Yes, incredible but true! In just a few weeks, our world is changing! It is a strange event being confronted by the human race, billions of lives are going to change, the social picture is going to have a vivid change. It is not an isolated incident or accident! Any civil war or international war could not have had the same consequences.
People didn't really see it coming, although several precursors have been appearing. According to the Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO), developed countries had been warned about a horrible epidemic that could strike any time and would have the capability to transform the whole world's spectacle, make civilization stand up to an unprecedented challenge.
Even if prophecy or fear can be overthrown, it is true and real that the world is changing. Long-term lockdown will reduce the level of pollution. The levels of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide are decreasing at an incredibly fast pace in China, Italy and Britain! New York sky pollution levels dropped by more than 5% due to lockdown impositions. Not only in satellite imagery, people in Europe can see the clear blue sky with naked eyes! They don't remember having seen anything like this in their living memory!
The swarm of innocent dolphins moving away from civilization is coming back to the people, from Venice to Mumbai everywhere! There has been a fall in the global warming rate. Incredible, isn't it?
As more people get into the house, the medium and large industries will be shut down, there will be fewer cargo or pollution due to burning of immense amounts of aircraft fuel. In China alone, fuel consumption has dropped by more than 5% in the last two months.
In just seven or eight weeks, the whole humanity has been shaken by something so miniscule as a lifeless virus. Insignificant to see, but powerful enough to reduce the entire human civilization to ashes. According to experts and scientists, this seemingly innocuous virus (around 5% of the mortality rate) will transform the whole world. It will change our mindset, our way of life. On one side the border will be erased and the whole earth will fall under one sky, uniting against unknown opponents. On the other hand, the house-bound man will raise his hand towards the neighbor to handle the upcoming crisis, that shall result from the economic slowdown.
At least two-thirds of the world's population will be infected until a vaccine is commercially made available. Until then the virus grows from man to man the moment we want to stabilize the economy.
According to the WHO, no country has yet begun month-testing in any country, including India. Testing is being done only after seeing suspicious symptoms because not enough testing kits are available yet, and it shall take years to manufacture kits on a large scale to cater to all citizens of the world. The challenging attribute is that the virus is taking around 7 to 12 days to actually manifest any symptoms from the time of infection. Until those initial few days, the holder or carrier may not know that he has a virus in his body, and is spreading the virus to another human body without having any knowledge of it.
At least two-thirds of the world's population will be infected until a vaccine is commercially made available. Until then the virus grows from man to man the moment we want to stabilize the economy.
According to the WHO, no country has yet begun month-testing in any country, including India. Testing is being done only after seeing suspicious symptoms because not enough testing kits are available yet, and it shall take years to manufacture kits on a large scale to cater to all citizens of the world. The challenging attribute is that the virus is taking around 7 to 12 days to actually manifest any symptoms from the time of infection. Until those initial few days, the holder or carrier may not know that he has a virus in his body, and is spreading the virus to another human body without having any knowledge of it.
So what is it? The statistics of the victims is in front of us right now, whether in India or on a global level, the actual number may be many times greater! Social distancing has taught us a lot.
What's not weird? We knew about our auto-immunity. But we never thought that this earth also had an auto-immune system! It is as if an immune response system of the earth has got activated after the virus named human started gnawing into its very existence.
According to scientists, next year, ecological balance will be established by the reduction of human beings due to deaths by COVID-19 and the aftereffects it shall bring in, glaciers will have reduced their rates of melting down, and the burnt amazon forest will have avenged its destruction.
It is a time to introspect, what we did that was so wrong, that after every hundred years the earth faces a pandemic? The virus will be contained after some months, but a few questions we have to ask ourselves:
If we are stuck up in a single house and can sustain more than half a month, what is the point in building new houses? Owning more than one house, having more than one car, when we don't have the liberty to drive any of them. Why research on going to a different planet or a satellite when we can't keep our own planet safe? What is the point in gorging over extra food when this self-imposed control over the necessities is also sufficient to let us live. Where are those rapists and those burglars now? Why isn't a bank heist happening?
Why aren't billionaires bothered about making more money? Why is the stock exchange at a stand still? What has happened to those people who go to a hospital to do a routine check-up even when they don't need it? What happened to those people who bought thousands of things from the online marketplaces? Or for that matter any shop? What happened to the castes and religions? Does the virus differentiate us on the basis of language, gender or race? Why isn't anything being flown into any tall buildings now? Why aren't cities being demolished by nuclear bombs? Why aren't infected people being brought in gas chambers now? What happened to the temples, mosques, churches, etc? Why aren't people assembling there to offer their prayers or to confess their sins? Why are the railway stations empty? Why are the filmmakers not announcing the millions of dollars they are making? How come almost every office can actually run from individual homes?
Why are the housemaids being missed so much? Why are we so concerned about the housekeeping guy? Why are those manufacturing units being shut down? Why are those power plants running at their technical minimum loads? Why are the roads suddenly appearing so clean? Why do we realize how significant the role of our homemakers now when we are confined with them and have to share their load? Why does it feel so good to be with the families, not away from home in a distant place, but within it? Why do I find a small sparrow sitting in my balcony after nearly nine years?
The answer to all the whys and whats and hows is in the fact that human beings had lost their senses in this mad race. The silver lining is that despite so many restrictions, we are living. We had almost considered ourselves the king of the planet, and a small virus made us realize just in time that we are insignificant. What we need to learn from this setback is humility, and the desire and ability to coexist with the rest of nature. That maybe a little less is not that bad. Maybe slowing down a bit is not causing any harm. Let us want a little less. Let us slow down for a while. Let us look back at what we have done. Let us reconsider what could be avoided. Let us change ourselves. Let us not be pathogens, rather engage with our host planet in an amicable commensalism. Otherwise, it will only be a matter of moments to loose everything that we have.
In a new world, people will face a revamped society, broken economies, stagnant industries, resulting in radically changed lives. The golden-light horizon of that new earth, beyond the dust-smoke-darkness, may be visible in the near future.
Comments
Post a Comment