Lockdown!

I’ve stopped reading the Newspaper ever since they started spewing negativity in all that the present government did or has been doing. But, not wanting to be left behind I developed this habit of watching a 50 minute capsule between Monday and Friday by Rajat Sharma of “Aap Ki Adalat” fame. I liked his unbiased reporting style in his news capsule titled “Aaj Ki Baat”.

On 21^st March when PM Modi announced at 9 PM that the nation would go under a ‘Total Peoples Curfew’ on 22^nd March 2020 (Sunday) and made an emotional appeal to all Indians that ‘Social Distancing’ was the only way forward if we as a nation intended to defeat the growing menace of Corona virus, named ‘Covid-19’, I thought that there would be very few takers! By nature, Indians are an undisciplined lot, and breaking the law is considered an act of bravado. Hence, we were all pretty surprised when the mammoth population of 1.3 Billion stayed at home. While there were stray cases of violation of the appeal, by and large people honored the request and I think it was for two simple reasons: One, it was out of respect for the person making that appeal and Two, people were scared of the consequences if the enemy made its entry within them. With all the known medicines failing to kill Covid-19 on its tracks, people may have been unnerved by this silent and violent killer virus. After all, what would the PM of a nation gain by asking its population to voluntarily lock themselves at home? Majority of the wage-earning age group within our country are in the category ‘short term employment’, who get paid either daily or weekly. Most of them are a migrant lot, stay in temporary shelters and their daily food purchases come from their daily or weekly wages. So, a one day shutdown would mean a hefty loss for the daily bread earners.

Smartly, PM Modi had declared this self-imposed curfew on a Sunday which is a weekly off for the entire country except for our women homemakers. The economic impact from this was absolutely minimal.

But little did we know that PM Modi had a larger plan in his mind. We came to know about his plans much later, though. He had completely relied on his team of doctors and advisors from ICMR – Indian Council of Medical Research for the action plan on our nations war with Covid-19.

Believed to have started from the city of Wuhan in China in their infamous wet market, this virus spreads only from human to humans. A simple sneeze or sputum from a cough from an infected patient can be ingested by another or several humans in close proximity, within a radius of 3 feet. As the virus makes its way through the nose to the throat region, its hair like follicles smartly embeds itself and begins to draw nutrients from its host. As they rapidly grow and multiply, symptoms of a viral flue make an appearance, namely fever and dry irritating cough. Not having encountered this invading monster before, the mighty human body finds itself helpless and down on its knees. The millions of years of memory of our human cells come to a naught since it is unable to quickly create an antibody to fight this new invader which has built for itself a new weapon. So long it remains in the throat region, it is believed that steam inhalation and intake of hot fluids flushes these virus into the stomach, where the strong stomach acids do not give the virus a chance to survive. But if it were to live and multiply unchecked, it can find a passage into the lungs and this is where it literally and figuratively drowns the person to death by snatching his or her breath away.

ICMR was quick to impress upon the PM that social distancing was the right and the only way to fight this virus which by end March 2020 was on a rampage. On hindsight, the Chinese Govt. made two mistakes. They did not reveal the deadly form of this virus when it made its ugly visibility in November/December 2019. Second, they allowed people to travel all over the world from Wuhan. Statistically one person can eventually spread to 406 unsuspecting people in a finite short period of time.

Kerala state in India was the first to be affected. One university in Kerala has a tie-up with University at Wuhan and sends large to very large contingent of Indian students to Wuhan for higher studies every year. Cochin airport became the gateway to the entry of Corona virus into South India. But within a short period, most major international airports in India provided an entry to this virus, since the spread had become worldwide by then.

India can be a potential breeding ground if this pandemic flu were to make an entry. With a population 5 times that of US stacked in one-third the geographic area of US, the crowded cities and infrastructure namely trains, buses, airports, busy market places and places of worship could be a nightmare for the medical and administrative fraternity. However, the 22^nd March 2020 people’s voluntary curfew gave hopes to our scientific community and the PMO that this may finally work out, if the administration plugged all the loopholes and forcefully impose social distancing through a lockdown. Since there is no perfect way of executing a lockdown, the best approach was to introduce it and have quick thinking people in the administrative set-up to institute remedial measures as and when gaps surfaced. Closing the loopholes as and when visible was a very prudent and practical way of executing this mammoth task of a lockdown.

