BENGALURU: Good morning, Bangalore!
D-Day is fast approaching and I can almost sense the restlessness in the air. The working class professionals and businessmen, who typify the middle income strata of our society, are ready, able, willing and fed up! I Though we all lauded the central government for its decision to lock down this country with a burgeoning population, and ‘flatten the curve’ (a term we didn’t quite understand but gravely nodded our heads in acquiescence), stretching the lockdown with no concrete plan or concessions was proving to be very expensive and depressing for the middle class. Unfortunately, the ‘middle class’ always seems to get caught between a rock and a hard place.
The majority of us part with a chunk of our earnings in the form of taxes throughout our life without having anything to show for it when we need it. We pay taxes for roads, hospitals and education which neither we nor our children can use because they have to accommodate the majority of non-taxable populace. I may sound politically incorrect, but when the shoe pinches, we all go ouch! We are not poor enough for food packages or handouts and yet not comfortable enough to sustain an indefinite lockdown with no means of income or sustenance.
I live in a building which houses a majority of offices. When I first bought my home in Bangalore, I was gypped by my builder who conveniently failed to inform me it was a commercial building. Apparently the ‘vastu’ is excellent, so my neighbours have over the years become quite successful. They still remain grounded people with strong middle class values and stronger superstitions! There are weekly pujas and Fridays are days when vermillion and incense-sticks abound.
Recently, I saw a pumpkin with a scary face etched on it. During the lockdown, an earthen pot suddenly appeared at the building entrance and (which I can swear to) had a face painted with fangs and two horns! My neighbours are usually a mild bunch and we generally get along well enough. But suddenly my genial and amiable neighbours descended into the building like rampaging hordes, fighting with the security staff to allow them into their offices! It was like they had reached the end of their tether and were raring to get back to ‘normal’, armed with 14 pages of official gobble-de-gook issued by BBMP! Getting back to ‘normal’ is fine, but not an option straightaway.
The single-stranded RNA genome with a virulent nuclei center (COVID-19) is still lurking around. And with little or no advisory on how we must protect ourselves, work or interact with each other, each one is doing what they know best! Ultimately we decided to meet over masks and sanitisers, keeping a good six feet between us to see how best we can tackle the post-lockdown stress.
I only wish our government and health authorities treated us with a little more respect and advised us on how we should usher in this post-lockdown situation instead of passing the buck and beating us into submission. Most of the security and cleaning staff have no idea if their areas are red, green, blue or multi-hued. Indiscriminate passes are being issued to irresponsible ‘young adults’ who crash their expensive cars into pillars on empty roads while local traders cannot move around to service their customers.
I know it is easy to crib and find fault in a system that is so intrinsically flawed. The whole exercise to lock down a country that rivals the total population of Europe is a mammoth task. But we must pat ourselves on our backs for having such low numbers (either we have great immune systems or our statistics suck!). Accessibility to the internet has made information available to everyone, and even my maid, Laxmi, told me how the ‘Kirona’ is weak enough to be washed away. Till next week, stay safe, stay strong.