Lockdown Enlightenment

Lockdown Enlightenment

On many a weak moment have I wondered if there was a purpose to my life on this planet and what it was. Worried that I might be missing opportunities for fulfilment of this great objective, I have wrecked my peace of mind, lost sleep and either as a consequence or concurrent to that, seen my blood pressure shooting up.

But I am happy to realize how finally this lockdown period has been an eye-opener. I am slowly getting convinced of the purpose of my life, and the day is not far when I may finally attain bodhi (enlightenment). But two sayings-

·        The journey is more important than the destination itself

·        Even if you change the life of one person with your thoughts, your life has been worth-living

compel me to share the reasons with the world.

I am an insignificant creature living on a land of dozens of religions, scores of cultures, hundreds of languages, thousands of beliefs, millions of people and billions of superstitions. Yet look at the present situation:

God is in his heaven. (Had He been on this Earth, wouldn’t He have done something to end the agony of His children?)

The army is positioned on the country’s borders so that no foreigner with the unholy aim of hurting me comes into the country. (The armymen also fight for peace.)

The police are there to protect me from the ill-intentioned in the state and the city. (Who in his right mind would come out to be the villain in the danda parade to be shown on national TV?)

The doctors, nurses, health workers are on duty just in case something happens to my physical well-being. (It has to be COVID- related. For every other disease I have to get a COVID -ve result before getting admitted, I hear. Where would I get that? Or how do I make sure that if at all I have to take ill, it has to be only Covid and nothing else?)

All scientists and medical researchers are working diligently to find the cure for COVID 19. (Though they are not pleased that footballers earn more money than they do. Meanwhile, the cure for common cold has still not been found, they themselves say.)

Economists, statisticians, psychologists and sociologists are feeding us with reports, conclusions, graphs and pie charts about the repercussions of the lockdown. (Will the lockdown aftermath be deadlier than the virus itself?)

Media people are reporting, asking questions, seeking answers. (Do they know what they are talking about when they throw the jargon – mortality rate, peak of confirmed cases, flattening of the curve at he viewer. Meanwhile, I am trying to digest it from anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronavirus-and-labyrinth-of-statistics)

Water and electricity staff seem to be on duty too. (Weather God has also been kind so far this year, so the sincerity of this category has not been put to test.)

Sanitation workers are on duty to keep my habitat clean. (What happens to where they are dumping it, only they know and we will too, once the lockdown is lifted).

Milk, grocery and vegetables sellers come regularly to keep my kitchen running. (And I have voluntarily helped clear out their old stocks like no spring cleaning or army of rats could ever have done.)

The medicine shops are open. (Is their business on an upturn while all others’ are down?)

Petrol stations are all open, ready to serve me if I so need. (Where am I going anyway, there is a lockdown.)

The bank has been very generous. It even offered that if I so wished, I could buy gold online on Akshay Tritiya as it was a Sunday. (But they have slashed the savings bank interest rates and not told me if they got my 15G form submitted online.)

To give me a sense of well-being there are people helping the less fortunate during the lockdown. (…and luckily most prefer to do this in front of the newspaper/TV photographer, so I know.)

Not to forget the creative minds who are trying to cheer me and those around me with funny memes, videos, cartoons and music. (Will they lose their relevance when the lockdown is lifted?) 

The security in our building complex is vigilant. (They must be thankful for the lockdown because two days before the major announcement their pedestal fan was stolen while the man on duty was dozing.)

And above all, the Prime Minister is taking care of how my motherland is projected in the world so that I can hold my high.

All these Corona warriors are living and working for my good. That is how I have come to understand that I am among that tiny sub set of people who make up this world, who give the others purpose to wake up in the morning, go out, take a risk, do something and register it as an achievement in their lives. They are depending on me to retain their identity and relevance and have that sense of purpose which  they were yearning for till earlier this year.

And me?

I have silently read people ventilating their opinions on economy or heard theories (on a pandemic they themselves did not know about till Wuhan earned the notoriety of being Yamraj’s {god of Death} workplace), watched known and unknown faces every few minutes telling me what to do, even noticed the collection of gamchhas (thin towels) of our leader and heard from some other wise men how ‘strategy’ and ‘strategizing’ is important.

I have denounced simple material pleasures like golgappe, saag mutton (goat meat with greens) and Corona (the sort that comes in a bottle and people would queue up to get it). I have clapped, beaten the thali and lit lamps to keep their spirits up. I have stayed inside the house, washed my hands several times a day (Will it create water shortage?) not interrupted anybody’s work, spent (but not earned a rupee) to help the economy. Unlike lakhs of others, I would not get a salary sitting at or working from home and the TDS on my savings would keep trickling into the country’s kitty. 

And yet I, the unsung hero, have not even staked my claim as a minority section or asked for any privileges. I am doing it selflessly, quietly, never seeking any attention, not making my presence felt ever, never troubling any of these warriors. So much so that none of them would even recognize me if I dropped dead on the keyboard writing this.