POWER OF INVISIBLE  VIRUS- TOTAL LOCK DOWN OF COUNTRIES

I sincerely hope our sycophant   genius public has comprehended the serious call  given by our Hon’ble Prime  Minister  for nationwide lock down to save  our own self, our family and thus our nation. Last call for Janata  Curfew  was  taken  as an action for pleasing the P.M and  the way the  crowds celebrated  on the road made it clear their  ignorance of the serious message given.

The message for staying home for 21 days to possibly defeat the spread of this virus was given forcefully and repeatedly  but the idea of  staying at home for these many days is like a punishment for the modern generation .

My generation grew up  on different parameters. For us home was synonym of happiness and enjoyment. All activities like festivals, marriages , outings  and even daily routine of meals were enjoyable only with family which did not have the modern day narrow definition of family. How many of the modern day children have experienced  picnics, outings , visits to religious festivals, group games , river boating and  days of marriage celebrations with siblings ,extended family and friends ? Our childhood was full of such activities and the word “ boredom” was not in our dictionary.   Marriages were celebrated with enthusiasm not only by  the family but even  by  the neighbours  it used to be an occasion for excitement  .  The most fascinating  wedding  in my memory is  the wedding of my  friend’s  Doll where all ceremonies  continued for days like real wedding with many guests . The groom came in a “Buggy” drawn by two horses with Police Band. The excitement  level  can not be compared with  any modern day destination marriage. The most amazing coincidence  I discovered later in  life was  that my husband was a Baraati (Groom’s Party) in that doll’s wedding  where  I  was  from the Brides side.

The present grave situation is  giving several serious messages and now it is up to us humans to listen to the warning and survive.

The first clear message is telling us how fragile human race is. We humans , are pretending to be so powerful ,  creating  weapons of mass destruction but an invisible virus could bring the world on its knees in no time. The myth  of being a super Race and  the dream of taking control of  other nations  after this pandemic  should be given up for good.

 Another message is the futility of the modern day commercial  rat race . When we humans are so vulnerable , what  good is our accumulation of  wealth  by any means? The crisis has totally changed the perspective of the rich and the poor as now both are equally  helpless and scared of the corona virus facing similar situation.

Most important message which needs to be followed is that  people should give up the fanaticism of religion and fighting in the name of religion. All places of worship are in lock down . Our homes are the places where we  can  pray  for the safety of our family and the country . Therefore it is essential that  all talks of Mandir, Masjid and fighting over religion should end  for ever. If you can manage for 21 days of your life without these places of worship  surely survival will be more peaceful in future without combating for religion.

This 3 week’s lockout  will also make it clear to the people how  we can simplify our life style going for need based purchases instead of greed based  life style. One actually needs very little for survival and happiness.

Finally the realization should come that continuous abuse of  Nature always results in disaster.  Instead of destruction  and modification of Nature we should learn to live in harmony with Nature for our own good.

CORONA VIRUS, TOPIC OF THE WORLD TODAY

For the last few weeks the whole world is moving towards a total  shut down due to the shocking appearance of  Corona Virus or Covid -19 with its multiple dangers and repercussions on global economy, health, culture and social life.

This is not the first time that the world is facing  a calamity of such proportion and doomsday forecasts in the form of videos and articles are becoming a regular feature. The 21^st century began with the forecast of the World ending on 1^st January 2000 and a huge public believed in its actual happening and seriously waited for the end in India!

The jolt given by Corona Virus may force the people  world over to introspect and find out  why such disasters are taking place so regularly and do we humans need to change to survive or continue following the same path and perish.

The main reason behind such  disasters is human greed and its lust to conquer the world and Nature. The entire History of countries are full of wars fought to capture other countries or to prove their supremacy as a Race . The biggest  blunder is the constant abuse of Nature. Having mastered the land, sea , sky , mountains and even space  with the scientific  inventions human beings are not satisfied and countries are perpetually in a race to be  the most powerful in the world. The natural outcome is fighting Wars directly or helping proxy wars among  various countries.

