Lockdown Thoughts

COVID-19: From A Different Perspective.

- P S Satchith

We are now facing something that can be called a once-in-a-century kind of pandemic. The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 as it is called, has literally brought the world to a standstill, the deadliest pathogen attack since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. With the world economy having hit a new low, this deadly virus has left nearly 4.8 million people affected, with around 315 thousand dead, and millions more traumatized and jobless. Now let me not go deep into the politics and technicalities of this pandemic.

 

People waiting outside a COVID-19 testing center in India.
(Pic credits: Google images)

       

With the shutdown of educational institutions, the importance and reliance on technology have once again been highlighted in these times, as almost all the educational institutions are taking classes online. Even I have my classes online, and it so happened that my English teacher taught us a new poem, "Keeping Quiet" by Pablo Neruda, which I could relate with these times. Neruda requests all human beings to stop whatever they are doing for a moment and take some time to introspect and resolve themselves and analyze what they have done.

"Keeping quiet" by Pablo Neruda
(Pic credits: Google images)

He says that every human is always on the run for earning for one's family and livelihood that they are unaware of their "hurt hands", and that a moment of silence would give them ample time to realize the harm they cause to themselves in this rat race. Another message the poet wants to convey is about the "green wars", "wars with fire", and the "wars with gases".These refer to the biological wars and the harm that humankind is causing to the environment. An excerpt from his poem goes:

                                        

"It would be an exotic moment

 without rush,without engines

 we would all be together

 in a sudden strangeness."

And this is exactly what is happening throughout the world. Now man indeed has got time to introspect and analyze himself. The pollution level throughout the world which was 'toxically high', has seen a huge drop during the worldwide lockdown. Scores of wildlife could be seen coming out to the urban streets. It was like mother earth had let out a huge sigh of relief.

Yet another positive side to the lockdown owing to COVID-19, families have been much happier than ever before, especially in the rural areas. This is due to the temporary ban on the sale of liquor. There was an article in which I read tribal women from Kerala commenting on this. They said that before the lockdown, the men in the villages used to come home drunk, create ruckus in the household, and when they had run out of money to buy liquor, they would sell off the utensils and household items. But now that the temporary ban on liquor sales was in effect, it was far more peaceful than ever. Now they fear the return of the influence of alcohol, once the lockdown has been lifted. 

An article grab from a daily
(Pic credits: Google, The Hindu) 

Another insight the pandemic provided us, is to reduce the unwanted expense of money. Looking back to the days when a single rupee was a big amount of money, the present generation doesn't value money much. What I find shocking is that people from a middle-class family, who don't earn much, go out for parties, dinners and watch movies every weekend, thereby emptying their pockets. On top of that, they might even be living on loan, having to pay debts! Well, I hope these kinds of people, be it rich or poor, have analyzed and thought about this, owing to the closure of cinema halls, restaurants, and shopping malls.

Finally, I would like to remark on the significance of Indian culture and tradition with regard to the present times. I have been born and brought up in a traditional South Indian family, where I have been taught certain disciplines. These may sound "conservative" and "orthodox" for the modern world, but these few values are the ones now in vogue! I would like to highlight some of those:-

• Washing hands and feet on returning home.
• Keeping the footwear outside the house and not inside! Many people nowadays keep their footwear inside the homes.
• After taking a bath, not physically touching the clothes which have been worn, and people who haven't taken a bath.
• Not touching anything or anyone after returning from a salon, without having a shower.
• Doing 'Namastes' rather than handshakes.

Taking the case of temples in South India, especially Kerala, one can observe that the Pujari (the temple priest), instead of giving the 'Neyvedya' (Prasad or sanctified offering) directly in the hands of the devotee, drops it from above the receiver's hand, say about a few inches. Again, this can be related to the physical distancing which we are following now!

Now that the World Health Organisation has stated in a press conference that the virus will take a much longer time to go from the planet, I would like to quote the words of Charles Darwin, "In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." What we must infer from these words in the present times is that we are at the crossroads where adaptation is the only key for survival. By the time the virus leaves this planet, we would all have developed an immunity. The world is in a transitory phase, and there is a lot to learn from it!