given which confirmed the source wasn't an earthquake or an HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) plane. Finally an explanation was given in the evening that it was an IAF (Indian Air Force) jet. Apparently there was some kind of drill going on, which explains the number of jets that were observed. But you must be thinking that if it was just a drill, shouldn't this happen on a regular basis? Well the answer is no. When these drills happen, they are careful not to break the sound barrier too near to residential areas. However, this one time it happened due to specific environmental factors. Like, the city was creating much less pollution than usual due to the lockdown. Well, that's what the official explanation said, at least. However, I haven't mentioned something very crucial yet. It is the fact that this same sound was heard in Gwalior, a city that's around 1700 km north of Bangalore. It was heard around the evening, before the Bangalore event was explained. The official explanation doesn't account for this one. It is indeed a possibility that the drill was actually going on throughout the nation and not just one part of it. I have been thinking about this since the past few days and I thought I would write an article here about it to share what I think. There are some odd things around this whole sound thing. First of all, why take so long to explain it? If it was that simple an explanation I see no point in leaving the public hanging for so long. If the government takes so long to respond, it starts to smell fishy. At least to me it does. Was there anything they wanted to hide? Some crazy conspiracy theories have risen around this event, they range from aliens to foreign invasion (the sound being a sonic boom from a jet chase). Another interesting theory is some kind of new tech experiment. That's something any nation's military actively takes part in and definitely hides it from general public. This one is a bit more likely than the insane ones. Secondly, the Gwalior incident still remains officially unexplained. Why? and thirdly, the government explanation of why the sonic boom specifically happened sounds like bullshit. An explanation that might explain why the government statement sounds half-fake is because it is half-fake. The sonic boom happened but the cause was that it was just some kind of malfunction and not environmental factors (like seriously, they said it's because of less noise pollution lol). But then again, that doesn't explain a similar occurrence in Gwalior. We will likely never get a real explanation for this but what do you guys think about it? Do you support the official explanation? or maybe think it was a cover-up for something else? Do share in the comments!

@Kyouma29 2 May 2020

How the pandemic and the Indian government killed the economy As you may already be aware, India is a very poor country with huge income disparity. A huge portion of the population lives under extreme poverty. The government right now has basically zero cares about the economy. They will remain in power anyways, thanks to propaganda and pandering to the general public by scapegoating Muslims (Yes, that's something a good amount of people seem to like here, enough to have them win the elections with an overwhelming majority). Economy in the country has been on the decline since quite some time already but this pandemic is gonna absolutely destroy it. The worst thing? It's not just the pandemic's fault, not only is the government doing jackshit about it, they are rather making the situation worse. No stimulus packages. No relief packages by the central government, either. Now, I understand the logistics of doing something like that in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people is bar impossible. Except the problem is that instead of helping the people, the government is blowing up funds and racking in the donations for themselves. There is something called PM cares fund here and during this pandemic celebrities and other rich people have donated some ludicrous amounts to it. When the PM was asked about why that fund isn't being used, he had no answer. He refused any investigations about it too. Simply put: It's gone. Like I said before, this government is all distractions and nothing they do is actually for the betterment of the people. So continuing the fashion, tomorrow military will fly planes and the route will cover every direction of the country. Can you imagine how much that would cost? They could have instead used all that money to help out doctors and stuff. But no. This will be distracting enough for their job to be done. The PM and the President are also buying their own planes, worth $1.2 billion. Another absolute waste of money when the economy is like this. And don't get me started on something that happened a little earlier, they built a pointless and useless statue that cost $430 million. So yeah, this government is basically full of shit and do no real work except for throwing distractions at the general public. I fear for the future, once this pandemic shit subsides, an irreparable state of economy will be all that's left. Thanks for reading, spread this so that more people get to know about the reality of the current government. Edit: Since some troll in the comments doubted the legitimacy of the info I provided you, fret not. It's all genuine info I can back up with sources: Controversial anti-Muslim law (that also ignited protests around the country): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50670393 PM refuses to give details on PM Cares fund: https://thewire.in/government/pmo-rti-pm-cares-supreme-court Planes flying tomorrow: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/armed-forces-to-conduct-fly-pasts-shower-petals-on-hospitals-light-up-ships-to-thank-covid-19-warriors-on-sunday-2221770 Planes for the PM and the President: https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/aviation/new-boeing-wide-body-planes-for-modi-kovind-naidu-likely-to-cost-rs-8458-crore/story/395385.html The Statue of Unity: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46028342

