EDITORIAL
Covid-19 has turned into a gargantuan problem. Conspiracy theories surround its creation and lackadaisical attitude in some countries contributed to its burgeoning spread. In India, things were kind of getting into a semblance of order due to the 21-day lockdown imposed by the government, which got extended by a further three weeks. However, social distancing that was to be strictly followed during the period, to control the spread of the virus, was unfortunately not observed by a particular religious sect. It came to light when a member of the sect was found positive in Telangana. When his travel history was traced, it led to an obscure six-storied building in a densely packed lane of Nizamuddin which housed 2,600 members of the sect. When confronted by a posse of policemen, some of them turned hostile. A very large number of them when eventually tested, turned positive. In the meanwhile, several of them, belonging to practically all the states of the country, had left. They had ignored all the advisories, socially mingled with many people, and travelled throughout the country taking the bug along with them and caused its proliferation. The belief that God would protect them against all calamities was proved wrong when many of the sect’s members fell prey to this pernicious virus. While belief in God, irrespective of faith, is a spiritual healer, blind faith has its downside. God does not shower mercy on the stupid.
“Every day is not a Sunday” is a term that has seen several manifestations of usage over time. But one time it did not ring true was during the 6-week lockdown. I slept soundly, not having to worry about waking up early the next morning and preparing for the day’s schedule. We still had our schedule of bathing and eating three square meals. Added to that were some mundane chores like sweeping, swabbing, cooking, doing dishes, dusting, ironing clothes, which for our grandparents was part of their daily grind. However, increased prosperity over time has enabled the previous and present generations to outsource these tasks to a house help. With strict restrictions on the entry of help to the Society, these tasks fell back upon us. While at some point in time, older folks like me have done it in our lives and thus, it did not prove much of a sweat, for the millennials, housework was a new animal. Barring exceptions, they are loath to exert themselves and instead spend long hours with heads buried in their gadgets and watching movies on Netflix or playing games with friends elsewhere on Zoom and other sites. The generational gap was more evident at this time since we were all at home.
This lockdown has tested one’s nerves like never before. We are not used to restrictions placed on us. Consequently, denial of personal liberties and privileges which we normally take for granted is very constraining., I was at the receiving end of criticism from some residents who were peeved at the denial of certain rights. Viewed from their perspective, ‘the one size fits all’ restrictions placed by the Society had its obvious drawbacks, as it did not factor exceptional circumstances. As they say, in hindsight, everybody is wiser.
Not everything Covid-19 brought in its wake had a dark side. As John Milton wrote in his opus ‘Comus’, “every dark cloud has a silver lining” or words to that effect. The silver lining was the rediscovery of fresh, clean, breathable air, return to nature in full glory with rare animals and birds appearing in otherwise busy streets. Not the usual stray cows and dogs! In Kerala a Civet cat was spotted crossing the road; on the main Ooty-Coimbatore highway, a herd of spotted deer was seen relaxing on the road, another herd of spotted dear was seen ambling on Chandigarh-Kalka highway, an elusive black leopard made its presence in Coonoor and a pod of whales was found near Bombay High offshore rig. The common, but now elusive sparrow, also put in an appearance in our colony. I also spotted many birds that I have not had the privilege to witness in the past. I wish I had an ornithologist’s breadth of scholarship, to know their names and characteristics. Yet, it made for delightful viewing. At night, the stars shone brightly in the stark black background, not obscured by pollution or invading city lights. There was also this eerie silence as one stepped out for a walk, with the absence of incessant loud honking from unruly traffic. It was so refreshing. The snow-peaked Dauladhar Range was visible clearly from as far Jallandhar and the Yamuna river, which looks like a sewer at most times, seemed very clean and reflected the blue of the sky. At such times, I saw only the bright side of the lockdown. Nature has a way of telling us about our misdeeds. There is a need to recalibrate our lives. We need to slow down and become less materialistic to enjoy the best of nature. In exchange for temporary privations, we were rewarded with a vista of Nature’s bounty. The prophylactic properties of the sun, fresh air, and water are greater than any medicine man has invented. I am hopeful people will take cognizance of this and be willing to alter their lifestyle.
