It was on the 31st of December at midnight. When the clock struck 12, the sky was lit with firecrackers. it was flashing light for the next 15 minutes and the large crowd gathered on the beachside was cheering and wishing each other for a happy new year. This gala went on for a few more minutes and then people started to go back to their homes.
I decided that nothing more is left to enjoy that night and wanted to return. But due to heavy human traffic, I couldn't get a cab. After a long waiting period, I got into an autorickshaw. Believe it or not, even that auto was not able to pass through that crowd. Finally, I got down some 100 meters away from my destination and started to walk.
The air was cool and fresh. The sea breeze was combing my hair and nicely dressed, and mostly young people were walking along with me. I enjoyed walking, my mind filled with happiness until I reached the hotel. Once I entered the hotel, fresh air vanished, and the humming air-conditioned lobby welcomed me with 'processed' air.
It was the early morning of the 1st of January 2020. Not even one in that crowd, including me, would have imagined what was waiting for us in that new year. If only we had known the future, how the crowd and I would have reacted? The crazy cries and deafening mourns would have made me rush into my room and find solace under the quilt with a shivering spine.
Thankfully, the future is always unknown. Nobody knew what was about to come in that year - having a fancy number 2020.
Sometime in November 2019, in a small province of China - Wuhan, a virus started infecting humans. If my memory served correctly, by December WHO cautioned that this virus is dangerous and has to be handled very carefully as it has a fast-spreading tendency. Wuhan was isolated but before that restriction, people started travelling to and from that province. The carriers started spreading a disease named as Covid-19, which is a strain of Coronavirus. This virus started spreading across globe fastly.
Initially, it was a denial phase; Many messages were spreading among us thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp. November was a winter month in Wuhan. Therefore people assumed that virus will not survive in India, especially in Chennai due to our hot and humid weather. I feel that was the time someone here must have taken it seriously and started planning and implementation of how to control the spread if it enters into India. That was the time when we should have closed our borders, just like how in later months we closed our doors and sat inside our homes. Ignorance leads us to false hopes. Scientists and doctors didn't issue a warning - not their fault. So life went ahead as normal as it was earlier.
In March 2020, the first infected person was identified in India. Infected numbers started to climb very quickly. That was a blow to us because our trust on SARS virus (when it spread in China as Bird flu) didn't affect us in considerable numbers. Knowing that Corona - Covid 19 as it is named, is from the family of SARS, we didn't foresee any dangerous spread or in other words, a pandemic.
But by that time itself, WHO announced that Covid 19 can be dangerous to become a worldwide pandemic. We didn't know what to do and then like a knee jerk reaction state and central governments swiftly joined hands to handle the pandemic situation, which eventually led to a total lockdown of people movement and closure of shops.
No, I' am not writing a biography of Covid 19. This is a quick refresh so that I can explain how ignorant we are even in 21' st century.
People were panicked. The current and previous generations haven't seen a pandemic. We were left in a dark. Naturally the blaming started. Few blamed governments, few blamed nature, few blamed our sins and the other few blamed China. (I still don't understand what do they get from that blaming. Will the virus turn and run back to China?).
Coming to our place, this must have been a historic network usage of Whatsapp. Pieces of Advice came from every direction. What to do and what not to do. Ironically most of this advice junk entirely became irrelevant or useless later.
Every day some was telling me to eat more garlic and ginger (without which no south Indian dishes are made). Add pepper, do yoga, gargle hot water with salt three times a day, inhale steam three times a day etc. These are at least useful for the flu and cold, therefore can be practised.
Some strange ideas also sprang out. I can't blame anyone because out of panic we were ready to do anything. One such idea was to come out at a particular day/time and make huge noise by banging plates or any metal with metal and simultaneously light a fire and shout 'Go Corona Go'. My entire neighbourhood did this, unfortunately, I slept early on that day. Either a scientist must have miscalculated the decibel level of Covid or it couldn't understand English - it didn't go away. However, it was effective in chasing away street dogs for a couple of days. They quarantined themselves from humans at a place - I don't know where.
Then the economic crisis started. Millions were out of jobs, daily wagerers were pushed into hunger, Companies were not able to sustain without any revenue, production stopped, agricultural products stagnated and therefore a much bigger threat scared us.
Governments had no choice but to slowly relax the lockdown with strict regulations. We did a good job and slowly people turned back to their earlier life. Though the covid cases rose slightly, covid patients didn't die with an empty stomach.
At the time of writing this, (wow, I like to say this...as if someone is going to read this after 50 years !!) no medicine or no vaccination is available for Covid 19. Unlike humans, Covid virus understood 'Nothing is permanent except change.' It seems that it is mutating continuously, which make scientists find a vaccine more difficult.
I trust in human intelligence and so I believe there will be a vaccination in a year or two. We will conquer this virus one day and without any doubt, there will be another such threat present sometime later in future.
Today, how we, the normal public fight or protect from Covid is - we are advised to develop more immunity, wear masks while going out and maintain social distancing (like how we keep a distance from a person who lent money to us).
Now I' am coming to my infected thoughts. These are seriously bothering me. I 'am not sure whether people will talk about these points later or be happy to be free of Covid - and go back to influence TRP ratings of our privileged tv channels.
Immunity: Poverty prevails everywhere. Even in the richest nation of this world, there are poor, homeless legal citizens. No need to ask about India. I' am not even going into the eradication of poverty. I only question our ability to provide food (by providing job etc) to millions of poor people in this country. It is a basic right of any living creature in this world. And, when we have people not having food how can we expect them to have immunity? Few were telling me that these poor have natural immunity. What a joke! How far it can protect them? If it can protect them from Covid - we all should abandon our homes and start living on the streets.
As per data released on 'The Hindu' - May 13 2020, 68% of under 5 years old death is due to child or maternal malnutrition! And 83% of neonatal deaths are due to low birth weight and short gestation!
