2020: Virus Woes and Much More

 

WHAT makes a good year? Happiness? Fulfilment? Success? There could be much more than that. May be, its pessimism that has made a good year this time around. Pessimism isn’t bad after all, or I would want to believe so, for once. A year wrapped in pandemic woes of a global scale is what we have had in 2020. Life in 2020 has been nothing more than a 20-over cricket match whose outcome may not be known even when the succeeding year gets into its midway path.

And yet, hope reigns supreme, pinned on a vaccine that might even be left bamboozled by the sheer failure of it. No one knows if the vaccine would work. A couple or more of first triers have been taken ill, paving the way for pessimism to creep in. Will the vaccine work or not, may well be left to be dealt within the scientific domain, but for lesser earthlings like you and I, Year 2020 has been a year of possibilities. Think about it, and you would realise that we had scores of opportunities that slithered into our laps and minds over the past year that made us stay back home. We even succeeded in giving the pandemic-ridden year a fitting reply by grabbing all those opportunities by the neck, didn’t we?

The past year made us all look at life in the most creative manner – to say the least. We, of course were shaken by the spread of the protein spot that started to kill people. We were forced to stay away from fellow beings. We detested the handshake, let alone the hug. We were frightened by the sound of a faint sneeze yonder. We covered our faces and learnt to look into others’ eyes and speak. We adored soap and the alcoholic smell of the sanitizing liquid. We decided to cultivate positivity in ourselves by staying negative.  Being negative wasn’t pessimistic anymore - being so made us even more confident.

Run back through the past 365 days, and you and I would realise that we were at out creative best. Many around me learned new trades, as did I. As work and money began to dwindle with the rise in lockdowns, people like you and I explored the world wide web and got hold of many skills and made them their own. Apart from reading whatever showed up online and off it, I was fortunate enough to learn how to edit videos for the web. I even had the courage to try and make web designing a part of my skill set, and even made a bit of pocket money in these troubled times by flaunting those skills. On the entertainment side, close to 200 movies have been added to my ‘fortunate-enough- I-have-watched’ list thanks to the exemplary stuff doled out by Netflix and Prime Video streaming platforms.  I’m sure many across the world were richer by new sets of skills learnt during the year of the virus. Besides, as I look around I get to see much more positive stuff. Lockdowns enabled a reduction in pollution levels as vehicles were forced to stay off roads. Road accidents saw a decline. The masks made sure that illnesses like the common cold and cough were a distant possibility.

This, however, is the story of people like you and I who chose to rest on our laurels, money, and the comfort we have. However hard we try and make it out to be, the truth is life hasn’t changed much for us. We were the ones that gained, by way of acquiring new skill sets and pretending to work hard even as we stayed home surrounded by members of the family, and television.  Like it or not, we were a community cocooned by money, time and, ironically, the pandemic. And yet, we continue to narrate tales of woe. We actually gained. We haven’t been affected by the situation.

It hasn’t been so for many others out on the street. The pandemic, for sure, made life hell for many. Small traders, migrant labourers and many of their ilk were presented starvation in a platter. Health workers who have been combating the virus still remain at risk, and so are their hapless families. Police personnel, who haven’t been able to take a day’s off from pandemic duty as yet, and their families, have seen the worst year roll past them. It needs to be seen that the less fortunate did have no one to look up to.

Year 2020 has been no Happy Year for many around us. But still we, the fortunate lot, continue to tell tales of how we suffered. We actually didn’t. They, the less fortunate ones on the street, were the ones who suffered. Many starved for days and nights together. They tried walking thousands of kilometres to go back to what they called their homes even as the virus, irresponsible government mechanisms and road mishaps kept pace with them. Many haven’t been able to reach home to be with their families even after so many months. And yet, we are happy that the virus has left us alone. They had to fear not just the virus, but administrative apathy. They starved, perished on their way home, even as we stayed back home trying out different dishes made on recipes downloaded from the web. They died as they walked home, even as a government they voted for readied money to build a new Parliament house and even a shrine for a mythical being. Their votes wouldn’t matter anymore, as you and I clapped, sang and waited to help us tide over a virus that never affected us. They cried, coughed, and passed on to make way for the laughter we had when we found the thrills to sing paeans to people who stayed in glasshouses strategizing poll wins.

Year 2020 belongs to those hapless people who got caught under truck wheels and hunger strokes as they hit the street with belly fire and empty wallets when the administration saw joy in playing the political fiddle in the time of the pandemic. You and I have no right to get ourselves immersed in glee as the year passes.  You and I reaped gains, even as we let down our brethren who attempted home comings that were not to be.

Year 2020 needs to be seen as one that brought out the hypocrite in you and me. Year 2020 brought to the fore the truth that a government you voted to power has nothing to do with your wellbeing. For the lesser humans destined to die along highways, year 2020 has nothing that seems like light at the end of a tunnel. The only shimmering strands of white there, at the end of the agonising tunnel, could be a wavy, salon-combed beard that could strangle you to added misery.

Wishing you and me a bit of sense as we together tip-toe towards the end of the frightening virus-laden tunnel and the year of an irresponsible administration. Year 2021 is just round the bend. Cheers, to some sense and new beginnings.