Countries that created most advanced weapons of destruction prospered by supplying  them to the countries aspiring to become advanced.  In ancient times wars were fought by brave soldiers on the battlefield but now two warring countries are fighting with invisible  support from  weapon supplying countries creating immense suffering to their citizens. Nobody  is trying to change this instead more advanced scientific research is being carried out to find  ways to destroy countries without fighting actual wars . Nano technology and bio warfare are two  examples of this mindset. I had read a novel in which the Nano , almost invisible, weapons created  were so potent it melted  huge number of human bodies , a really scary scenario.  The news of a book published in 1981 describing  China  creating Virus in a laboratory to destroy other cities is  being circulated , seems to prove that the experiment failed and  boomeranged  .

One thing is sure writers anticipated and imagined the future situations quite correctly. The monster Frankenstein was  imagined by Mary Shelley as early as 1818 and it may be a reality someday.   Similarly  English Writer George Orwell’s dystopian novel  1984  could describe very accurately in his book about the life of citizens if the state took over the privacy and freedom of its citizens , people  in several countries behind Iron curtains faced  this situation  in their life .

Panic about pandemic is not going to help. We all know one has to leave this world someday. The way there are various modes of transportation in life to travel there are several ways to leave this world like accidents, disease , old age ,natural disasters and epidemics. Best way to deal  with any difficult situation is to  take recommended precautions and   to have faith in destiny. Spreading fear is the worst kind of overreaction.

One thing is sure , Corona virus will be remembered as the greatest uni-fier of the century for countries are collaborating like never before  and it has obliterated the class distinction .The president of the most powerful country is as  vulnerable as a common man of any poor country.

Let me end this blog on a lighter, optimistic note. The mathematical predictions about the Corona Virus is that 1 person can give the virus to 100 persons easily therefore if  one reader of my blog circulates it to 99 others the blog will go viral.

Quick Solution of Big Issues

In all the ancient Civilizations the THINKER was the most important and most respected figure for his ideas and preaching  were followed by the common people.  India was far ahead  intellectually of other countries .Our History is full of such great minds in the field of religion, science , mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, literature and to enumerate their names in a blog is impossible.

In our modern times thinking and spreading high moral ideas are reduced to mindless forwarding messages on Social Media as if those good ideas are to be followed by others  and the sender is following them .

The most regrettable feature of our times is the disdain for intellect and intellectuals.  There is a story about Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb that he hated music . Once a funeral procession was passing by his palace and he enquired about  who  had died , some one  informed him it  was the Janaaza (cortege) of  music and Aurangzeb ordered  that it should be buried so deep that it may never come out.  Many modern  “intellectuals haters” would like to prescribe the same treatment to “intellect”

Philosopher like Descartes  proved the existence of self by proclaiming Cogito Ergo Sum , I think therefore I am.

This mindset was bound to happen because  when there are minimum qualifications like education ,skill and experience are  in place for the lowest positions in any field  but  for the position of Neta there is no set  of such requirement.

This fact brings  me to another  very interesting  observation. We the public elect people for solving problems of the common men which is a herculean task.  So  our innovative people have mastered the art of playing the game  how to reduce a small line without resorting to erasing any  part? The simple answer is draw a bigger line by the side of it. In Politics our Opposition believes that  their only task is to oppose whatever  action is taken by the Ruling party and this in the long run has created a scenario where one problem is automatically replaced by another like the changing Acts in a Drama.

 Let me illustrate the point after general election there were  lots of  issues  raised,  creating  genuine  tension, like slowdown in economy, lack of jobs  farmers distress , in came Citizen Amendment Bill  and Pro & Anti CAA  protests  spread in various parts of the country  successfully removed the other problems from the scene and Media relentlessly brought  CAA  to the center  stage.  The prolonged national attention from CAA disappeared only when Delhi Riots took place followed by Corona Virus & YES BANK Fiasco . Let us simply wait for something more attention drawing to take place .

Can there be any more simpler  way to deal with  problems ? 

Views expressed by an  ORDINARY WOMAN

www.urmilabhargava.com