ICMR had also categorically told the PMO that ‘sooner the better’ and PM was quick to bring this on from 24^th March 2020 itself. Many within the country predicted doomsday for the country’s economy, but what good is economic wealth if people are dead?

“People come first” – if this can be the mantra for a successful organization, why can’t this be extended to a country? And, this is precisely what PM Modi said “Jaan hai to Jahan hai” which he later tweeked it to “Jaan hai aur Jahan bhi hai”!

Lockdown means differently to each one of us and the feelings just cannot be generalized.  It is very personal and private! Can one prepare for this isolation? I don’t think so…but, my experience with retired life effective from 1^st January 2019 came in  handy, I would think. The first five months of 2019 were totally devoted to my mother as a care giver…she was diagnosed with cancer of the colon in stage IV in December 2018. Each day was hectic with issues that we hadn’t encountered before. In hindsight, we are thankful that this pandemic problem did not occur in 2019…the constant and daily flow of nurses, doctors, relatives and friends not only kept us busy, but helped in cheering up the gloomy minds. The very thought of having to manage a terminally ill patient at home during a lockdown sends shivers up my spine! My thoughts and prayers go out to all those people who have ailing parents at home and those who need full time care and support. These are very difficult times.

Initially, the word ‘Lockdown’ would cause a panic attack – back of the mind there was always a fear that groceries and provisions would become scarce since people resort to panic purchases. Watching neighbors purchase much more than what is normally necessary triggers a desire to buy and not be left behind. While the shopkeepers kept reiterating that everything would be available as usual, social media and local news channels would intentionally create a doubt in the mind. Once a couple of days passed and supply appeared to be normal, the mind eased a bit and we started concentrating on how to use the available time. Quite a few activities crossed my mind, but one of them stood out. Having indulged in cutting and sewing, it was my desire for a long time to stitch a kurta for myself. A gents kurta is a tricky one and not as simple as a womens kurti. One needs to study the finer nuances in measurement and cutting to get it right.

Thankfully, YouTube has a whole lot of videos on how to cut and stitch a gents kurta. I spent my initial time watching the various videos and narrow it down to two of them. I used the method demonstrated in these two videos to use an old 2 meter cloth piece to measure and cut. I wasn’t careful with my first test piece and ended up short on the cloth. I didn’t have enough cloth to stitch the two side pouch pockets. In my second attempt however with another 2 meter cut length, I was able to cut the cloth according to availability and had sufficient material to stitch the two side pouch pockets. Both of them came out pretty well. The first one I kept for myself and the second one was gifted. I was able to keep myself busy for almost two full weeks learning, measuring, cutting and stitching. A time well spent. Now, I feel I can stitch for any person willing to take a chance with me!

Although we were aware that there was a possibility of the lockdown getting extended, we weren’t sure for how long and what would be the long term consequences of this. I have been wondering what would be the new normal post 30^th April 2020!

Would it mean that most IT and ITES businesses would work from home for a longer duration, maybe another 2 to 3 months? Manufacturing, Infrastructure development (including the construction industry) and Agriculture would necessarily have to restart, perhaps cautiously in the beginning and in staggered phases . Education field will probably see a major transformation from classroom lectures to online virtual classroom. We observe that many institutions have already made this change and students are beginning to like it. It takes away the painful travel time in the crowded roads – the dust and grime can be given a permanent good bye! With majority of them cellphone and social media savvy who make the best use of technology, this is a great relief.

The travel, tourism and hospitality sector may take a heavy toll – there is a likelihood of marked decrease in travel and tourism. Another aspect in our lives that will take a huge beating is the pleasure of a face-to-face meeting and chatting. Covid-19 has snatched this one thing that is dear to all human beings.

Malls and the mall culture may totally vanish from our lives. Jai ho to Kirana stores in India. They certainly have survived and through them we have survived in this lockdown period.

It remains to be seen whether the advice of our doctors worldwide on ‘Social Distancing’ will make us win this waiting game between humanity and the Covid-19. Till such time the scientific, diagnostic and research folks come out with a solution by way of pills and a vaccination in the long term, we shall remain at the mercy of this unseen and invisible enemy. It just takes a tiny virus and its single minded focus to bring the entire humanity to its knees! That’s the power of “Nature” for us Humans…

We thought that we were invincible, till this tiny creature arrived on the scene and said “Ab hum agaye hain, tumlog ab side ho jao”!!