The economic fallout of this calamity is mind-boggling. Investors in the stock market have seen their profits vapourise in the collapse of the indices at the bourses. There are bound to be job losses, reduced salaries, and businesses going belly-up. People will begin questioning the enforced lockdown when things pan out negatively for them. The hockey-stick recovery model, at this point, seems like a mirage. Geopolitical power shifts may become more apparent. The robust western economies have shown a vulnerability that nobody anticipated. Whether India takes advantage of opportunities that this phenomenon will throw up, time alone will tell. Unfortunately, we have an opposition that sees only evil in the ruling party. This is the time, irrespective of ideological differences, to sing from the same hymn sheet, to cobble up a viable and robust recovery model. This could see the shift of manufacturing industry to India from China, on whom the whole world currently depends. Nations have realized that putting all eggs in one basket has made them vulnerable to China’s vicissitudes and power play. They are looking at a low-cost manufacturing base to diversify their portfolio. For that to be realized in India, there is a dire need for labour reforms. This is a hot potato in a polity that does not see eye to eye. However, if all these parties put their differences aside for a moment, this could possibly be a game-changer. My experience of witnessing democracies function around the world, and particularly in India, does not give me much hope. They are all sharks waiting for the ruling party to fail, to make a kill. This selfish trait is going to leave us bereft of any substantial progress.
What is worrying is if the pandemic is not controlled after 6 weeks of economic torpor and the resumption of normal life leads to a spike in the number of cases? Will we shut down again? If that happens, it will amount to economic hara-kiri. We would be better off to let the virus spread and lead to herd immunity. There would be casualties for sure, but the pandemic will be behind us for good. Like Rajiv Bajaj, MD of Bajaj Auto said, we could have only kept the vulnerable at home, closed all public spaces, and allowed the young and healthy to keep the wheels of the economy turning, taking the necessary precautions of wearing masks, observing hygiene, and maintaining social distance. Why have this condescending attitude that all Indians are a bunch of illiterates, ignorant and callous morons that need shepherding?
IMF has predicted that the Indian economy will grow this year only by about 1.9%. This is about 5% lower than the nominal growth rate that we have been witnessing over the last few years. The RBI, through various measures, pumped in about Rs. 4.5 lakh crore liquidity into the market to prevent bankruptcies and provide low-cost lending through Banks and NBFCs to kickstart the economy. This roughly translates to about 2.5% of the GDP. RBI needs to adopt a more avant-garde role for monetary policy easing, as the current situation is nonpareil and with this crisis are in totally uncharted territory. There need to be deeper cuts in repo rates, liquidity support, loan forbearance, a moratorium on repayments etc. amounting to about another Rs. 4 to Rs. 5 lac crores. The Government must also play tango with the central bank. Hitherto, the Government’s response on the fiscal side has been very anaemic, as the stimulus given out amounts to only about 0.5% of the GDP. When the crisis gets over, there will be a competition between the Centre and States to issue bonds to raise money, as both will face a liquidity crunch. Some of the states may offer better yields than the Centre and give fiscal prudence a go-by, especially if elections are anon. This will obviously increase the Central Government’’ deficit financing from 3.5% of the GDP to 6%. The deficit financing of the States is also likely to go up from 2.5% to 4%. Together, the gross deficit will total about 10% of the GDP. In the normal course, such a high deficit would lead to inflation, but with global oil and metal prices at historic lows, there is no better time for profligacy than now. We must reverse the demand side slide and counter the recessionary trends prevailing globally. Our reserves are at historic highs and with gold prices skyrocketing, RBI could sell bullion and capitalize on its peak levels and use the opportunity for arbitrage, as levels will taper down when the Covid-19 crisis eventually gets over. Now is the time to act and not miss the bus. If we do this, we will be one of the few economies that will come out of this crisis with flying colours. I had the audacity to send my suggestions to the PM and the RBI Governor. They must be wondering who is this nut? Who does he think he is? Anyway, I had to get my ideas off my chest and I just did it.
Folklore has vested in humans, a dread of ghosts that is often used by mothers to discipline their children. “The ghost who walks” is often used in apocalyptic horror movie templates. They are shown to glide through in spooky comics and films to terrorise communities. This form of terrorising people to return home has been used quite effectively in Indonesia against those who were breaking curfew during the Covid-19 crisis.
We have never had such salubrious weather in the latter half of March up until the fourth week of April as we have had now. What a shame that a lowly virus has negated any plans for a meaningful social interaction. One of the most anticipated events in our social calendar is the cooking competition that takes place at the end of March every year. I had received many entries from children and adults who were keen to showcase their culinary skills, before the competition was unceremoniously called off. Normally, by the end of March, participants are sweating as they work on their masterpieces, but this year, on the day the competition was to be held, there was a cool nip in the air. This lasted well unto the end of April when mornings and nights were very pleasant. We could very well have also fitted in a movie screening and pot-luck dinner. However, it was not meant to be. Alas, the Wuhan bug, euphemistically called Covid-19, conspired against us.
