Lockdown – of our own making!!!

Lockdown – of our own making!!!

As Kerala goes into a lockdown, the second in as many years, it is time to do some soul searching. Serious one at that. A year ago an unseen and deadly scourge romped our backyards. As a nation, we did what best we could. We shut our front door and stayed indoors. That was all we knew, and what we could possibly do – then. There was fear in every mind and as a people we followed what the experts told us – keep out of the way of the killer.

The deaths slowed, and life limped slowly back to a semblance of normalcy. Not that it was in any measure, back to the days of frivolity before the outbreak, and the masks still adorned every face, at least was meant to. Distances were to be maintained and sanitizers stood sentinel to every shop front. Surely a people exposed to such a situation would surely have learned. With ample knowledge of what steps we took to come out of a previous lockdown, all that was needed was to adhere to them

Avoiding unnecessary travel until the transmission chain is truly broken, putting gatherings off for a better time, giving yourself a chance to survive to safer times. Wearing a mask at all times, one that covers every orifice on your face, washing your hands or any part that touches exposed surfaces, and avoiding eating at public eateries (you could always get your favorite dishes packed for taking it home). There are just a handful of safety measure they do not make an unending list. None difficult to follow, and you do not need any special prowess to adhere by them. These are surely not the best of time to be partying

“The current situation in India is ‘very desperate’ and ‘urgent’. The government needs to marshal all its resources, including the armed forces, to immediately build makeshift field hospitals, door to door vaccine drives and at least a month long lockdown”. The world around us, watching us have sent us ample real time alerts, especially great nations like US who have faced the same situation just months ago and success fully contained it.

So here is the prudent question. Have we learnt? In a similar blog just a month ago, this question was raised, with dismal answers. Alert, advise, alarm, we have had it all. As a nation, state, town or as individuals, we have been forewarned, given guidelines and given a list of dos and don’ts. How far have we given an ear to the words of wisdom, tread the pathway given?

As a nation, with the second surge rearing it head, we went right ahead with celebrating elections. When the police forces should have been seen hoisting field hospitals and running urgent vaccination drives, they were doing security detail for political leaders, trying to secure votes. The Governments and the Oppositions who should have, in the light of safety kept people indoors, urged them out to gatherings and rallies. They needed the votes not the lives of those who voted. The very people who have sworn to lead a life for the nation and its citizens, set great example, by walking around without masks, or worn fashionably around their necks, and meeting the press about the politics of the elections, when people were dying in tens of thousands.. The Government itself showed its ineptitude by not preparing for the second surge which had given ample forewarning, attacking many western countries. The shocking oxygen deprivation deaths will go down in history as one of the worst management disaster in medical history. Imagine the plight of those dying in beds, in a manner that is literally, pretty much like drowning. Then there is a state that claims to have set an example to the entire world by its wonderful handling of the pandemic. Except that it is now the third highest infected in the whole country, making up more than ten percent of infected cases, among a population that is less than two percent of the nation

Well – “a people get the Government they deserve”, as sayings go. Coming out of a lockdown midway last year, and with the clearest of indications that the bug was far from gone, a nation that should have taken the greatest of cares, slowly slipped into its careless attitude. Care, Avoidance, Distance and Shielding (CADS), the fourfold way to stay safe was conveniently forgotten. Setting examples were our leaders presenting themselves at crowded gatherings unmasked and setting the worst possible example. The crowds came back to the streets as did the celebrations and aimless wanderings.

It is not ignorance this time. We are doing this with scant regard for the dangers that lie just within an arm’s reach. We have forgotten that the danger is not just for us but for those we interact with, including those at home. The tiny toddler may have pay a price for your disregard for safety. A populace of 1.3 billion has learnt only to give haughty rebuttals to words of wisdom. We have just learnt to kill ourselves. This lockdown = we brought it down on ourselves. Hope we learn better for the next wave….surely there is one on the way.

“Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them”, Rabindranath Tagore’s word may well be the last excuse for our deeds. I am sure Gurudev never meant it the way construed though.