Widespread anger, frustration and grief – that sums up the current mood in India. The second wave of this pandemic has hit India hard and to a point of catastrophe never seen before or even imagined. It was just a couple of years back when India was hailed as the new shining light and the path bearer to world peace and prosperity. But it seems like India has its own mammoth internal crisis to deal with first, as COVID-19 has unearthed some of its deep-rooted structural issues. Since March 2020, the predictability of our life has been teetering as India struggles with its dealings with the pandemic while also grappling with uncertainties over keeping up with the superpower image amplified by all the hullabaloo from recent years.
I had just returned to India from the States hoping to get back to the not-so-complicated daily routine that I had established over the years. Coronavirus was in the news but I had not seen it first hand. It was just a year or two back, during Cinco de Mayo when I had discovered one of my favorite cocktails – the Coronarita (an interesting spin on the classic Margarita with Corona beer). There I was in Miami, sipping on a delightful drink with an overturned Corona bottle draining into it, having no idea of how our lives will be impacted by a virus that was its namesake.
I was found to be Corona positive last year around July, along with my family who tested positive a week after. We didn’t struggle as much as others are struggling now in this second wave, but it was bad for a certain few days, and I was scared. Realization hit me when the district administration called to check up on me and took our details. The next day, there was a poster put up outside my residence identifying ours as a corona-affected house. Hmm..very thoughtful on the part of the administration to add social stigma to the list of ordeals we were already dealing with! Up until then, I had been looking at data points revealed in the media with utmost interest, sometimes with anger and sometimes with hope. But everything changed when I become a data point. The true vulnerability of life was in front of me and realization crept up on me that this was all real. The next couple of months were difficult, to say the least, but thankfully, I recovered and so did my family.
Now that we have been stuck in our homes for more than a year, I can say that it has been uneventfully eventful. In the last one year, the world has changed and with that our lives have too. We have been confronted with the true uncertainty of human existence and have come face to face with the most basic questions and realizations about our life. We learn more about ourselves each day and understand what needs to grow, what needs to be repaired, what is fickle and what really matters. The pandemic has shown us how wrong we were in thinking that we are in control of our destinies. It breaks my heart when I realized that there will be an entire generation of children who will grow without their parents. COVID-19 has cut short the lives of so many passionate, kind, smart, and generous people who were destined to do great things for this world. If your near and dear ones are safe with you, you are lucky but did you pause to see how they are feeling? Most of our parents and grandparents are seeing their generation going down due to COVID-19. They are losing friends every day and even if they are not affected by COVID-19 directly, they are watching the news and losing hope, the hope of a future. Isn’t hope everything?
There is no doubt that our country was unprepared. With a crumbling health infrastructure, the leadership missing in action, and establishments being in denial or scurrying to cover up inadequacy, the country is seeing the worst and it’s unimaginable that there is a lack of acknowledgment and humility on the part of the government that has rather been absent. Unfortunately, if there is no acceptance of a crisis, there will be no acknowledgment of a failure, and thereby no compulsion to address it. And believe me, I have seen this trait enough at work. There is a burning rage that I see everywhere; towards the government, the media, the health officials, China, the uncle next door who refuses to wear the mask, the medicine hoarder. But is this rage helping? We are still waiting to see an execution of a better public health response from the government that has science at heart.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.
If the government is not helping, where will the hope come from then? The bigger question is – Can we hope? Yes, we can. We should. And I see it. It’s the community that we have. It’s us helping us. It’s the local groups from our neighborhood, community organizations, the micro-communities formed on Twitter, Telegram and other platforms that are stepping up, trying to fill the gap and coming to the aid of those in need. Yes, we need to be angry at whoever is not doing their job but can we park that for a moment and channel this anger, this energy into something more important, something that requires immediate attention. The world needs help, empathy and love. Can we provide that? I believe that although there is both good and bad in this world, there is more good than bad. You’ll hear more bad but you’ll see more good. It’s because bad sells and bad travels. Can we get inspired by these little bites of goodness that we see and pay it forward? And repeat. And inspire others to do the same, till we get rid of this God damn’ virus. Remember, if we get to do social distancing, we are privileged. Many have to step out of their homes for survival, for earning their bread for the day. Let’s start by acknowledging this privilege. What else can we do? If you happen to have some extra cash, pay your help generously, give the street hawker some more. That will help them when the going gets tough during the lockdowns. If you had corona and you have recovered, donate plasma and share your medicines with those in need. And of course, vaccinate. If you cannot be on the ground, but you want to contribute in some other way, you can join a self-help group or your company’s SOS group, if they have one. You can also use your time to help others by verifying leads for medicines and hospital beds. And even if we, the privileged, exercise a little bit of restraint and act responsibly, and stay at home, it’s a job well done. Being generous, being thoughtful, helps. It really does.
And one last thing – do spend time with your parents and grandparents and tell them, there is light and there will be light. They need it. I remember that time when I was deeply saddened at a loss. It was rainy and gloomy, and I had isolated myself in my room for days thinking that the world has come to an end. I didn’t have hope. And one fine morning, I saw sunlight peeping through the window. I mustered a little bit of strength, sat down with my parents, shared my feeling and asked them for their advice. I saw their eyes light up. And with that, my hopes lit up too. That is what we all need. Hope. I hope to have a Coronarita soon.