CORONA is not a laughing matter – The lighter side – 30

CORONA is not a laughing matter – The lighter side – 30

The worst of the deadly virus, Corona is over, let us hope. The unlocking of India in phases will start tomorrow, June 1, with the 5^th phase of the mechanism to fight the menace. In Punjabi we say “Bhog Pai Gaya” – The Antim Ardas. It will be my last blog on the

lighter side of the situation as “Bhog Pa Ditta”. Life will go on. We are to live with the situation for some more time. Meanwhile, the redeeming news is that there are reports that our health scientists, Pfizer of the USA and Sun Pharma of India, are nearing to develop a much called for vaccine to check and kill the virus. Let us pray for their success.

As of today, we stand at number 8 or 9 in the world with regard to the fallout of the pandemic with more than 1 lakh 85 thousand positive cases and 5 thousand deaths. The mortality rate, fortunately,  in India stands at 2.4% as compared to about 6% globally. The recovery rate is encouraging with more than 40%. We have done well in the fight against the virus in spite of many of our inherent problems of poverty, illiteracy and fatalistic approach due to religious dogmatism etc. Anyway, there was no easy solution. Governments, generally, did well except the one glaring and visible failure to handle the issue of migrant workers. Their misery and

hardships on the road definitely gave a sad commentary on the so called ‘democratic and welfare state’ credentials and claims of our administrators and the society. I have been writing in my blogs that it would have been better if the central government would have undertaken the work of transporting the workers with better coordination and avoidable confusion among the states. But why it was not done is anybody’s guess. On the contrary, the legal officers, Solicitor General of India, of the Central government were seen justifying the failure in the highest court of the country, Supreme Court of India. Let us hope the worst is over and there will be no more politics on this human tragedy. PM Narendra Modi’s government has completed one year of its second term of office yesterday, May 30. I read with interest a long letter he wrote to “We the people” of India listing mainly the achievements and successes of the government and obliquely referring to the challenges ahead. The Jumlas like “Jan Shakti”, “Rastra Shakti” and “Sabka Saath – Sabka Vikas – Sabka Vishwas” sound very good. But, unfortunately, the ground reality indicates that we are drifting from the constitutional norms stipulated by our forefathers in running the day to day administration. We must remember that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar termed such a situation as “Grammar of Anarchy”. We ought to mend our ways and save the country.

Now, all said and done, in this last piece on the lighter side of Corona virus, let me quote a renowned columnist Karan Thapar who wrote in the Hindustan Times of today, May 31, under the banner “How Laughter Got Me Through the Lockdown”. He wrote, “On the assumption that today is the last day of the lockdown, I thought it might be fun to recall what we have just lived through. If like me, you marvel at the fact we were able to make light of it, humour was our best support. With my blogs, I tended to be supportive in my own humble way.

Some of the latest gems in this regard:-

The tipplers provided many good occasions to laugh as:

डॉक्टर: तुम गटर में कैसे गिर गए?
शराबी: क्या बताऊं डॉक्टर साहब, बिना ढक्कन की खुली गटर को गलती से सोशल डिस्टेन्सींग का सर्कल समझ बैठा था!

We Indians are always positive to find a desi solution to the ills:

कोरोना अगर इस भीषण गर्मी से भी नहीं मरा तो...
बरसात के पानी में डूब कर मर जाएगा, धैर्य रखें!

A telling commentary on the economic fallout of the virus – unemployment:’

कहने के लिए तो पिछले 60 दिन से कोई रोड पर नहीं आया लेकिन
हकीकत ये है कि कई लोग रोड पर आ गये हैं!

The virus has created a scare among the public and people are afraid of each other. Somebody has rightly explained:-

अब तो आदमी भी आदमी से डरने लगा है....
औरत से तो पहले ही डरता था!

The lovers have their own romantic funda to fight the virus:-

आज का ज्ञान:
सोशल डिस्टेंसिंग का ध्यान रखते हुए ही बहुत पहले से "Flying Kiss" का आविष्कार हुआ था!

As usual, I conclude this with a poetic expression in a lighter vein:

Woh Paas Se Guzarti Hai To Dil Mehak Jata Hai;
Pehle Perfume Ki Khushbu Aati Thi Ab Sanitizer Mehakta Hai!

Gulzar Sahib is known to put things in the right perspective: