Springs on Corona!

Lets start with another Haiku, this time of even greater longing!

Sakura Blooms Across Seven Seas

Making Plums Reminisce in some distant Mountains

Land awaits back our return!

Full 1 year ago, I had published this article having just belabored into a real and active lockdown of pandemic proportions in India. Now a full year into the global catastrophe, with an indecisive phase staring us all in the face again, am redeeming this Haiku in reverse order.

Throughout this lockdown, the world turned upside down, so like how the poet Kabir once spoke of in the laconic Ulat-Baansee style of receiving the yogurt before the milk, milk before the calf, calf before the cow and so on. In this up-side down world of 'logic' and epistemology, reason appears to lift its weary head again hoping it is not put down to sleep for another year of global miscalculations.

One has lost a lot in the last one year; one has gained a lot in the last one year!

So, in the pandemic springing up again or is human health cut its ticket goodbye? Leaders come in leaders go out, politics stays. In India, over the last 3 months, thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of farmers kept up the protest at the gates of Dilli, with little or no care for the pandemic.

Strangely, in the last 3 months or so two interesting events are observed -

1. At the time of the protests, media houses were doused down in terms of Corona Numbers, hardly any news came in about the dreaded spread. Government had its hands full of farmers and draconian measures a good 6 months ago suddenly meant nothing! What about the migrants who died walking 1000s of kilometers back to their homes in April-May 2020? So, if the disease is so dreaded, and people were locked down to prevent them falling dead like autumn leaf fall, where are the dead bodies on the street after months of these protests? Oh, I get it, it is the rampant recovery rate (correlated R-value?) which is 90%+ in the country, I guess there are very many other dreads which can kill us, and just not this mutant virus!
2. Now with a few elections around the corner in India - municipal, state and all - why is there panic in the media all over again and all of a sudden there is a spurt in Corona news again, with some state governments "threating" lockdown and stringent measures. Do the politics not have any other topic of interest than the "use" the Corona ruse against the people again?

What about those who are considered Vulnerable (seniors, low immunity, patients etc.)? Well, the last 1 year has taught us, that they are to be protected regardless of COVID. Just like the roads are full of idiotic drivers, and we have to protect ourselves, similarly those who are vulnerable can protect themselves with utmost measures, have neighbors, relatives, friends, state/people support their needs and the world can go on. The strange rules of the pandemic - more than 3 people in a room can cause the pandemic to spread but 2 people cannot! - have taught us to deal with such situations now, right? Do we get lackadaisical, of course not, the last year has taught us about cleaning hands, masks, Zoom calls etc., so we have had training enough now too! Or is it?

Such are the questions of our times! A good 1 year ago, India's leading epidemiologist (cited in the article above) went on the record to state that the lockdown was no good, and the only way was it let the disease take its course over the population to what is now agreed as "Herd Immunity" but back then was refuted by medical experts who had the ears of the Politicos in Power. Now, has this become a potent tool in the hands of those who wield power, to use it to foster control of the citizens? It remains to be seen.

The good man, having spoken a year ago, is still helping us understand that the current affairs on the COVID-19 spread is not to worry about, I just hope the Power-ears now have his words fall in the right places!

Now if this expert reason is not sufficient, then what is? I would go for Dr. Muliyil and his gut feel about new variants causing a spring in the step of Corona-reasoning. To me that is reason enough to continue life, with caution, as before. If not, this problem continues to spiral on more complex pathways, with now even the vaccine itself caught in a political quagmire and slugfest of rich vs poor, when the focus should be on healing (and not just for the Pandemic!). Alas, some get rich with the sweat of their brow and cost of their marrow, and some get rich over the misery of others, the world continues unabated!

A bee sting is also a vaccine, so is a mosquito bite - getting CORONA and healing yourself is also a vaccine, so why is it that logical reasoned people all across the world are assuming the vaccine to be the "cure"? It is the human body which cures itself the vaccine simply triggers a minor disease explosion in the body, no matter what strain of the virus or bacteria or fungi!! But who wants to listen to reason! Do we rely on a vaccine to trigger our immunity (health?) which is already within us, then scare ourself into otherwise?

400000 people in India die of tuberculosis, even during the lockdown, it was not uncommon to see people sliding down masks to smoke that dreaded "cancer causing" cigarettes, which not just slowly and expensively kills the smoker but anyone inhaling passive smoke! It is almost as if the old adage "One drop of Nicotine and 1000 drops of water kills all germs" (in the lungs) is an acceptable reason for Corona now? Well, here is a useful futuristic gem which was filmed in 1961, which reasons this irony quite well!

1 year hence, I would continue to redeem the words of the good man Dr. Jayaprakash Muliyil and hopefully sense will prevail. For now, have to move in the direction in which more farmers continue to find reason to grow safe and nutritious food for the population, which to be honest is the "cure" for such future pandemics. As one of the wise trainees in Nigeria had so rightly indicated -

If the (organic) food is not your medicine, then soon (modern) medicine will become your food!

Just this is reason enough for me to continue down the path of thorns, as I did a full 1 year ago to date.

So, until the next Sakura blossoms, I hope we can continue relying on our farmers to produce safe food, help with our healthy and immunity. Sometimes, just a simple smile and a good night sleep can go a long-long way in ensuring our safety against diseases, than a jab! Let's see which spin the world turns to from this point on.

Poignant enough to move on with life or not? Are you still in Love (with farming) in the Times of Corona? You decide!