24 March 2020
A few years
from now a block buster movie will be made by a famous director. Movie buffs
will sit on the edge of their seats while munching popcorn and sipping some
soothing beverage. Some actors and technicians will receive their Oscars and
other awards.
The agony,
the frustration, the fear will all be forgotten. People will laughingly talk
about their experience at a cafeteria or their living rooms. A few unfortunate
ones will still lament the loss of their dear ones.
And, life
will move on.
This is an
extraordinary situation. This must be the first time in human history when the
entire mankind is under threat. The
strongest species on earth, often portrayed as God’s favourite creation is
helpless against a tiny virus, that is literally invisible. Mankind has locked
itself in for protection and has been living in fear. Nobody knows will be the
next victim. This virus does not spare anybody, princes, prime ministers,
global celebrities, … none.
The gravity
of the situation has not yet sunk in. People, even some of the educated and
elite ones appear indifferent and complacent. A powerful global leader declared
in public that he would protect his country’s economy “at any cost”. Loss of
lives does not matter, economy does.
India
announced a nationwide lock-down to prevent the menace from spreading. In spite
of ardent appeals, there are a section of people, who are treating this as a
long holiday. India came under criticism when TV cameras the world over showed
the police forcibly sending people indoors. Media in the western world screamed
from roof tops at this gross violation of human rights!
What are
the options? Respect human rights of violators and let them die or force them
indoors and save them. Tricky situation! What would be the right step? I really
don’t know. Let posterity decide.
In the
meantime, let Mother India discipline her unruly children as our mothers had done
when we were kids.
Let’s
follow the rules and fight. We will be victorious.
31 March 2020
Life under
Lockdown
People are
getting used to the lockdown in spite of initial apprehension. I was rather worried about being confined
within the four walls of my small apartment for three long weeks. The first worry
was to miss my morning walks which I enjoy immensely and which is also an
activity prescribed by me cardiologist. My daughter came up with a practical
suggestion, - “Why don’t you walk inside the flat?”
I was
doubtful initially but realized after a few days that the option is feasible.
Now, in stead of walking around our complex, where each round measures about
1.25 kilometers, I walk from my living room to the bed room. To start with, I
was banging against furniture and tripping over mats and in course of time, I
got used to the makeshift venue. To get over the boredom of walking in a
confined space, I have some leading artists sing for me during the exercise, -
I have fairly good collection of music CD’s of leading singers. However, my
usual one-hour walk has been cut short by almost 50%. Well, that is acceptable
under the circumstances.
Well,
morning walks having taken care of, challenge remains to tackle the rest of the
day. TV channels kept me busy with their updated reports often conflicting with
each other. Various self-appointed experts appeared on different channels
sermonizing and dishing out contradictory advice and views. Channels went out
of their ways to report number of people infected and more seriously the number
of the deaths. Newspaper footnotes some times reported the number of people
recovered. However, those figures presumably have less TRP, hence the channels
refrained from reporting them or mentioned just in the passing. After a few
days, I restricted by TV viewing to twice every day. If you think about it,
there are no news channels left in India except Door Darshan. All others are screaming
channels.
As far as
our daily meals are concerned, we have been taking one major meal a day namely
lunch for the last 5 years. We have enough provision to cater for our humble
needs. However, in the absence of domestic helps, the entire burden of
household work has fallen on my wife. I have a reputation of messing up things
if I try to help. I am not sure if it is a curse or a blessing!
With no
activity except for a 30 mts walk inside the flat, there is a good possibility
of putting on unnecessary weight. Hence, I have a date with my weighing scale
once everyday and it has not shown any alarming signs till date. Good for me!
I have to
mention about a group of young families, who made it their mission to help and
support the senior citizens in our residential complex. They have been
providing exemplary services to the elders for more than a decade. Right at the
beginning of the present crisis, they got themselves organized and activated a
channel to help all the elderly families by providing them support to obtain
grocery, vegetables etc and the most importantly, - medicines. There are no
adequate words to express our gratitude.
This group,
which is more popularly known as “Maitri (মৈত্রী) took another very
humanitarian decision. They raised a fund to help all the daily wage earners
who live outside the complex and have no income at the moment. The local police
also extended their helping hand to identify the people in need.
Well, with all these
compassionate people around, we are all confident to tide over this crisis.
So far so good.
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