@Kyouma29 28 April 2020

Round up on the lockdown situation in India Where I am, New Delhi, the lockdown started on 22nd March. 22nd March happens to be the first day a nation-wide lockdown was announced. It wasn't until 2 days later, however, that a proper lockdown for the entire nation was announced. Starting from 25th March, the entire 1.3 billion population was asked to be inside their homes for a total of 21 days. I will also point out that it was only the total lockdown state which happened from 22 March, before this some industries were already being shutdown, like the Cinema industry. My university also shutdown starting 15th March in view of the pandemic. The first few days of the total lockdown were rough, as stores quickly ran out of stock due to people panic hoarding. During this time, state governments started rolling out schemes to help people out with food and money. Many governments announced a certain amount of money daily wagers would get. My city, for instance, announced free food for everyone in need of it (I can personally attest for this, as I see food being distributed in a food center just down the street). The police was in charge of seeing that people don't exit their homes without good reason. Since there weren't any particular restrictions on the police as to how they should deal with such people, they naturally tried to have their fun. They would either beat the person with sticks or they would punish them with random stuff like crawling on the ground. At some place, the police had a rather, let's say, amusing approach. They had an ambulance parked at the side of the road and anyone who is found breaking the lockdown rules will be asked to step into the ambulance. What's inside the ambulance? A COVID-19 patient! Or so they were made to believe. In reality, it was just some random police officer dressed up as a patient. Those businesses which could afford it switched to work from home quick enough. Schools and colleges got used to the idea of remote learning as well. The semester end exams here are usually end around May but right now there is no word on how and when it will be held, other than the fact that they are indefinitely delayed. Some reports say that institutions are looking into online exams but they likely won't happen as the infrastructure just isn't there. Gradually, the migrant workers became restless and riots started out at some places. Fake news would usually go out that there will be trains or buses running on a certain day and they will all assemble at the railway station or bus stands. They would walk several kilometers to achieve this as there is no transportation right now that they can afford. Some migrant workers just decided to walk back to their homes, hundreds of kilometers away. Many deaths occurred because of this. As the end date of the lockdown approached, the government announced an extension. The new end date is the 3rd of May. This 'second' lockdown is a bit different from the last one, the country has been divided into 'zones'. Depending on if the zone has the virus under control, some relaxations are imposed and the zone is no longer under a total lockdown. Right now, another extension of the lockdown is being considered. And it is extremely likely that it will happen, as the country is still getting a huge amount of cases everyday. The future is uncertain and we are probably in this ride for the next few months at least. I will keep you guys updated on how the situation progresses over here. Meanwhile, I also would love to hear from you guys about the local reports of your areas, so do share in the comments!

