On Nationality

Emma Raducanu’s stupendous and scarcely believable run to becoming US Open Champion triggered off an interesting chain of thoughts. A citizen of UK, born in Canada to parents who are originally from Romania and China respectively. Obviously, every one of these countries immediately staked their claim on her success! Even us Indians, who are far removed from the action managed to find our own little claim – her biggest tournament win before this was the Pune ITF Challenger in 2019! 

With increased movement across borders, nationalities are becoming fluid. Take the case of the Labuschagne brothers – born in South Africa, Marnus is a leading Australian batter, while Frank leads the Japanese rugby side! Sporting world is replete with such examples. The globalization of cricket is currently running on the shoulders of the expatriate South Asian populace. Then the oil rich Middle Eastern countries are importing global talent to boost themselves in the medal tables! 

Then we have the case of India. Having punched below our potential weight over the last century in the global arena, we have found innovative ways of inflating our collective success. No better example here than this list of Indian Nobel Prize winners on Wikipedia. The list contains 12 names of whom only 5 are citizens of India! It also includes people who gave up Indian citizenship, Britishers born in India during the Raj and even the Dalai Lama. And just to round things off has a link to VS Naipaul’s wiki page at the bottom! Basically, providing a perfect analogy to the phrase, success has many fathers! 

But coming back to the question, who should claim an individual’s success? The country of birth, or of citizenship (and what of multiple passport holders), or of ethnicity (mixed inheritances?), or where the actual work was done? IMO seems an irrelevant question. Let the individual decide, what they identify with? Could be single or multiple. Meanwhile, let others bask in the reflected glory of others. And cases like Raducanu can be a bridge across cultures!

BookMarks #87: A Bear, A Dog and A Kangaroo

Title: A Bear, A Dog and A Kangaroo: Three Comedy Memoirs… with Teeth and Claws 

Author: Tony James Slater 

Genre: Travelogue, Memoirs 

Published: 2020 

BookMarks 

This is not one but a collection of three books: “That Bear Ate My Pants”, “Don’t need the Whole Dog” and “Kamikaze Kangaroos”. They narrate the adventures of the author Tony Slater, a person who will not be bound by a regular job but rather go around gathering experiences and making money as it comes through volunteering and temporary jobs. The adventures take him across Ecuador, USA, UK, Thailand, Myanmar, Australia and New Zealand and more. 

The first book is set in Ecuador where he has a volunteering gig at a animal shelter. The main sources of hilarity are Tony’s attempts at proving himself to be “a man” and his inability to speak the Spanish language, leading to often deadly situations for himself. 

The second book, while mainly about his adventures in Thailand, where he volunteers at a animals clinic and has a job as a diving trainer, also throws more light on his family. It starts in USA, where he is on a holiday with his mother and sister and friends. Then there is an attempt to flip a house in his country Wales, which is also a part of a reality show on real estate business. Throw in some paid volunteering for medical purposes (to earn money), a trip on a sailboat and even a stint in the Territorial Army. Life in Thailand comprises mostly about partying, getting drunk, and losing stuff and making regular trips to Burma for visa renewal. 

The third book are the adventures in the great Australian outback, where he along with his sister and a friend make journeys by van and hiking. In between, they also do temporary jobs to make a living. Finally they end up in New Zealand, where they are working on a ski resort. 

The books are long (1700+ pages combined), there is the regular comedy although some of it gets a tad boring. We barely see the touristy side of the places he stays, but its more of the actual stay which is described. And across the pages Tony, his quirks and the friendships he forges keep growing on the reader, as we vicariously live the adventures though him. Not exactly a life most people would be interested in, but it does grow on you. 

Previously on BookMarks: Three Men in a Boat

LearnNBlog #19: The Hydrogen Rainbow

Climate change concerns have propelled the shift from fossil fuels to alternates in the quest for cleaner energy resources. 

In high school chemistry, Hydrogen was described as a colourless gas. Yet today when we hear talk of a green economy, it is the various shades of Hydrogen hogging the headlines. But what exactly do the different colours signify? The colours indicate the source of Hydrogen and how it has been produced. The primary ones are as follows (and it is an ever expanding spectrum) 

• White: Naturally occurring but of limited commercial value. 
• Brown/Black: Produced by transforming coal into gas. 
• Grey: Produced from Natural Gas through Steam Forming. The most common process currently 
• Blue: Same as grey. However the emissions are captured and stored. 
• Turquoise: Extracted from Natural gas but leaving Solid Carbon as a by-product 
• Pink: Electrolysis using Nuclear Energy 
• Green: Electrolysis using Renewable energy 

For a really clean economy, green hydrogen is "The One" as the others still release carbon emissions! Thus not fully suitable for a Net Zero emissions ambitions being articulated. 

How will this all pan out? Well, the answer is not easy but at least the world is trying before its too late!

Links:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
• https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/clean-energy-green-hydrogen/
• https://energy-cities.eu/50-shades-of-grey-and-blue-and-green-hydrogen/

Previously on Learn N Blog: Ubuntu