Mankind’s most enduring symbol has been V for Victory. Now it is V for Virus. The coronavirus is creating a new arithmetic of alarm; its lethal logarithm is no longer ‘Divide to Rule’, but ‘Divide to Survive’ as casualties add up and loneliness multiplies. All people are being advised to stay as far away as possible from each other since human touch is the kiss of death.
The virus from Wuhan has demonised century-old practices and prescriptions, which bond humanity and form the moral superstructure of mankind. It has colonised most of the world and is killing thousands of people. Never before in known history have the rich and mighty, scholars and preachers, healers and cheerleaders felt so helpless in the wake of such a Virus Tsunami. Doctors to leaders and self-proclaimed angels of the poor and the deprived are offering various remedies and resolutions to save the world. But they’re all clueless.
The Internet, a boon for effective and instant communication, has morphed into a maliciously misused method of panic and fear-creation. Social media giants, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, disseminate verbal and visual viruses, which diminish immunity rather than strengthen it. Every post offers unverified Dos and Don’ts, videos of poppycock advice from fake doctors on medicines and diets, each more mumbo jumbo than the rest. People are flooded with unwanted advisories instead of feasible ways of minimising the coronavirus spread. Suicidal prophets seeking digital celebrity status and validation of their influencer existence are exploiting the miasma of fear as pundits of panic.
Panic is not part of the Indian ethos, which believes in the stoicism of karma. The ultimate survivor has overcome myriad endemics from influenza, the plague to SARS with different ratios of damage. Now, when COVID-19 has infected over half a million worldwide, our number is below 1,000 in the first three weeks. Countries with one third or less population than us have lost over 20,000 lives. Heartbreaking images of distraught families crying on phone in New York where their relatives were dying in ICU flooded the net. The virus brought super-rich economies like Germany, US, Italy, Spain and Canada to their knees. It rendered them helpless to deal with the invisible invaders from mighty China, which overcame to leave the rest of the world gasping for breath.
The West’s best scientific and technological arsenal is reeling under corona’s forceful fist. The fastest of German automobiles cannot beat the speed of the virus’s spread. A massive $2 trillion financial package by the US and $5 trillion by other G20 nations have brought no cheer to the deeply demoralised victims of these nations. Fortunately, Indian casualties are still well below double digits. This doesn’t mean that India is less vulnerable. But we are superheroes in fighting any outsider — be it Pakistan, China or its virus. Critics have accused the government for delayed anti-COVID response.
Since India is a country of many cultures and dialects, it employs numerous contradictory political tones for and against adversities which hit the nation. Unlike many developed nations where people speak in one voice to tackle national emergencies like terror attacks or contagions, we seek opportunities to fault those leading from the front. No doubt, it is the duty of a vigilant Opposition and conscience contrarians to warn the government of missteps. But turning a tragedy into a political weapon is their special virtue. While both the Centre and the states stood shoulder-toshoulder tackling the virus menace, many politicians and mediapersons were promoting Corona Tourism to locate the unfortunates left out of the government’s hastily conceived relief package—highlighting the abominal flight of migrant labourers was more important than organising relief.
They got ample fodder from the police who savagely wielded lathis on poor workers missing food and shelter. In spite of numerous faults in implementation, a unique factor in the Indian DNA does bring all sections of society together. For the past few weeks, the air was rent with protests over CAA, NPR and NRC with communal connotations. But as Covid-19 spread its dark wings, such political, cultural and religious differences were buried under the unified wave of support to government agencies. For the first time in 1,000 years, all mosques, mandirs, churches and gurdwaras were closed to the public. Breaking with populist tradition, political parties and their foot soldiers were pushing people into their homes rather than pulling them out to the streets for demonstrations.
This was possible because Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Health Minister Dr Harshavadhan and all chief ministers came on the same page. Instead of finding fault, they competed to ensure effective implementation of every decision taken at the top. Modi himself mobilised not only a gamut of domestic experts and COVID warriors but also nudged the international community to do today or die tomorrow. Much to chagrin of Market Mavens, he stuck to the health agenda and ignored the market mayhem because his government is committed to provide an ecosystem, which allows people to survive so that they can thrive later.
It is evident that a united response by a highly divided international community than the ‘putting money for- making-more-money’ approach is not a guarantee for the safety and health of humanity. With over 40 per cent of global riches vanishing in less than four weeks, avaricious wealth creators have become victims of their own greed. Instead of spending on making the earth safe for life to flourish, they splurged on luxury airplanes, yachts, tony hotels and houses and pricey space flights. COVId-19 hasn’t spared prime ministers, presidents, princes and global celebs. The virus was part of their cabin baggage as they spread their elite carbon footprint across the world. They must by now realise that the corona virus does not discriminate between class, community and religion. It attacks everyone with equal ferocity. India, abode to every sixth human in the world and follows many faiths, has molded a new survival model—Corona se Daro Na. (Don’t fear Corona). Nuke it by keeping your distance.