Hook the Brotherhood

The COVID19 has brought to us a pandemic of global nature. It sees no boundary and no ideology, no race, no class. The idea of the human as a common race is on the surface, boiling and glittering. Your physiognomic features do not matter. Your language doesn’t matter. Your distinct culture does not matter. What matters is that you are susceptible to the wrath of nature, although unequally by virtue of your privilege. There are different contours that have come up in the lockdown. One, those who are perfectly safe within the tall boundary of their premises; they can opt for multiple resources for their entertainment in the lockdown. They can do yoga, watch movies, read books and eat hot & tasty homecooked food. They have savings in the bank account that will last an eternity. Two, those who live in a caged house with the minimum availability of every bit of resources. They can have a decent sustaining lifestyle and in the event of an economic shutdown, they are less worried for the deterioration of their savings. Three, those who are counting days before they will become marginalized. By dusk, they will find it hard to win back to the race of sustainability. They wish the most that the lockdown is unlocked. The last ones are already marginalized. Less has changed in their lives just the liberty of their going out. They can be hungry for few days. Hunger doesn’t matter to them much. Amid all these categories, there are people who link them all in between and find their place in a well-stratified pyramidal society.

The availability of resources differ country wise. It is well known to Indians that, if God forbids, the pandemic looms larger in the country, it will bring mourning and death. The health care system of the country is leaking from several places. There is no ready infrastructure. Health workers are working with their lives in hand. They lack proper safety equipment for themselves. The social media is full with the images of doctors wearing raincoat and rags to cover them up. Within days of the arrival of COVID19 in India, there were cries of the shortage of masks and sanitizers in the medical stores. There are only about 50,000 ventilators in the country. The administration is turning railway coaches into isolation wards. The ratio of hospital beds against population is highly skewed. Probably the success of the lockdown is the only feasible and least harmful option available with us in the short run. While on the other hand, European countries, the U.S., China, Japan, and South Korea have the availability of the best in class resources, yet on account of mixed reasons, they had to suffer huge losses and continuing so.

Some of the Media accounts have set a poor example by resorting to communalism and cheap journalism. However, there are good Samaritans who are upholding the idea of brotherhood. It is not just the celebrities and the industry houses, there are less known people who, irrespective of the status and class are giving away and sharing what they have. Policemen and doctors are working hard keeping away their personal lives behind. A crisis does have two faces, where one cries out in agony, the other smile calmly to dispense hope.