Nearly time to bid farewell to 2020. Never been prouder to be a @FT science writer - nor more grateful to be able to carry on working. A short, indulgent (sorry!) thread on writing covid...

Starting on Jan 8 with a mystery pneumonia https://t.co/d21b1e3gr4 via @financialtimes

A realisation at the end of Jan that this could be ‘the one’...

https://t.co/DXYLW44NZt
...and that healthcare might need rationing. Except I thought this would be a one-off in the spring first wave. Never dreamed we’d be in a worse place nearly a year later.

Remember, we have yet to pay the ‘Xmas mixing’ dividend 😔

https://t.co/uYs5j7HsM6
But at least a vaccine was in the works. The road was shorter than I thought 😂...free to read)

https://t.co/m8lSRwoPIi
...but, until it arrived, we had to learn to operate in a new landscape of risk (free to read)

https://t.co/ZVRPVK0l2U
Public trust is vital in a pandemic but in summer the U.K. govt was losing it over schools.

Again, can’t believe we are fighting this one all over again. The worst ever Groundhog Day...
https://t.co/FbwTdljNju
...and in the summer we were still debating how the virus spread, particularly whether aerosols mattered.

https://t.co/0i3kBjaf9N
The vaccines were ticking along nicely in the autumn but we still didn’t have a good evidence base on behavioural science & non-drug measures like masks, 10pm curfews. fear we have not seen the last of these, even after vaccination...

https://t.co/hjdakvC19Y
...partly because we might need to spread vaccine doses a bit more thinly than we’d like (and while I opined this 👇🏽in mid-Dec, I didn’t think it would actually end up happening)

https://t.co/uTa5DPICVI
I could not have survived it without fab @FT colleagues like @brookeamasters & @clivecookson @donatopmancini & many more, but most of all...
...I am so very very grateful to the frontline health workers - nurses, docs, support staff - that have given *everything* to keep the rest of us safe, at great risk to themselves....
...plus the school & uni staff who ensured my children were still educated *in a pandemic*....and the food industry & supermarket workers who kept us fed *in a pandemic*....
...and the transport staff who kept London moving *in a pandemic*....and the delivery drivers who kept us supplied *in a pandemic*...
...and it is out of sincere respect and gratitude to them, and to so many others, that I will be staying indoors tonight for the first NYE I can remember. With copious amounts of Prosecco I will toast my dad, who died alone in hospital (not of #covid)
...this year because we, like so many bereaved families, could not see him. I only wish he could have lived long enough to see the vaccines rolled out: Dad always believed that science was a powerful force for good in the world, a conviction I share.
So, my final thank you: to the scientists, drug companies and manufacturers, and clinical trial volunteers that have brought us such hope for the future. I cannot wait to get my jab. 💉

Here’s to a happier and healthier 2021 🎉 🍸

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प्राचीन काल में गाधि नामक एक राजा थे।उनकी सत्यवती नाम की एक पुत्री थी।राजा गाधि ने अपनी पुत्री का विवाह महर्षि भृगु के पुत्र से करवा दिया।महर्षि भृगु इस विवाह से बहुत प्रसन्न हुए और उन्होने अपनी पुत्रवधु को आशीर्वाद देकर उसे कोई भी वर मांगने को कहा।


सत्यवती ने महर्षि भृगु से अपने तथा अपनी माता के लिए पुत्र का वरदान मांगा।ये जानकर महर्षि भृगु ने यज्ञ किया और तत्पश्चात सत्यवती और उसकी माता को अलग-अलग प्रकार के दो चरू (यज्ञ के लिए पकाया हुआ अन्न) दिए और कहा कि ऋतु स्नान के बाद तुम्हारी माता पुत्र की इच्छा लेकर पीपल का आलिंगन...

...करें और तुम भी पुत्र की इच्छा लेकर गूलर वृक्ष का आलिंगन करना। आलिंगन करने के बाद चरू का सेवन करना, इससे तुम दोनो को पुत्र प्राप्ति होगी।परंतु मां बेटी के चरू आपस में बदल जाते हैं और ये महर्षि भृगु अपनी दिव्य दृष्टि से देख लेते हैं।

भृगु ऋषि सत्यवती से कहते हैं,"पुत्री तुम्हारा और तुम्हारी माता ने एक दुसरे के चरू खा लिए हैं।इस कारण तुम्हारा पुत्र ब्राह्मण होते हुए भी क्षत्रिय सा आचरण करेगा और तुम्हारी माता का पुत्र क्षत्रिय होकर भी ब्राह्मण सा आचरण करेगा।"
इस पर सत्यवती ने भृगु ऋषि से बड़ी विनती की।


सत्यवती ने कहा,"मुझे आशीर्वाद दें कि मेरा पुत्र ब्राह्मण सा ही आचरण करे।"तब महर्षि ने उसे ये आशीर्वाद दे दिया कि उसका पुत्र ब्राह्मण सा ही आचरण करेगा किन्तु उसका पौत्र क्षत्रियों सा व्यवहार करेगा। सत्यवती का एक पुत्र हुआ जिसका नाम जम्दाग्नि था जो सप्त ऋषियों में से एक हैं।