COVID taught us…..NOTHING

COVID taught us…..NOTHING

When the pandemic hit an unsuspecting world, and spread globally within months, it suddenly showed us the mistakes, we have unwittingly allowed to creep into our lives and life styles. We stood up to be corrected and there were lessons aplenty to be learned. Magazine, news media and social media came out with articles and talk shows, about the learnings from the pandemic. Different nations learned different lessons. The western world realised that family mattered more than your career, that aged parents were not a burden nor are grown up kids. The Chinese learned, hopefully, that preparing yourself for peace is a zillion times more important than preparing for global warfare. The entire world learned that the greatest investment is investment in community health.
We in India also learned a few things. We are a populace that had chosen to take its independence wholeheartedly, without a heed for the responsibilities that come with it. It is okay to crowd the counters, block the road, in the name of politics, religion or just the release of a movie, to shove other people out of the way in the rush to the seat in public transport, dump refuse on public roads, to drive wantonly and drive drunk, to defecate in public without shame, to be given to unhygienic habits. When the pandemic hit, all this ground to a halt. There was much talk about hygienic, civil, and safe practices. The new term “social distancing” found takers, out of realization, we hoped. The queues were orderly and all activity disciplined. All for the good, one surmised.
We all got vaccinated, deaths decreased and finally the pandemic had been reduced to an illness of the seriousness of a rather strong version of influenza. The third wave, lost the fear quotient attached to it. The world heaved a sigh of relief. Mankind had survived.
Post pandemic, was a world, renewed. The world kept a few valuable lessons it learnt during the enforced seclusions. The family had attained the value of the days of the past, spouses were to be loved and parents to be cared. Money was for new researches in healthcare and social uplift, and war was no more the only victory great nations looked for. The world learned to love and care. Truly all for the good……
When a super market announced a great deal on onions, I thought I may as well grab the deal. Expecting the orderly queue and the first come first serve principles that we have gotten used to over the last few month, I was in for a rude shock. If it was chaos couple of years back, it was pandemonium now. I watched with incredulous eye, middle aged women from respectable backgrounds shove elderly women aside. There were abuses screamed at one another. Suddenly it struck me. India has learned….nothing.
The change of scenario over the last month clearly showed us this incredible fact. The political goons were back on the streets. The roads were blocked and slogan yelled out. The policeman who played a key role in protecting us from the pandemic were being attacked by the members of some political outfit. The traffic was back to being unruly and there was the skills display by the local formula one drivers, just that we now have more women participating. The media came out with more and more stories of utter cruelty and atrocity. There were more children being subject to abuse. Religious activity was back at its peak and the temples, churches and mosques were filled to the brim with people praying for abundance.
The world did take back a page or two from the COVID School. India too took the pages home but used it to wrap the peanuts on the way to the party. Especially the state of idiotic intelligentsia – Kerala. One thing is for sure, even God can’t discipline the Indian, definitely not the Malayalee.
Don’t believe me? Well, go watch the crowd at a BEVCO outlet in the evening.