It is the second time, when Covid-19 forced humans to cage themselves in their homes like birds and animals in zoos, because the second wave of Covid-19 is more deadly and devastating than its first wave. People had rushed to holiday destinations to enjoy the supposed liberation from absolute lockdown from 25 March to 30 May 2020 followed by partial lockdown in June, July and August. Their free movement lasted only around six months that Covid-19 sent humans back to their cages to live in isolation, while animals and birds reclaimed their space in human habitat to enjoy free movement.
Second wave of Covid-19 is more dangerous in India due to regional mutant variants in it. People are crying for help. Some Corona positive patients need oxygen, someone needs a ventilator, others are in dire need of beds in hospitals. Their relatives are running pillar to post and tagging every authority on Twitter expecting some help. Grieving family members are queuing up at the crematorium.
Central government, state government and the armed forces have joined hands to mitigate the short supply of oxygen. Indian Railway is running Oxygen Express across the country to supply Medical Oxygen Tankers to the States, where it is in shortage. Indian Air Force too airlifted oxygen tanks from one state to another. Even business tycoons of India have opened their industrial plants to produce Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO).
Those fortunate ones, who have not contracted Covid-19 yet, are living in constant fear of getting infected anytime. And the caged humans, irritated, depressed and distressed are asking, “Would life ever get back to normal, when kids would go to their schools and colleges, and adults would go to their offices without having fear of getting Corona infected? It is hard to speculate when life would be back to normal. It is even harder to tell if life would ever be the same. But, it is certain that Covid-19 has changed all aspects of life for good and for bad.
Millions of people died of Covid-19 across the world. Equal number of jobs are gone. It is death, distress and despair, which have prevailed upon mankind. Those who lost their family, friends and relatives of Corona have turned into disillusioned and miserable human beings developing mental health problems. However, the lives of those who survived, and those who didn’t contract Covid-19 changed drastically. They got close to their natural way of living.
- They realized money cannot buy health. Health needs to be taken care of. Health requires to be maintained. Topic of conversation focused on sharing recipes of healthy and balanced diets to strengthen immunity. Home cooked food turned out to be a bliss.
- Excess of material wealth doesn’t bring inner peace. It is quality time spent with family and friends, that brings real happiness. Family may or may not be perfect, but bond with family members boost mental health and reduce anxiety and depression. What can be a better opportunity than an unending lockdown, free from usually hectic and busy life, to connect with family and friends!
- Shows like Ramayana and Mahabharata, when they were aired in 1987 and 1988 respectively, had generated spiritual energy to bring the entire nation to a standstill. During lockdown, the nation has already come to a standstill. The two shows filled entire current generations with spiritual energy.
- Education system is one of the most affected areas by Covid-19 pandemic. Almost all the countries around the globe temporarily closed all the educational institutions to arrest the spread of Covid-19. The education system shifted to online modes with teachers delivering the content in the best way. Do the facilities of online classes available with government run schools?
- Fewer customers and lower cash flow badly affected local businesses such as local grocery stores, book stores, sweet shops, salons, dry cleaners, gift shops, mobile recharge shops. It was heartbreaking to see some of them getting shut due to Covid-19. However, online shopping has risen sky-high. Customers have proceeded from traditional shops to supermarkets to malls to finally online shopping induced by lockdown.
Pandemics are not new to human beings. As human civilization flourished, so did pandemic. The current population are not the first people alive to face such an ancient threat. There are pandemics, which changed history.
The Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918: It was found in Europe, United States and in some parts of Asia before it swiftly engulfed the entire world. It had infected 50 crores people worldwide, which was one-third of the population on the earth then. It killed 5 crores people. There were no drugs to treat the patients and vaccines to stop it before it became infected.
Russian Flu in 1889: It started in Siberia and Kazakhstan and travelled to whole Europe, South and North America killing almost 4 crores people by the end of 1890.
The Third Plague Pandemic in 1855: It started from China moving to the entire Asia. It killed 1.5 crores people.
First Cholera Pandemic Cholera in 1817: Originated from Russia, where 10 lacs people died, existed for the next 150 years all over the globe.
The Great Plague of London in 1665: The bubonic plague killed 20% of London’s population. As human death tolls rose in mass graves, thousands of cats and dogs were butchered for suspected to be a source of disease.
Whenever a pandemic has struck the planet, it has changed the lifestyle of mankind. Is Mother Nature giving strong warnings to humans to be respectful towards Mother Earth, as nature is again healing itself with less pollution, clearer sky and better air quality during second wave Covid-19?
