COVID - the great leveller

Coronavirus when it first attacked in the beginning of this year was seen as a virus that would be controlled. Nobody then imagined the wrath that the virus would unleash on mankind cutting across national boundaries and class differential.

I vividly remember the 30^th and 31^st of January this year when we went to the delhi airport to meet air Indians who were flying on a jumbo to Wuhan to evacuate Indian citizens, Wuhan that we all knew had an outspread of the virus. No one at that time looked at Wuhan as the epicentre of an incident that would shake the world and humanity to its bare bones. At that time we all thought that this calamity has struck a remote city in another nation and there was not even a remotest thought of us also bearing the brunt. Even our manager in Shanghai telling us of a complete lockdown in the city did not result in realization dawning upon us.

That is how calamities are – we all think that they would happen to someone else till they actually strike us.

The month of March started throwing hints. By then the virus had landed on the Indian soil and Kerala was witnessing growth. The festival of colors Holi was subdued and the excitement on the roads, trains and airports had started waning. Mid-March during my visit to Mumbai and Goa, I witnessed empty airports and no traffic jams even on the roads of Mumbai. The terror had started striking.

The one day lockdown on the 22^nd of March brough the nation face to face with the impending reality and people started bracing up. Since then the onslaught of the coronavirus has been steadily growing and the country has crossed the one million mark on its journey to god knows where.

It is indeed creditable that India woke up in all seriousness much earlier and that justifies the comparatively lower numbers. Yet the seriousness of the situation remains beyond doubt.

This incident is and would perhaps change the world and the human race almost on a permanent basis. Never could we in the wildest of our dreams could imagine the closure of airlines, railway systems, shops and malls and almost the entire eco system for so long in totality. The dance of technology, wealth and comfort had made us oblivious of anything that could change our lifestyles so drastically. With travel even of a petty intercity variety becoming a project, travelling from a nation to another on business or leisure appears a far cry atleast in the foreseeable future.

Work from home with the eyes and attention rivetted on the computer screen has become the new normal, though it can never replace a physical human to human connect.

Unlike other diseases that respected rank and wealth, this virus is so contagious that in the process it does not differentiate between rich powerful nations and those of the developing or under developed variety, nor does it avoid infecting the rich and the powerful breed of humanity.

The great leveller is upon us till a vaccine is found – the earlier the better.  

Corona would change us

All eyes are now on the Corona or the post Corona scenario. Whether the lockdown gets over on the 14th, is extended fully or released partially in phases is what the over 1300 million inhabitants of India have on top of their minds these days.

And I do not envy the sarkar. It has done a great job so far, yet this mother of all decisions will never find favor with everyone, either way and therein lies the tragedy. 

In any case what is certain is that it would not be the same world anymore. The feeling of being a master, an absolute one at that would indeed be shattered even for the high and mighty and the presence of a supreme power would stand ingrained. 

Never before has the human race felt so helpless, confined to their homes for the fear of being infected by a virus that cannot be conquered even by the mightiest guns of the universe. Never before the movers of the nation, the great indian railways been grounded for so long and never before the planes had been lined up all over the airports even on the runaway. And runaways are meant for a takeoff not for lining up grounded planes that would not be taking off till god knows when. 

The world would indeed be a changed place. People apprehensive of travel, those who hardly set their foot on their own soil afraid to go beyond the shores for fear of a lockdown or being quarantined that one never imagined in the past. And the migrant labor may not remain migrants anymore thereby impacting the informal economy more than what can be assessed. And having lived this scenario, a precedence has been firmly set, and after all is life not only about precedences.

How one wishes that all this turmoil, the fear and the apprehensions, the realization of being minuscule in face of the unknown reality of the universe converts this human race for the better, devoid of false vanity, pride and ego and deeply rooted in the welfare of humanity.

Amen!