So let's take an analysis of the 16th day into the Lockdown and let's get on with it. The world has changed !! The white man is no more invincible, the mask and veneer came off pretty fast, when push came to shove and when the odds were against them it was each man and each ventilator to himself. So, in the end, COVID19 is a great leveler, it strikes 10 Downing with as much impunity as it does the Bare bhai ka kurta and chotey bhai ka pyjama
Tablighi: Will the world change? Let's see. Will we stop celebrating Diwali with hazardous Chinese crackers and Holi with cheap Chinese Pichakaris?_ Depends on the profit-driven traders who ask for cheap stuff from China. Will we revert to Diyas and Aarti and Sivakashi crackers? Let's see !! Will we emerge like Japan after world war with the bodies broken but souls intact? Remains to be seen. But what's changed amid all the confusion? Well, let me tell you, the poor Hindi Heartland daily wager simply slung his bag and hoisted his child on his shoulder, his wife in tow, he did not beg, nor did he pick a stone and flung it at the skyscrapers he helped build. He passed through the middle income and rich colonies calm and composed, he was at peace with his the situation in the scheme of things. He did not blame the system or the government for his situation. Deeply ingrained within Indian subconscious, but alien to western minds is the philosophy, that it was ordained as per destiny. He, with resilience, was ready to march 500 km to his village because of that was home. Was he not welcome where he already was, because he was not a voter? Time to ponder. Is it the time to use COVID to change things press the Reboot button.
As we are progressing as an independent nation the world is acknowledging that there is a method to the madness in the idea of India. When the president of the greatest power in the world resorted to bullying and the probable perpetrator of the crisis is being seen as a prevaricator, it is the unique character of India which is emerging. What course this crisis will take remains to be seen, too early to sing paeans or write epitaphs. But some things emerge when the crisis precipitated. It was not global markets or Amazon which came to your aid, it was the local kiranawala, the local rickshawwala and the local policeman. It surprisingly also reposed faith in the maligned Police and Sarkari health care system and Air India. Despite the odds, they held their ground, the state government bus drivers delivered when it counted most, the Sanitary workers reported for duty, the power grid did not fail and the poor underprivileged have continued to plod on.
It's for us to decide whether to carry on post-COVID as if all's well and regain lost space or to Make changes that were long in the offing. Respect for the labour, realising that in the next crisis the slum poses a greater threat to the high rise, reverting to Indian traditions of hygiene which the world is aping today, be it the lowly Namaste to washing hands to removing shoes to regular bathing rituals to even cremation rituals. Is it time to build hospitals and secure our next generation by becoming hubs of medical tourism and education strongholds, the isolated students will bear testimony. Or it's back to Chalta Hai!! It's for us to decide.
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