The year 2020, appears to have started like a PUBG video game that you began poorly. The difference in real life is that, you cannot exit and start over again. What started as an innocuous viral flu in one of the largest city in Central China, has quickly spread to various countries across the globe, leading to, as one of the Whatsapp messages forwarded to me, aptly sums up, planet earth being closed for repairs. This pandemic has scared people enough. So much so that, India, with its population of close to 1.3 Bn, responded to the PM's call for a "Janta Curfew" or a People's curfew, with its people staying mostly indoors for a day, on 22 March 2020. No mean task for this large country, with a diverse section of people with different cultures, values and who speak different languages. Notwithstanding, the fear of death was possibly big enough for the human species to stand together and become united. Yet again, our species, which always appears to be vulnerable to any kind of threat, huddles together, to fight this unseen enemy.
Few thoughts cross my mind. First, whilst the technological advances over the past two decades, whether it is the armed defense or medical sciences, has grown by leaps and bounds, we still are taken by surprise and fatally so, by the tiniest of living organisms. So , are we adequately invested in the right fields - Do we have, for instance, the ability to survive if all the natural water in the earth start drying up? What alternatives do we have - Are there companies investing sufficiently in that? We know, Bill Gates has invested in technology that can make water out of human poop. But, is that investment enough and at a substantial pace? What if there is no water at all. That seems to be a possibility sooner than later as water has been drying in some of the most well known cities in the last couple of years. Have we invested sufficiently in medical sciences, even as micro organisms quickly adapt and change so as to become immune to our medicines. I was surprised that, as a country, we are lacking in adequate institutes that can identify the virus and with adequate quarantine and medical facilities for this large population.
Second, I realised how much freedom means to us. A twelve hour lockdown makes us so restless and it requires police, in some part of the country to ensure that people follow it. Not that, we would have done things differently on a Sunday . I have not visited my friends or relatives for months, considering the fact that I endure pathetic traffic during my daily office commute and hence, I am usually in no mind to venture out on a weekend . I always pined for a time for myself - to watch movies and read that I want. But the moment I am told to sit at home and do just that, these things are no longer as appealing as going out for my run or meeting some friends. So, the question is, if there is no immediate answer to the threat of this virus, how long can you keep people restricted to their homes. What could the repercussion be? Would the need for freedom override the fear of death?
Third, the moment we are faced with threat, I realised, we all act as if we have now been enlightened. I get to read a plethora of messages on social media, advising the need to be more respectful to nature, advising me to be cognisance of the need to be more clean and tidy and reminding me of the practices of hinduism. Some of these appear to be ridiculous - for e.g, messages that tell me how cow's urine helps body to fight the virus or how the ringing of bells or clapping at a particular time, resonates and destroys the bad things that appear in our life. Is this a matter of faith or superstition or downright stupidity. - I dont know. But as Swami Vivekananda, says in one of his speeches, judge not, for every one follows their own path of salvation and there is no path that is wrong. But it is funny that when we are told that we may die, we suddenly realise the importance of living right, however ludicrous that might appear to the others.
Lastly, most of us, barring a few, are just a statistic. Hundreds of dead people in another country does not instill fear in us, as much as the fear of death of a loved one or oneself. So governments tap into this fear to inculcate discipline.
As I had no choice, but to read, I was reading some of the speeches of Swami Vivekananda. Co-incidentally, the speech I was reading to , was referring to the evolution of life. Was he right when he said that cycle of life is constant, that we evolve from the tiniest of atom, become an intelligent species and go back to the tiniest of atom. So what is life all about? Is it just a struggle to start from nothing and end to nothing? What is this fight and struggle that we go through, in between, meant to be?
But then, there are positive outcomes. There are heroes or heroines, who have put their lives on danger to save others. For once, people have appreciated the great and untiring work of the medical fraternity or their dedication. We have learnt to respect nature again. And we continue to be optimistic of the future.
