Predicting the Rational

Guest Post: This is a post by Mansi Sood, a grad student at CMU and an avid painter. Please check out more of her stuff here .

I went to Japan with my sister nearly an year ago. It was a 15 day trip and we left in the first week of June. The 15 days spanned the tropical island paradise of Okinawa, quaint towns and villages in the Hida mountains, the mega-city thrills of Tokyo and a bunch of other places like Hiroshima and Kyoto on the way. I was also seeing my sister after a long time who flew to Tokyo from Pittsburgh. And this was the first time that the two of us were traveling together without any parental supervision. So, I was really excited!

Yesterday's weather was uncharacteristically pleasant for the month of May in Delhi. I was lying in my room after dinner and listening to Ruskin Bond narrate his "The Eyes Have it" on the radio. I had switched off the lights in my room. I had my window open because it had been a rainy day and there was a nice cool breeze. The reception was patchy and I the could hear lots of static. It had taken some effort to find a corner of the room where the static was low. Bond's warm voice flowing from the radio with his impeccable English made the experience timeless.

I don't know if we are living in the best of times or the worst of times. It's likely worse for most people compared to what they were living in a few months back. At the same time, it's definitely the best of times for Jeff Bezos who saw his fortune increase by 40% in the same period. It's a time for heroes- our doctors and health workers who are treating the infected and policemen who are enforcing the lockdown, some of them without adequate protection. And a time for villains spreading misinformation and profiteering off desperate people. The only thing that I am absolutely sure of is that we are all living in the most uncertain of times.

Death and the Penguin is a Russian novel set in 90s Ukraine by Andrey Kurkov. It is a dark, satirical, and strangely surreal look at the adventures of a down on his luck every-man, living in Kyiv, with his pet penguin. The bond shared by the man and his penguin is deeply emotional and has been written beautifully. It captures the effect of the turbulent political situation and financial ruin faced by people in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.