What if ?

Last few weeks have probably the most difficult to me as an Indian than any other in the last 40 years. I have been asking myself so many 'what if' questions, as in hindsight we were utterly careless, casual and ill prepared for the second wave. I was angry with the government for not having infrastructure and enough vaccines to take care of the second wave, I was angry with the citizens for not taking social distancing seriously and being Vaccine deniers. I was angry with businesses and enforcement agencies who did not follow the COVID protocols.

But then I remembered a story I had read some where ' What if 9/11 had never happened' because the intelligence department got hold of the plans and avoided the tragedy altogether!! Would we have given 9/11 the same kind of importance. Would we have put in the checks and controls in place that we have now if 9/11 had not happened.

This is a crisis and a tragedy that we could have done without. But then what if the second wave never happened?

• And we would have subsidized the Vaccine manufacturers to scale up operations
• And we would have kept the malls closed
• And we would have not allowed religious gatherings
• And postponed all elections
• And postponed all exams

Would this not have resulted into governments and politicians across the spectrum being accused of Crony capitalism, Anti business Anti Religious, Anti faith, Fascist and playing with the careers of young generations?

A lot has changed over the last few weeks. People I knew who had outright denied that they will take the vaccine are now scrambling to get these vaccines by skipping the queue.

The Second wave has brought reality home. There is demand from the nation that govts support the Vaccine manufacturers to scale up their operations. I don't think a lot of religious places will be getting crowded very soon, I see masks back, not on the chin and neck but on the nose. I now see the medical infrastructure being ramped up across cities towns and villages.

How many of us sit back and think about the decision making process and its impacts. What if these decisions were postponed or never taken. Do we ever give it a thought and give enough credit to all the decisions that were taken that may have averted all the future crisis?

'What if' is an important question that we must ask ourselves when we take or delay a decision but more importantly it is an important question we should ask when we judge or question a decision.

We only tend to credit people who take us from a crisis into safety but do our cultures allow for crediting people who may have through their decisions stopped the crisis in the first place

'WHAT IF' THIS SECOND WAVE NEVER CAME?