This refers to your cover story Losing Sanity?. It is difficult to stay composed as the world falls apart, but we must keep striving. I have written some verses about this.
Like all of you,
I am being told to welcome,
Each dusk, each dawn
Savour, they say,
Every moment,
Forget things bygone.
Suddenly there is
A premium on life.
Rumours are rife,
Some say, clap
Some say, chant
Yet others recommend,
The power of an esoteric plant.
Like all of you
I am a little nervous,
Sad and mirthless.
I know I am at a sniffing distance
Of this little big virus
That attacks one and all,
Without any prejudice or bias.
Bored, I fret and fume
Oh God, why so much gloom?
Don’t get me wrong
I mean to write no swansong.
It is not death I fear,
However close,
It may appear.
What terrifies me is loss,
How to come to terms
With this tragedy gross!
Even if I survive,
How will I live with this trauma,
This turmoil,
An entire civilisation on boil.
Oh God, such immense
loss!
Whichever way the coin lands,
Heads up or tails,
I stand to lose the toss.
Sangeeta Kampani, New Delhi
The pandemic was imminent as humans have been destroying nature for centuries. It seems as if the earth is now shut for much-needed repairs. The sky is so blue, the water in Venice’s canals crystal clear, and dolphins and whales are visible off the Mumbai coast. What thousands of crores of rupees couldn’t do, the lockdown did—clean the Yamuna and Ganga to a great extent. Our world, however, remains divided into more than 200 quarters, barred by the wires of visas and passports. About a hundred individuals and their companies hold more than half of the world’s resources. They have not learned any lessons from previous pandemics and continue their self-centric, divisive agendas. Human grit and determination may soon deliver a vaccine for coronavirus, but unfortunately, there is no vaccine for the more deadlier viruses of hate, animosity, divisiveness and discrimination.
Rakesh A., On E-Mail
This refers to your story The Economy And The Virus. Thanks to demonetisation and GST, the economy was already in a terrible shape. Now with the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdown, things are only going to get worse—not just for India, but for the entire world. I wonder what life will be like once the threat of coronavirus passes.
Alok Kumar, Greater Noida
The way the government of India is handling this pandemic is not just highly inept, but also insensitive to the core. Millions of poor, deprived and hungry people have been left at the mercy of of a few men who have failed them. These impoverished millions are being treated as criminals, condemned to rush back to their homes, creating a scene reminiscent of Partition. Alas, there is a pattern in this madness: first, Modi tested the obedience of the people on March 22 and after being totally satisfied, he declared a national lockdown two days later with just a four-hour notice! This impromptu announcement reminds one of demonisation, which he used to quell dissent and opposition. As we cannot expect him to share any long-term plan or vision for the tattered economy, we will be condemned to live in a dark tunnel for a very long time. And, there is no light visible at the other end!
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
This refers to your cover story Ration State (April 13). The lockdown was declared on March 25 and the number of COVID-19 cases in the country then was 721. According to a media report, had the lockdown been not imposed on March 25, the number of cases would have been 5,000 after 10 days; and 30,790 in the next 20 days. The imposition of the nationwide lockdown is a wise and timely action. Lockdown has made life difficult, but governments are trying hard to cope with the situation by transferring money to people’s accounts and delivering rations to them. A ground report from a village in UP says that if all goes well and the bumper crop reaches the home of the farmer, the rural economy will shine. Your cover story narrates the difficulties faced by farm producers in selling their produce as well as in inter-state movement. The priority of the governments, Centre included, should be to remove hurdles and restore the supply and delivery chains of farm produce.
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
By organising a religious conference during the coronavirus outbreak, the Tablighi Jamaat cast prudence to the winds. It is true that the event preceded the ban on large gatherings in Delhi and the national lockdown. Still, the Jamaat should have shown prescience and farsightedness, and called off the conference beforehand. At the same time, it is wild exaggeration to say that the Jamaat deliberately “sabotaged the lockdown” and “spiked the spread of the disease”. Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s description of the religious gathering as a “Taliban-type crime committed on purpose” is clearly beyond the pale. The terms “Covidiots” and “super spreaders” are religion-neutral and not problematic, but “corona jihadists” reeks of Islamophobia and Muslim bashing. It is wrong to use a health crisis to open religious faultlines and malign an entire community for what a bunch of Covidiots did. The last thing India needs during a pandemic is communal politics or polarisation of society. This is the time to be united and single-mindedly fight the virus.
David Milton, Maruthancode
