The Call of D

Day 1.2 - The call of duty

Into each life comes a time when a choice has to be made. Between being selfish or altruistic. Being scared and being bold. Growing cold feet or being inspired.

For India, the time is now. Against the worst imaginable threat in modern history that mankind has ever faced; we as a nation have made a choice. 

It is too early to understand the sheer logistics that would be required to feed a population of 1.36 billion for a period of three weeks. To implement this is going to require a significant amount of creative thinking on the part of each state within the nation. It also requires empathy and compassion from those in positions of authority who are assigned to impose such a discipline. 

Unlike the usual use of force against a recalcitrant group, this requires a nudge for the already panicking families and individuals to maintain decorum and wait for their turns as and when the supplies are made available.  

The compassionate approach is best demonstrated by the southern state of Kerala which has been on its toes since the initial breakout - from identifying the patients to putting in place protocols for identification, isolation and treatment of the patients. They tracked every person who came into contact with the infected persons using the Google maps timeline of the infected and published the same through social media so that people who were in the vicinity could self-identify their risk and turn up for screening.  The police reached every home in Kerala and distributed blank affidavit forms for people to use for going out for their daily needs.

Hope rest of the states emulate such initiatives. 

As for the high emotional quotient required, the Mumbai police are to be appreciated for their polite interactions with the public; much of it is a reflection upon the generally disciplined inhabitants of the city.

A probable approach for a disciplined lockdown would be to isolate parts of the cities and countryside into clusters; here only the inhabitants would be allowed to move for buying their groceries, vegetables, milk and medicines. And only the supplies trucks would be allowed into the area to supply the already existing grocery shops, medical stores and supermarkets. 

The supply chains for these basic necessities will have to be made operational with minute planning by the administration and private public stakeholders. In times as dire as these, we Indians have the innate ability to extend our hands to the less fortunate. The repeated natural catastrophes have seen people band together and cooperate in wonderfully touching ways that one may wonder whether these were the same people squabbling over minor issues in better times.

The name of this write up is Call of Duty; it is our call of duty to make this nationwide lockdown a success.  Any failure in this will leave us facing death, disease and financial disaster of unimaginable proportions. For a vast majority, this duty consists of remaining indoors and finding creative ways to keep everyone at home cheerful and healthy.  Never in the past has it happened that people - used to the rat race of rushing off to work and coming home late and crashing into the bed - are given a chance to take 21 days off but with the condition that they have to stay home and give up all the social activities that were taken for granted.

There goes the eating out, the gathering at the roadside tea stall, the quiet drink at the bars, the Friday night clubbing, the long drives, the shopping malls, the movies, the canoodling on the seafront, the drug scene, the hustling, the concerts, the dramas, the tuition classes, the schools, the kitty parties, the canteen and the water cooler gossip. Here comes the closed quarters of the four walls, getting on each other's nerves, children getting antsy, teenagers mooning, brooding and scowling, husbands berating wives, wives regretting having consented for marriage, elderly demanding attention, lovers sundered apart, time hanging heavy and often meals adding weight.

Isn't it ridiculous how much of modern life we are ready to cast aside when it comes to a matter of life and death. 

This is as far as the better off socio economic segments are concerned.

For the more unfortunate segments, most of whom live twelve to a room in the slums and impoverished huts in the villages, hope there are plans drawn up by the administration. The altruists among us will do our best but the heft and sheer reach of the government machinery is the greatest advantage we have, as seen from the wonderful responses and rapid action rescue operations during times of natural disasters. 

Then there is this small minority among us who are forming part of the essential services. The doctors, nurses, other medical personnel, the district administration, the police, the suppliers and sellers of grocery, vegetables, milk and medicines, the power company workmen, the fuel pump workmen, the truck drivers, the garbage collectors, the internet service providers, the media, the back office IT support workers, the banks, insurance companies, the financial market players, the paramilitary, the customs, the Reserve Bank of India and so on. 

For us the call of duty means facing the work ahead without fear, taking appropriate precautions and getting the task done. Today we are all soldiers on the war front. This time the enemy is invisible and we don't know where it will strike. But we know who it is and what it does.  We should be proud that a call has been given to each one of us in this battle of the century, a battle none of us can afford to run away from. 

The coming days are going to be an adventure of a lifetime for all of us. 

Today, I am that soldier.

© R. Sudhakar