It is an understatement to say that not many people
are feeling particularly lucky at this moment but the truth is we are all
fortunate to live in this particular age. For those wondering if I am writing
this from one of those exclusive wellness retreats in the middle of the Sahara
frequented by Hollywood hotshots or merely because I have my head firmly lodged
up my backside, you couldn’t be more wrong. Like everybody else, I am in
lockdown mode, thanks to the damnable pandemic raging across the world. Reduced
to missing the Before Corona era while trying to keep up with mounting
household chores which eat into all the time everybody else seems to be
spending on Netflixing or vegetating on their couches. And worrying about the
economic fallout from all this has ensured that I am not in the best or
brightest of moods.
Even so, I cannot help but think we have it
relatively easy, especially if we were to take a stroll through the darker
corridors of a disease – fraught past and witness the devastation caused by
deadly epidemics and pandemics that changed the course of history. It must have
sucked real bad to be afflicted with leprosy in the middle ages when it was
believed that the victims were being punished by God for moral failings.
Consequently, they were ostracised and left to rot in isolated colonies.
Multiples outbreaks of the bubonic plague also known as the Black Death are
believed to have routinely decimated one – third of the population across large
swathes of Europe, Asia, Africa and Arabia.
Let us not
forget small – pox which originated in Europe but wound up being carried to and
ultimately annihilating almost the entire indigenous population in the New
World. In India, we are all too familiar with the evils wrought by cholera
across the years. Brought to our shores by British soldiers, millions have died
and it is to our shame that it remains a dogged killer to this day given our
inadequate treatment of sewage, irresponsible garbage disposal, practise of
open defecation and lack of access to clean drinking water. In all these
instances, the sick seldom had access to decent medical care, were stigmatized
and left to die on the streets even as the corpses piled up and no one had the
strength left to dig up mass graves.
The Coronavirus on the other hand has a
significantly lower mortality rate. More importantly, thanks to cutting edge
technology that allows us to communicate instantly and constantly with each
other, it is possible to remain well – informed and on top of the situation. We
can help one another with money, medical aid and other resources. Even the poor
and unfortunate, left stranded when public transport was suspended can make
their plight visible thanks to intrepid reporters and social media with the
ensuing outcry forcing the government to act. If we can stay calm in the midst
of the senseless panic, fear – mongering and conspiracy theorizing there is no
reason why we can’t beat this thing. All it takes is sense, strict sanitary
measures and a willingness to refrain from blaming each other, Tablighi Jamaat,
China or the government for our current predicament.
These are things we would do well to remember and
feel grateful for in the middle of a lockdown, particularly when feeling
somewhat cranky while knee – deep in dirty dishes and frustration. After all,
it could have been so much worse.
P.S: If my article has failed to make you feel lucky
or even a little less lousy about the lockdown, I don’t blame you in the least.
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