@Kyouma29 27 April 2020

Newfound appreciation for Nature during the Lockdown When life was "normal", I never cared to look around me and examine the environment, save for a few special occasions. It all changed when I was under a nation-wide lockdown for 5 weeks by then, and in those few weeks, I started to notice nature more. As there was almost nobody outside, the city noise had significantly reduced, and I could hear birds all day. Before then, birds could only be heard during the mornings. It made me curious enough to want to look around the trees from my balcony to see what kinds of birds were making these noises, and I have since been observing them and other creatures regularly. Not only that, I could now also hear other sorts of nature noises like leaves rustling against the wind. Initially, it was honestly a surreal feeling to be able to hear stuff like this, at least for a city dweller like me where there is usually loud noises throughout the day. A major part of nature that I found appreciation for is the sky. As I was working out on the terrace during the lockdown, it was then that I would be gazing at the sky. A huge, blue sky with a few white clouds looks gorgeous. Looking at clouds of different shapes and sizes is its own fun, too. A little informative piece about clouds now that I have the chance: You know how we can see things in clouds? Well, that's because of Pareidolia. It is the phenomenon through which one sees familiar patterns and images when they actually aren't there. I had never realized before that the sky was supposed to be THAT big! You would find it funny, as it's such an obvious thing, but trust me, there IS a moment that you ACTUALLY realize the scale. For me the eye opener came on a day when it was raining. Out of the window, I had noticed the sun coming out from behind the clouds. I had made a for the terrace knowing I would probably be able to take in the glory of the rainbow. I had never actually done this before, but since I had grown to observe nature more, it was only natural for me to be interested in seeing a rainbow. There it was, a complete semicircle. I had seen rainbows before in my life, but I had only ever seen small arcs of them. Never the "full" ones as you see in pictures and stuff. The absolute scale of it blew my mind. I had suddenly felt so small. Another of those days when I was working out on the terrace, I had witnessed a dark cloud approaching. Even after I had finished with the exercise, I just stood there observing the cloud and all the lightening that came with it. I had obviously seen lightening before, but it would usually be from my room window where most of the sky is hidden behind the buildings. So, seeing a huge web of lightening was an amazing experience. I would recommend everyone, if you haven't already, to observe a little more of their surroundings from now on. You will surely learn more about things, and be surprised at how beautiful some common phenomenons are. Believe me, it will all be totally worth it.

@Kyouma29 25 April 2020

Tips for starting out with freelance writing At a first glance, a freelance writing career sounds enticing, however, the reality is that it's extremely hard to actually kick-off properly. Most people don't earn more than pocket change during a good part of their starting period. And thus, it is of no surprise that people easily drop out of freelance writing. It hasn't been that long since I started with my freelance writing career, but since I have been (oddly) successful at finding great paying clients, I thought I would share some tips, I hope this article ends up helping someone. What I would recommend for you to do is build a network. Easier said than done, of course. Here is what I did: I found someone I already knew and got them to give me a job. Now the trick is that I never accepted the (small) pay. Instead of accepting the payment, I told them "Spread the word about me, that's my payment". Now what it does is, speaking psychologically, it puts pressure on the client to actually spread the word. It's very different if you accept the pay, in that case the client will feel like they have done their part, and they will only give a hollow "Sure" to your "Spread the word". This is what helped me start out, this client I did work for free brought me two clients. I did a good job (according to them), and so my network naturally grew, without me actually putting in much effort! By the way, the reason I recommend you to go for someone you already know is that there is a further obligation on them to spread your word that way, increasing the pressure. You can go for a random client too, but this psychological trick won't work as well. Another tip I would give is that you should proofread well. A few mistakes can be really BAD when a client hires you despite you being a beginner. It can really hurt your chances of making a breakthrough in your career. My friend, for example, got a bad rep right out of the way because he messed up his first job. Reason? Laziness. So please, do put in your best. At least initially. The more effort you put in, the quickest you can start off your career for real. The third tip I would give is: Research well. You would usually be going for jobs that require some extensive research because those are usually the high paying ones. You will need to research well enough because a factual inconsistency can look really bad. Though, in the end, this one comes down to the client. Some clients don't bother fact checking the info while some are really cautious about it. I wouldn't recommend taking the risk, though. The fourth and the final tip I would give is to keep your expectations low. Building up a freelance writing career takes time and patience. There is a chance, though arguably small, that you will make your breakthrough soon enough. But don't count on it, put in the effort and wait. Your chance will definitely come later, if it comes sooner, then that's great. But even if it doesn't, that's okay too. It's just the very nature of the industry. Also, another thing is that even if you make your "breakthrough", don't expect all jobs to suddenly become as high paying! Freelancing is pretty unstable, you will earn a good amount one month and almost nothing the next. Of course, the better reputation you have, the higher chances you have for getting more high paying jobs. But oftentimes you will have to settle with a low paying job, so don't get too sad about it. That's basically it, thanks for reading, do comment if you have any other tips to share!

