THE CRITICAL ONE PERCENT WHO CAN SAVE INDIA FROM CORONA VIRUS

THE CRITICAL ONE PERCENT WHO CAN SAVE INDIA FROM CORONA

By

Lt Gen PG Kamath

The Pandemic is raging and has engulfed several nations with much better medical facilities than our country. There is no place for the bodies in morgues in Italy. The country is buying private lands in the countryside for burying her dead. The US is waging an intense battle. Spain and France are fighting losing battles. In India, the day we reach stage 3 then there would be mayhem. People will die in their homes/streets/ without medical help. I shudder to even think of the consequences. The number of health staff or the facilities would not be able to meet even a fraction of the requirement. All that one can do is to wait for the providence to deliver us either way; death or life?

Our nation with one of the highest densities of the population will be like an inferno. Urban cities are a nightmare. Slums, ghettoes, teeming with people where a family of 10 share a single room with common toilets; one can imagine what a fertile ground it would be for the COVID-19? More than 100 million live in six major cities in the country Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Of the 50 cities in the world with the highest density of population, India alone accounts for 23 of them. If the COVID-19 reaches the 3rd Stage; the local transmission will be an expanding centrifugal force which would gain momentum with passing hours.  I do not want to labour on this aspect anymore as each minute that is wasted now, we will pay for it dearly in terms of lives. Sorry for the unpalatable clairvoyance.

The decision taken for the national lockout could not have been a day later. It was a very bold decision and nearly 99 per cent of the population have understood and have accepted it. There are always few mischief makers who are out to fish in troubled waters. With such a diverse population, one has to accept it as social media is awash with false and alarming posts. Delhi government trying to send the migrant population out of Delhi and the avoidable chaos is a case in point. The point to remember is, it is the one per cent of the population who do not adhere to the rules of the game can cause mass carnage. The one per cent in our country is 13 million. If even .1 per cent of them are infected, it works out to 13000. If each of them spreads to even 10 people then a mammoth 1.3 lakh get infected. Now, look at the expanding torrents of the disease across the country. As per data as of now, the total affected are 1024 and the total deaths are 27. It roughly works out to 2.6 per cent. The fatalities for 1.3 lakhs affected could be as high as 3380; a ballpark estimate. I do not wish to further calculate if it goes beyond control. Hence it is the one per cent who do not adhere to the lockdown, who count. Policing has to be ruthless and strict to ensure that they adhere to the lockdown.  

The one per cent who do not obey the rules attach unfounded heroism to their violation. Greater your violation more popular you are, as a hero. Not wearing helmets is an act of dare with a vain hope that they would be seen by the girl he is smitten with, with adulation. Little wonder; she does not even know who the bloke is?  Risking your life by changing your routes on seeing a traffic police team ahead is again an act of adventure. Violating the curfew by riding around on the two-wheeler is considered a friendly prank. The other day, two youths who returned from Dubai, with a stamp of home quarantine on their hands were found playing cricket on the streets during the lockdown.

In Bangalore, where I live an obsession for vegetables has seized the populace.  Suddenly it appears that without vegetables the human race will perish. Unfortunately, the 21 days curfew started on the eve of the Karnataka New year ‘Ugadi’ and let me assure you at the cost of their lives they certainly would like to feast on that day. Corona’s presence or absence makes no difference to these multitudes as if death will pre-empt them in case they do not feast. Senior citizens instead of relaxing in their houses are out in the markets and on streets buying flowers, provisions, and other festival shopping; reasonably sure that they will not make it to the next Ugadi. Wet markets experienced energetic hordes of enthusiastic buyers ably supported by inspired vegetable vendors making social distancing a mockery. At most places, there were ten heads of young and old within a space of three feet, ensuring Corona Virus has a field day to glide from one victim to another without having to put in the extra effort required to jump the gap.  How very thoughtful of our citizens? 

Again, it was news to me that the next day to Ugadi, one is supposed to have a ‘Non-Vegetarian Feast’ with near and dear ones. Now, there was a fervent request from the public for the meat and fish shops to be opened. The Government should have told them to have rice and sambar and the feast can wait. Such professionalism; please do not expect; the government officials were falling head over heels to ensure the meat and fish shops remained open the next day. Oh, God Save our Country! You should know the Meat and Fish has to be eaten the next day to Ugadi ( Hosa Todaku), otherwise, an apocalypse will be unleashed on the planet earth and it could vanish from the cosmos. Soon the Bangaloreans were pushing and heaving at the meat shops. Covid 19 was relishing the variegated spread of throngs of Homosapiens in the markets. God knows how many dormant carriers have infected hundreds in their exuberance to devour a ‘Hosa Todaku’ feast?  

From my balcony, an old lady across the street strikes a conversation with me asking what this hullabaloo of Carona shoe factory coming back to production. She further asserted that it should not worry us as the company makes reasonable slippers, which she used in her yesteryears and it was certainly not dangerous then, as it has been made out to be now.  I quickly agreed with her and nodded vigorously, lest I have to tell her the entire tale starting from Wuhan, however, I still mustered courage and concern to shout back at her by telling it is always better to take precautions as times change.   

Yesterday, I saw another old lady in sport's shoes and saree trudging laboriously. You may call it her daily walk by stretching your imagination. From my balcony, I politely enquired whether she knew of the curfew? She looked at me bewildered as if wondering at my temerity to question her? Isn’t it her sole right to walk when and where she pleases? Of course; she knows of the Virus and gave me a look that made me believe that she has already developed a vaccine having worked on it in her makeshift lab in her kitchen and has quietly administered it on herself; hence, to be on the prowl during the curfew is her right. I again did not wish to start the tale from Wuhan down to this day; thinking of the ample time at the disposal of the Covid Virus to make a leap at me like Bob Beamon? Who knows the virus in her could be more athletic than those of which get inhibited by the three feet gap?

Even now the wet markets are open in the mornings. The people of Bangalore swarm and pile up in the markets. The main market was shut and opened at a college ground in a different location, in order to ensure the Corona can spread evenly in different parts of Bangalore.  Not one politician is stressing that eating only rice and dal will not kill them during the lockdown period. Some enterprising DCs have organised their districts reasonably well, however, Bangalore is a big chaos. Not one bureaucrat has a contingency plan to ensure that daily necessities are supplied to the public at their homes. There are enough grocery and vegetable shops in every locality and it just needs coordination to evolve a door delivery system. Fixed combos with grocery and vegetables can be packed separately in packets of ? 100/300/500 and delivered to the household. The bureaucracy just lacks the administrative skills to meet the public needs during the lockdown. Glad to see the politicians running around however, they do not have the support from lacklustre officials. I hope some light will dawn on the administration. Just heard in the news that truckloads of Sapotas, Grapes and Tomatoes are being thrown as the logistics to Bangalore has not streamlined during the lockout.  I really do not understand their administrative atrophy? I pray to God to deliver my country from the ordeal. I do not expect any door delivery to take place, soon. As someone has said that the only things that save us from bureaucracy is their inefficiency! So be it.

The tailpiece is the catchphrase; ‘Stay at home and fight Corona’. All of us know that while at home we only fight one species; slightly deadlier than Corona called ‘Wifeona’. If the lockdown extends to three months then deadliest of battles of Kurukshetra, Tanot, Panipat and Haldighati will be fought at homes. Better to pre-empt and make a truce on humiliating terms like the Treaty of Versailles; it may not last long but will certainly cover the possible three-month lockdown period. Remember, someone had said that treaties are scraps of paper; you can revive your hostility once the normal life resumes. Good Luck!