The festival of Gudi Padwa in
Maharashtra.
12TH DAY OF MY SOCIAL
ISOLATION
General feeling: “It’s not
sinking in but feels some-what morbid. Already tired of listening to the news.
Already tired of telling people not to be reckless. Saddened to realize that not
all of us have the luxury of clean water, masks or even some privacy”
This is Day 1 of 21 day lock-down
announced by the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi to contain the spread of the
deadly novel virus COVID-19. Despite a heads-up from various countries and a
time period of about 2 months, India is sitting at that inevitable moment of it’s
modern history, that may not just claim lives of millions (Estd: 1 mn – 3mn
fatalities; Source: Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayanan,, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy), it
may change the course of the so-called growth trajectory that it was to
traverse to bring the world out of an imminent financial gloom.
There is a heated debate among
experts on how to manage infection rate v/s economic disruption. Both are bound
to kill people. The question is how many and how?
Apart from this mega environment,
there is much happening at a personal level for most people across the world.
Indians are no different. However, India with its inequity is going through
such a diverse plethora of emotions and reactions, it’s difficult to see clean
boundaries between fact, fiction, right and wrong.
For a privileged, upper-class, upper-caste
millennial who lives in a modern society of South Mumbai, the biggest concerns
are not really the question of feeding oneself and life-sustaining supplies.
The concerns are the inability to step out, boredom, finding a routine and
keeping sane in isolation. For people not living with their loved ones, this is
a bigger challenge. People across the country have taken to social media to
display their creativity and skills, which they otherwise could never find the
time for. Some are cooking, some are spending more time with their children.
But everyone’s waiting. For this to end. Nobody can say for sure, when it will.
Most people have begun to do
video calls regularly to keep in touch. They are telling each other to take one
day, one week at a time. The questions across the world have come down to just
a few iterations of health, going out, hand washing, death toll and new
political statements.
Italy, Spain, Pakistan, UK, US
are fucked. Literally. Maybe even India is. We just don’t know that. We’re
continuing to live with the challenge of 1.3 billion of us. The challenge which
could have been a strength, is a perennial excuse.
For me, this is my 12th
day of Social Isolation. I haven’t gone to work or anywhere outside. Just 3
trips down to the building gate to receive supplies. I am stuck in Bombay
without family or love. But I am still positive about keeping myself and others
around me sane. I’ve moved recently to this home and my flat-mates are kind. Of
the three weeks I’ve spent here, ½ of it has been in isolation and all of it
amidst the fear of Covid.
My blogging place is a balcony
that over-looks the ugly side of the Arabian Sea. Maybe it was intended to. So
we can stop and look at the ugly sides of ourselves and the world we’ve created
and chosen to live in.
I am not a
believer of larger-than-life philosophies about pandemics. But people around me
are talking about how this time will lead people to introspect and bring out their
humane sides. They say, the nature is benefiting from us-staying home. I find
that statement slightly arrogant and slightly unfair. One, because while the
local pollution levels may have come down temporarily, the ambit of nature is
far larger than what a few millions staying at home can influence. It’s unfair,
because we, humans are also a part of that nature. I find it painful to
separate ourselves from ‘nature’.
Given the state of things, my
humble opinion is we live towards our needs. Mindless consumption needs to stop
today. Of food, of wine. Because we just have limited supplies. And community
needs to be placed above the individual. Else we all suffer (or die). Game
theory? Communism? Doesn’t matter.
It’s morbid to say but we’re in a
war. The one that doesn’t fit the traditional definition. It’s a war against a
virus. A zoonotic intrusion that we can’t see or hear. Only feel and suffer.
Not sure if we’ll come out of it successfully and what that success would mean
for us personally, nationally or globally. But when we do, we’ll have long
weeks to remember and teach the young ones about it.
For now, Stay Safe. Stay home.