@Kyouma29 23 April 2020

Lockdown: Day 32 - How Could I Have Ever Seen This Coming? *This is a story based on a true account set during the lockdown in India* Today marks the 32nd day since I last stepped out of my house, but the events that transpired today were rather unexpected for me. One surprising event lead to another, more surprising one. A little background first: I am from New Delhi, India and I have been part of the country-wide lockdown since 22nd March. I never had to step out of my apartment all this time, my father was the one that went out for groceries, and I used the terrace for working out. As days went by and I got used to the 'confined' space I have been living in, I gradually became enlightened: What if there is no 'Outside'? What if I have been living all my life under this small space and the world that lay before my eyes outside the 'confined' space doesn't actually exist? Soon enough, I became convinced of it. I once wondered where my father went to get the groceries, but I quickly shut that line of thinking because I didn't want to assume my father was fake as well. Fast-forward to today, and something happened with me I couldn't have anticipated. My father came back from shopping, and started unloading the goods. It was at this moment that he gasped at the realization of having forgotten an essential ingredient. He was naturally worn out, and so didn't want to go back again. I slowly started processing the situation. I knew what was coming to me. My mother started speaking to me. "Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same." is all I could hear. My expression probably tightened at that moment, and my brain started working towards excavating an escape route. Unfortunately for me, my resistance was futile and in no time was I standing outside my house. I looked ahead towards the unreal world with a stern expression. I thought some and came to the conclusion that out of the endless possibilities, there were only two which were more likely. The first one, and the better one in comparison to the second: I would hit an "out-of-bounds" invisible wall. The other possibility was the one I was absolutely afraid of. The possibility that the illusionary world is a void pit and if I cross over to there, I will never be able to come back. I saw a man walk past me towards the place I suspected to be made of void. In an attempt to save him, I warned him of what lies ahead, but he didn't listen and walked straight over to what could very well end his life! However, to my disbelief, he walked over to the other side just fine. I figured out the situation soon enough, though. Yes, he was like an NPC in a videogame. The same rules that apply on me, don't on him. He was part of the fake world. I smirked at the thought of having figured this all out so quick. And then I heard it, my father's scream. He was like "Why the hell are you still just outside the home? Go and run the errand quick." It seemed that I had no choice left but to move forth in hopes that I will leave this unharmed. I stepped ahead and almost collapsed with anxiety when shock took over that I crossed over to the other side. What could it possibly mean? There is a world outside?! Outrageous. And yet now that was undoubtedly the case. I still haven't figured out all the implications yet, but I understand that my memories weren't fake after all. Though this takes the big assumption that I am not one of those NPCs as well. Mysteries still remain unsolved.

@Kyouma29 15 April 2020

Lockdown extended in India The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, gave a speech yesterday where he announced that the lockdown is being extended to the 3rd of May. The lockdown first started on 22 March. So the current total length would be 6 weeks. Wew, pretty long huh? Well, the thing is that more likely than not, it is gonna be extended again. At least in my city, the capital since cases do not seem to be flattening anytime soon. While the idea of the lockdown sounds nice, it is actually gonna result in a disaster no doubt about it. The amount of businesses that have gone down to this is just too high a number. Not to mention, a good portion of the country is made up of daily wagers, who have zero security for the future and they are all out of their jobs. Since the number of jobs is gonna sink down naturally as the lockdown lifts up, all these now unemployed people are gonna have a real rough time getting back up on their feet. The central government seems to not care for trying to save up the economy a bit. Only the state governments have tried to help these people some so far. On the other hand, say if the lockdown didn't happen, it would be a disaster still anyways. The medical system here is nowhere near capable enough to survive this pandemic. While the economic impacts would have been lesser that way, it would have been a huge catastrophe nonetheless. The government basically knew there is absolutely no way the country can survive the pandemic, so they had to pull the trigger and this lockdown happened. While that may sound good and all, they had no real plans anyways and everything they are doing is just in the moment, without actually thinking about the common man. I will keep you guys updated on the situation till the end of it, to give a view of the effects of this lockdown on the common guy.

