As the entire world reels from the sudden shock and awe of the Novel Coronovirus, I sit at home under lockdown due to the only curfew I've ever experienced first hand... During the short time I've been around since the early 1990s, I've already been fortunate enough to have lived through quite a few outbreaks here in India, including the relatively recent swine flu and bird flu, but none of them had taken the entire globe by storm as the COVID-19 pandemic has! And to think that I was upset when my credit card stopped working due to the collapse of the Yes Bank is plain hilarious. This is also the first time in history that the Indian Railway has cancelled all passenger trains across the country, to get a hold on the spread of this highly contagious disease.
Although the Coronavirus had its inception in China, it is cynical to think that as on date Italy is the worst hit nation in the world, with a death toll of nearly five thousand in a couple of short weeks, that too in the very year that we had already obtained our visas to visit the UK and the EU, following my mother's lifelong dream, which is like an MoU target to me. And while some high profile polarizing individuals raise questions regarding the naturality of the virus and try to turn a humanitarian problem into political propaganda, the bottom line remains that people are dying... Not the poor or the rich... Not Asians or Europeans or Americans... But everyone! It is humbling to think that even today, in the age of modern medicine with new advancements being made every day, nature still rules over humanity's arrogance.
On the other hand, it is quite ironical and somewhat heartening to see that after decades of torture, the environment is finally recovering and having its way, with pollution levels in major cities hitting unforeseen lows and translucent water bodies becoming more and more transparent by the day, thanks to everyone staying indoors. With the region on the brink of entering the so-called third stage of COVID-19 spread i.e. community transmission, where the source of infection becomes untraceable and the number of infected exponentially explode in a very short time frame, 'social distancing' has become an actual concept and one of the only effective measures against contracting this virulent virus, other than washing hands and wearing masks that are being played on loop on almost every news channel globally. Even mobile service providers have replaced caller tunes with COVID-19 awareness messages!
As for me, I never thought that I'd ever be penning down an article on an epidemic from the midst of all the action. With people going into panic mode and leaving grocery store aisles empty for the uncertainty of the weeks to come, and no vaccine yet in sight, the whole thing is surreal to say the least. And although the situation is alarming worldwide, it is laughable that today was probably the first day in the last financial year that our firm was forced to give us a holiday at the peak of the BS-VI Project commissioning, on account of the 'Junta' (public) curfew called upon by the Hon'ble PM of India. Just a few minutes back at 5pm, I left this column half done to go to our balcony and appreciate the all out efforts being made by medical personnel, sanitation staff and others across the multitude of nations hit by this disease, along with my wife and the rest of the nation united, by clapping our hands, clinking plates, ringing bells and what not, the air around us resounding with energy! I just realized that self-confinement even for a day, other than the present need of the hour, gives everyone a much needed opportunity to just take a step back from the daily humdrum and reflect on their lives, enjoying its little joys. Maybe such a reset button is required from time to time even in the absence of an epidemic...
Although the Coronavirus had its inception in China, it is cynical to think that as on date Italy is the worst hit nation in the world, with a death toll of nearly five thousand in a couple of short weeks, that too in the very year that we had already obtained our visas to visit the UK and the EU, following my mother's lifelong dream, which is like an MoU target to me. And while some high profile polarizing individuals raise questions regarding the naturality of the virus and try to turn a humanitarian problem into political propaganda, the bottom line remains that people are dying... Not the poor or the rich... Not Asians or Europeans or Americans... But everyone! It is humbling to think that even today, in the age of modern medicine with new advancements being made every day, nature still rules over humanity's arrogance.
On the other hand, it is quite ironical and somewhat heartening to see that after decades of torture, the environment is finally recovering and having its way, with pollution levels in major cities hitting unforeseen lows and translucent water bodies becoming more and more transparent by the day, thanks to everyone staying indoors. With the region on the brink of entering the so-called third stage of COVID-19 spread i.e. community transmission, where the source of infection becomes untraceable and the number of infected exponentially explode in a very short time frame, 'social distancing' has become an actual concept and one of the only effective measures against contracting this virulent virus, other than washing hands and wearing masks that are being played on loop on almost every news channel globally. Even mobile service providers have replaced caller tunes with COVID-19 awareness messages!
As for me, I never thought that I'd ever be penning down an article on an epidemic from the midst of all the action. With people going into panic mode and leaving grocery store aisles empty for the uncertainty of the weeks to come, and no vaccine yet in sight, the whole thing is surreal to say the least. And although the situation is alarming worldwide, it is laughable that today was probably the first day in the last financial year that our firm was forced to give us a holiday at the peak of the BS-VI Project commissioning, on account of the 'Junta' (public) curfew called upon by the Hon'ble PM of India. Just a few minutes back at 5pm, I left this column half done to go to our balcony and appreciate the all out efforts being made by medical personnel, sanitation staff and others across the multitude of nations hit by this disease, along with my wife and the rest of the nation united, by clapping our hands, clinking plates, ringing bells and what not, the air around us resounding with energy! I just realized that self-confinement even for a day, other than the present need of the hour, gives everyone a much needed opportunity to just take a step back from the daily humdrum and reflect on their lives, enjoying its little joys. Maybe such a reset button is required from time to time even in the absence of an epidemic...
WISHING ALL THOSE INFECTED A SPEEDY RECOVERY! STAY SAFE!
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| Panic buying during COVID-19!... |
