In just 3 months of starting 2020, it has turned out to be such a game changer, eye opener year! And I speak not of me alone, but globally just one name reverberates through every household, every news channel and every country – CORONA! A virus, which probably never got even so much of a glance from doctors or even adequate weightage in the microbiology books, is determined now to teach a lesson or two to the whole human kind and etch its name in the history forever!

With the last pandemic being traced to spanish flu like a century back, the current status of even the richest and mightiest of the nations being brought down to knees by just a small virus shows a lack of preparedness and unwillingness to invest in healthcare. But what is even more horrifying is the total chaos and panic that the pandemic has created all around us.

I had heard one dialogue in the movie batman- “Their morals, their code… it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. you’ll see i’ll show you.. when the chips are down, these civilized people… they’ll eat each other”. I was a little astonished at this perspective back then..I thought it was an exaggeration! And yet, corona proved me wrong!!!

People stocking up unnecessarily, fighting for groceries, stooping to such a low level to spit and infect others just for the sake of it, throwing stones and hitting those who are trying to save them, threatening and forcibly evacuating the doctors from their rented apartments, not cooperating with the government orders, hiding inspite of symptoms, opportunistically extracting money by raising the commodity price in the need of the hour, stigmatizing the ones affected with the disease, making it a communal issue, killing those who alert the government officials regarding the suspects, politicising the issue, making it a publicity stunt etc etc!……… Should I just learn to ignore all of this, thinking of it as effects of kaliyug? Or Do i just deter myself completely from media Or do I try to put a blindfold of positivity on my eyes inorder to preserve my sanity?

“Wisdom accepts that all things have two sides” and as i sit in the shackles of self quarantine, I try to focus my lens to the humanity and righteousness I see around me…

I see so many engineers working tirelessly to help the medical professionals in this war. They are inventing the cheaper versions of a ventilator, modifying existing ones to be able to cater to more than one patient at the same time, trying to develop cheaper instruments etc. The scientists all around the world are struggling day and night with the extra pressure of the expected swiftness for developing a vaccine for the same. cheaper testing kits are coming up, new treatment protocols are coming into force with all the research happening. The medical and para medical staff is obviously standing on the front line trying to ward off disease and death.

They are risking their own lives and also lives of their loved ones for doing what they do best- treat the ill! The police force is working tirelessly trying to enforce peace, discipline and quarantine. They too are getting scoffed at throughout. The businessmen are coming forward to ensure to extend as much of financial support as possible from their side. The people who are providing essential services are also going out of their way to continue to provide their help. The media is working- going through all the struggle to keep us updated, question the government when necessary, criticize where essential, educate public when possible etc. The workers are trying to sanitize the areas, the statisticians, economist all are brain storming to try to get out of the situation with less morbidity etc….

But of all this, what moved me the most were stories of a few people from different parts of the world. Priest Don Giuseppe gave up ventilator for some other younger patient. A woman in Belgium, Suzanne said she didn’t want to use artificial respiration and that she had lived a good life. There are few others too who have done the same…. I don’t know if there could be any deed more selfless than this. To help some stranger is one thing, but to die for some stranger- thats something only a hero can do! From where do people get so much of strength of character, passion, satisfaction, humility, acceptance, bravery, and spiritual consciousness is beyond me!

Albert Einstein once said –

“Adversity introduces a man to himself“.

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