@Kyouma29 11 April 2020

Current lockdown situation in India Hey guys, long time no see. I am thinking of writing again here so I will give a brief rundown of what has happened since I stopped writing. The initial lockdown was to last till 15 April but today, it has been announced that the lockdown is being extended for 2 more weeks. Very obvious that it was going to happen as the cases are nowhere near leveling yet. There just has not been enough testing being done. 6 days ago, the PM addressed the country again after that initial announcement and as expected, he asked people to do something to cheer up the people on the frontlines. What he asked people to do was kinda...shocking? no, not exactly. I guess it was just...dumb. He asked people to switch off their lights at 9 PM and burn candles and stuff instead, for 9 minutes. Once again, the propaganda agents turned this into a glorification of the PM, by cheering the move and spreading false information like "smoke from the candle will kill the virus". It obviously sounds fake as all hell but people ate it up anyways and seriously did all this at 9 PM the next day. What was more disappointing was that people were again burning fireworks. Like seriously? There is nothing to celebrate about here. Things are serious and if you want to help the people in need just donate or something. Not only did all this add to environmental pollution, a lot of electrical power was wasted as well. You would think it would save electricity but in reality, you can not just shut off coal power stations for 9 minutes. They require 10 to 12 hours to become operable again after being shutdown once. All the energy produced during that time had to be just dumped. There was another problem with this move, the electrical load suddenly dropping this much could have caused grid failure. The system is not made to switch so drastically so quickly. Thankfully the people in charge of this at least knew their stuff, unlike our PM. Other than stuff I listed, not much has taken place I guess. I will be sure to keep you guys updated when something new comes up again. Thanks for the read.

@Kyouma29 26 March 2020

A look back: Life during the first few days of the lockdown in India In this article, I have given a personal account taking a look back at March 2020, which happens to be the first few days of the lockdown in India due to the coronavirus pandemic. **Day 0 - 2020/03/22** 22 March was the first day a country-wide lockdown was enforced. It was basically an experiment, or you may say, a prelude to the real lockdown. On this day, everything was shut, including a lot of essential stores. Not because the government asked them to, but many treated it like a national holiday. There were even people that specifically gathered to party, thus going exactly against what a lockdown is meant to imply. Cases like these were the exceptions, though. Not really the norm. When I woke up that day, I was kind of surprised when I saw absolutely empty streets. I live right in the middle of the capital, so things are usually loud and busy around here. It was a surprise, but a welcome one. All day I could hear the birds chirping, and even heard the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. It was all calm and soothing. The idea of a lockdown didn't sound so bad anymore. However, at 5:00 PM in the evening, things got loud again. When this lockdown was announced, the Prime Minster asked the country to come out in their balconies at exactly 5:00 PM, and pay an applaud for all the medical staff currently fighting against the virus. A pure intention, perhaps, but social media had to twist it anyway. WhatsApp forwards told people that the vibrations emitted due to claps can kill the virus. Absurd, you may think but a fair amount of people actually believed it, sadly. So, people went as loud as they could. Some were even found singing stuff like "Go Corona, Go!", and someone was even launching fireworks near my place. Worse, people also gathered on streets... As if it is all already over. This kind of "celebration" certainly didn't sit well with me. The people had so far failed to realize the seriousness of the issue, and also failed to rationally think about the info they were getting regarding said issue. The day ended with an extended lockdown being announced in 75 districts, including New Delhi, the place I currently reside in. **Day 1 - 2020/03/25** Nothing particularly of note happened on 23 and 24 March so we are skipping to 25 March, which is the first day of the 21 days long, country-wide lockdown. On this day shops barely had anything left to sell. A consequence of what happened the day before, where the PM was unsuccessful in addressing the matter of essential commodities, so people who panicked did nothing but hoard. Some stores were even closed, most likely because they did not have any goods to sell. The stores that were still open though, had people line-up outside the store with each person being 1.5-2.0 meters away from the other. A medical store here even had a store clerk putting hand sanitizer on every person's hands. Since this lockdown wasn't a voluntary one unlike the one on 22 March, police was involved. If you are found out about the streets right now, you will be questioned by cops, and only be allowed to go on your way if you are out to get some essential goods or services. As I talked about in my previous article, there were reports of the police even stopping and sending back home those who had good reasons to be out. Turns out they weren't rumors after all. I have personally confirmed this with several people. Not only that, in some places Police has not been letting deliverymen enter localities. Police seem to be free to do anything they wish right now, which is kind of frightening to think about. So, how are people coping with the lack of supplies? Some tried to turn to online grocery stores, but, unfortunately, none of them have anything available within a reasonable time-frame. In fact, the estimated time for delivery for most of the sites is already *after* the end of the current lockdown. People really don't have many options left right now. One major option for the poor is the local government aid. They have announced special 'hunger helpline' numbers. Anyone can dial these numbers up, and food items will be sent to their home. This is it for this article, I will post another one of the "Life during the lockdown in India" articles in a few days, similar in vein to this one. Before that I will probably write another article with focus being on the government's implementation of the lockdown, similar to my last article. Thank you for the read. Hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions!

