CORONA - A MUSING

Times changed dramatically overnight. Governance gave way to self imposed curfew followed by a lockdown and a walkdown through the lanes of memories.

Life revolved around one’s profession, vocation or trade. Bonds had been relegated to social media. A person’s existence was evaluated by the power to draw likes on these platforms. Lo and behold! 2019 manifested itself as 2020 as Wuhan heralded that the mechanism of battling a new virus was a total shutdown. The industrial dispute term of lockout now gathered an international Governmental sanction worldwide with a new term lockdown. This term would co exist with lockup of the police. The awesome sphere around the sun now became the household name as the new Virus was now named after the Corona.

As people donned masks and washed even clean hands in the fear of the Virus, a new horizon opened up. People rediscovered their families, neighbours and friends. Social media gave way to social distancing. The handshakes became things of the past with a traditional Namaste becoming the new fad.  Three feet distance circles became hallmark of the superstores. Suddenly, the famous huddles of the sports arena, or the hands over shoulders of buddies, or the romantic embraces were only a dream and for many a nightmare to even think of it. Vehicles sparsely moved. Dust settled and the scorching heat of summer had set in. The labour class moved towards their hometowns by walk despite resistance by the powers that be. The term exodus gained currency. It took yours truly to the chilling narrations in "Train to Pakistan" by the legendary Khushwant Singh.

The accounts of Partition of the sub-continent came to mind. The pleas of leaders, celebrities, icons and news anchors to stay at home did not go well with many. However, there were no fanatic passions unleashed this time around. The virus became a great leveler treating rich, poor, man or woman irrespective of gender, caste, creed, race, religion or nationality with equal ferocity. The virus was neither passionate nor prejudiced. It could neither be swayed nor influenced. It just performed its natural act of self preservation and species conservation through reproduction.

If this was termed a war then imagine dealing with a population seized by frayed tempers, religious intolerance, political bigotry, fanatic ideologies which was not even hindered by the presence of a semblance of organized authority. 1947 was indeed a deadly recipe for a holocaust. The half naked fakir, the iron man and the intellectual face had managed to hold the population to senses by the mere threat of a fast unto death at Naokhali leveraged by each of the triumvirate in its unique way. Communication was largely by word of mouth or through the Akashvani. The power of television and social media did not exist. This feat alone ought to have been recognized by the world which instead fanned the communal fires.

Thirty seven years later, India faced another similar situation. Televisions had entered the lives of the influential as well as the middle class. However, this was not used effectively to control frayed tempers. Instead of just seeking restraint, the analogy of the earth shaking when the banyan tree falls did not help in salvaging the position. Contrast this to a caretaker government and an election commission handling a similar situation seven years later.

These historic experiences have aided us now in dealing with the present virus more sensibly ensuring that the stage 2 of the cycle being less fatal compared to many developed nations. The mistakes of the past were not repeated even when the occasion presented itself with it. As the oldest democracy rallied past the 3 lakhs mark, the largest democracy just went past the 3 thousand mark. The success story was sought to be blemished by scary prophecies of community spread. But the large majority of the population stood out as one remarked, " News is where an exception is, the rule does not make news".

A thought given to this statement brought out the reality. A murder makes news as it is not the rule. A riot makes news as it is not the rule. Mob discipline makes news as it is not the normal behaviour of a mob. The call for self restraint makes news as it is not the rule. A child parting with its savings makes news as it is not the rule. Have we ever read of a news item saying that X did not kill Y or that the day was peaceful or that there was no accident or that a child cried to part with a chocolate. Despite opinionated telecasts round the clock, people had retained their maturity to discern whether the news telecast was the norm or the exception. Soon the virus would not be an exception and with greater adversities to be challenged it would thus vanish from the news.