In the middle of the lockdown, the most dreadful of situations happened. The arterial pipeline that feeds all the tanks in the terrace had sprung a major leak from the coupling. Restrictions on movement prevented private contractors from coming and we were hopelessly dependent on the skeleton DJB staff who were on duty during the period of lockdown. This is when Mr. Murphy’s notoriety shone through. Those who have been victims of Murphy’s Law will bear this out. Lo and behold, it was Ram Navami and none of the DJB staff had come. We had to use the good offices of the local MLA to ensure that they came the next morning to fix the breach. At the best of times, being without water can be calamitous, but during a lockdown, it could have caused a riot within and outside the home! Thank God, we came away unscathed.
On 6th morning, seeing a bird in distress, snagged about 30 feet high in the net adorned over the grill separating St. George School and Yamuna, Prahlad, the local Spiderman (Anand Sundaresan’s nephew), clambered up the grill risking life and limb to rescue the bird. It turned out to be a green pigeon. He cleverly untangled the web with one hand and lowered the bird to safety. He brought the stricken bird home, nursed, and released it from captivity. It would have made Prahlad’s Brigadier father proud. This gallant feat will remain recorded for posterity in the Chronicle.
Forget overseas travel during the summer recess. There is also this lurking dread that domestic travel may also be perilous. Imagine being cooped up in our homes during Delhi’s face-melting heat. While the Thar desert is not quite as ferocious as the Sahara, whose notorious sirocco ravages sub-Saharan Africa and many littoral states in the Mediterranean, the loo and dust storms of Rajasthan are no less enervating. The blinding sun’s rays add to the discomfort. After the enforced lockdown due to Covid-19, we will willy-nilly go into a voluntary lockdown in summer to ward off heatstrokes.
During the lockdown the need for a barber was felt the most. Not accustomed to such perceived luxuries, I ventured to cut my own hair. In the process, I saved Rs. 100 on gratuity to the barber. While I did a reasonable job of the front and the sides, I had to rely on my daughter to do the honours at the rear. When she was done, she showed me the reflection in the mirror. What I saw sent me into shock. Instead of going east to west at the end of the hairline, it went north-east to south-west. I was afraid to tell her to correct it, lest she overcorrects and go south-east to north-west and so on, until I’d be left with no hair at all. To add insult to injury, I had to part with Rs. 500 for her effort.
Our respect for our wives and mothers must have gone up several notches during the lockdown. Due to the absence of maids, they have slaved from morning till night cooking three meals a day, doing the dishes, sweeping and swabbing the house, dusting, shopping for groceries, washing clothes, cleaning the bathrooms, and doing sundry other things. Office work and conference calls came in the way of my being of much help to my wife. I am sure the story was the same in other houses. Let us raise a toast to all the wives and mothers, without whom, the lockdown would have been like a prison sentence with hard labour. We should also salute the Doctors, nurses and other health workers who are in the frontline of this fight against COVID-19, putting into peril their own safety.
The effects of the lock-down were made less onerous because of residents’ co-operation and the role played by resident volunteers, who came to the aid of the old and the infirm in arranging purchases, disposing of their garbage etc. Thomas Abraham gifted hundred face masks, Arjit Bansal of H-307 arranged hand sanitisers at a discount from his company, Hindustan Lever, Suresans have been giving tea to all the guards and staff throughout the lock-down period, AAP arranged for lunch and dinner packets for the guards and the staff for two weeks of the lock-down. The staff who have been coming despite police attempts to stop them. calls for great commitment. Kudos, to all of them.
In a twin tragedy, two Bollywood icons breathed their last. On 29th April, 2020, Irrfan Khan, a versatile and celebrated Bollywood actor who also earned acclaim in Hollywood, died at the young age of 53 years. Very tragic news indeed as he had a very bright future ahead.
The very next day, Rishi Kapoor, died at the age of 67 years. He stormed into the Hindi Film firmament with Bobby and was more known as a chocolate boy hero. They will be missed.
LOCKDOWN BLUES
The six-week lockdown brought forth some truisms. Sample the ones I chanced upon Whatsapp:-
The wife always wanted to buy a dishwasher, until she realized that she was married to one.
So, there is no cure for a virus that can be killed by soap!
SNIPPETS
If you are not yet awed by the achievements of Vidyut Mohan of G-206, (Bio-energy Consultant-Berkeley Lab, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands and Co-Founder, Takachar) here is one more reason to be impressed. He has been selected from over 3,500 nominations to be among the Top Young Entrepreneurs of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020 List. With a stack of accolades and International Awards, Vidyut’s journey knows no boundaries. Kudos to Vidyut. You make us proud.
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Apart from her exploits in the sporting arena, Chandrakanta Rajpurohit of H-206 is making her mark also as a social worker. As the National Co-ordinator of ITV, she undertook to distribute 7 lakh masks in 7 days, stretching across several states from West Bengal to Rajasthan, in an effort to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Kudos to her for this noble deed.
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