@Kyouma29 25 March 2020

The reality of India's 3 weeks long lockdown Just yesterday, the Prime Minister of India, Narender Modi, announced a 3 weeks long, country-wide complete lockdown. This piece of writing will talk about this lockdown from the perspective of someone living in New Delhi, the country's capital. Let's first talk about the decision itself, it is extremely bold to completely lockdown the country for three whole weeks. Why? Because the population of India is about 1.3 billion, second most populous nation. There is more, the majority of the country thrives on daily wages, as opposed to monthly wages. They have no security for the future so for them, this lockdown means they have to somehow survive without earning a single rupee. Which is of course impossible. Unless... Yes, the government aids them. Unfortunately, the central government is yet to announce any sort of relief for them. However, some state governments have already announced support for these daily wagers. The Delhi government will be sending ₹5000 (about $65) to all daily wagers in the city. Not only that, free food will be given to everyone in need of it. Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh government has also announced free grains and ₹1000 to all daily wagers. A few other state governments have also announced similar compensations but as of this article, not all the state governments have taken these measures. It will be disastrous if these governments do not act quick. The speech given by the PM yesterday missed not only on reliefs for daily wagers but it also missed the facts like essential stores will remain open and what exactly constitutes an essential commodity. This was actually covered soon after through Twitter but it was already too late. People were already out in the streets, running towards stores to hoard as much as they can. This has lead to the already low amount of goods the stores had being dried up. I personally had issues today obtaining stuff like Maggi (instant ramen) and even bread. The supply chain was already disrupted but yesterday's panic, which could have been easily solved by addressing it in the speech itself, has made availability worse. Not only that, the people that went out to hoard yesterday collected in groups, thus increasing the risk of the infection spreading further. On to the enforcement of this lockdown, police has been deployed to deal with anyone out about in the streets. One person from a house is allowed to move within 1-2 km of their location given that they are looking for essential goods. Ideally, police should not care in these cases... However, I have already gotten the wind of cases where the police isn't letting anyone out of their homes, regardless of reason. This could very well be just rumors since I haven't been able to confirm it myself yet. Regarding those who have no reason to be out about in the streets, I have heard about and seen videos of a variety of punishments the police has come up with, including the act of beating the person with sticks... Not the best they could have done, I agree. All in all, as you may have already deduced, the execution of this operation is hardly satisfactory. This is one thing the government should have handled with extreme delicacy but we are off to a really bad start. The results could turn out to be catastrophic, if the government keeps making more mistakes. I will be sure to keep you guys updated on the situation, as well as share a more personal account about life during the lockdown soon enough. Thanks for the read!