She Who Dares Wins

The initial 50 odd days of lockdown in India due to COVID19 was devastating to many people’s livelihood, especially to the skilled labor and daily wage workers who were left in the lurch, deserted by their employers. The reason could be indifference, greed, helplessness or lack of social responsibility.

Whatever help or arrangement came from the authorities was ill planned or utterly inadequate for the size of the mass caught in an unforeseen situation.

Hundreds of job losses were reported every day. The big businesses could continue their businesses by getting their employees to work from their homes. Some smaller companies and organisations offered to continue their businesses by paying reduced salaries to their employees. Some companies had to totally close down their businesses as they could not cope with the challenges of the lock-down.

There were heart rending stories of people driven to poverty, hunger, malnutrition and abject hopelessness and even suicides. 

But there were also many stories of the brave and lucky ones who did not succumb to the hopeless situation but found ways of eking out their livelihood, some in quite innovative ways.

This is the story of Sarada from Warangal, Telangana, India. Sarada was working as a software engineer in an IT company. She lost her job due to the economic downturn due to lockdown. Losing the job was a huge blow but she did not sulk in depression or lose her positive spirit. 

Considering the situation, she found selling vegetables was a viable solution for her and her parents. Though educated and fit enough to work in an IT company, she neither had any inferiority complex nor had any qualms about selling vegetables. It was the best solution for survival until the IT job market got better.

Her story became viral on the social media and an inspiration to many people who were caught in similar situations.

So far she has done well in her new endeavors of survival. I am quite sure with her grit and positive attitude, she will come out as a winner. Who knows, with her spirit of entrepreneurship, she could even turn out to be a very successful business owner. Wishing her the best of luck!

Source: https://english.sakshi.com/news/andhrapradesh/jobless-woman-sotware-engineer-selling-vegetables-livelihood-warangal-121914

You Are On Your Own

It was just another day, as any other, of reading news of human helplessness at fighting the Coronavirus Pandemic. One particular story was no different from the dozens of sad stories that are reported on a daily basis on news media or shared on social media. The heart rending story of the struggle of common man in finding medical help, the story of despair of our health system.

In short, a young man went from one hospital to another trying to find urgent medical help for his sick father. Wherever he went, he was turned away and was told to try elsewhere. As the oxygen was running out of the cylinder in the ambulance, the man even tried to resuscitate his father, but that didn't help. Finally, the father was declared dead as the day was breaking. The ordeal didn't end there. When he tried to find a place for his father's body in a mortuary, he couldn't find one. With the help of some friends, the family preserved the body on ice. Finally, when all the arrangements were made, they cremated the body.

This story was exceptional because a man posted a video on YouTube sharing his story of horror, helplessness and desperation.

We can very well understand how much one would be shaken up on losing a parent. Even during those grieving moments, the man decided to create a video and shared details of the ordeal he and his family went through, for hours together, in trying to get medical attention for his father. They went from one hospital to another without much success, finally his father succumbed to his illness. 

As he explains his story, we can relate hundreds and thousands of similar cases the country has been witnessing for the past few months.

But the exceptional thing about this video is, without blaming anyone, the man coveys some very important messages: Please stop taking your health for granted. Please ensure that you take care of yourselves and your family.Protect yourselves. Be safe. We pray that no other family or child is put in such a situation. Please ensure that you take care of yourselves and your family.

This story and many such stories raise many questions.

• Why have we reached such a situation where we cannot find medical help when it is needed?
• Has this pandemic exposed the utter weakness, unpreparedness and helplessness of our healthcare system?
• This is not the first time the world has faced a pandemic or a warlike emergencies. Was our health care system prepared with expertise and resources needed to tackle the epidemic?
• This "Deadly Microscopic Thing" was not home grown, it was brought from outside through international travelers. Were enough controls in place to stop it at the ports of entry itself?
• Even after discovering few cases, did we do enough to tackle and contain it when the number of cases was controllable?

I don't know the answers to these questions and I would certainly not want to speculate on the answers. But one thing I know, "we are on our own".

It is time to think that we are back to the centuries, in a huge village with very limited medical services, the village doctor located very far away from our places. Let us think that we may or may not get the limited medical help promptly when it is needed. 

It is time to get back to "Grandma's Nuska (recipe)". It is time to get back to the time tested "home remedies". 

Above all, there never was a time than now, to become humble and prostrate to our creator. It is time to pray for yourself, your family that are near and far. 

Pray as you have never prayed before for God's mercy! We certainly need it now like we never needed before!

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Media Report: https://newsmeter.in/banjara-hills-man-denied-admission-by-6-hospitals-dies-in-transit/ 

Video: https://youtu.be/wp_6rx7tD1U

Trojan Coronavirus

We are in the seventh month of the year 2020. And what do we have to show as progress for the new year? Nothing much, to be frank.

You may be tempted to say that we have been busy fighting the deadly Coronavirus. But the truth is, all we have been doing was and still doing is, desperately trying to hide from a faceless enemy. 

Our lives have come to a grinding halt. We have been brought to our knees by a tiny, minuscule, microscopic, faceless enemy, the Coronavirus, which has been ravaging the entire world by turning the disease into a pandemic.

Coronavirus has been ravaging people across the country and the entire world for the past seven months unceasingly, relentlessly, ruthlessly. It does not spare any one, treats everyone equally. Race, religion, nationality, gender, age, literate, or illiterate, does not matter.

It is one of the most devastating tragedies that the world of your and current generation has ever experienced. This deadly faceless enemy has exposed the utter helplessness and impotency of the human race. It has rendered all the medical and scientific knowledge and wisdom gained by mankind over hundreds of years into nothing, zilch. 

There are innumerable theories on how to recognize the enemy and on how to protect oneself from it, even to fight it. But mankind is at its wits end. Every day brings a new finding or a new theory, many times conflicting with previous theories or findings.

No one seems to know for sure what we are up against. Fighting a faceless enemy is not easy. From the way mankind has resigned to more of protecting itself from the deadly virus, than vanquishing it, it seems, the faceless enemy is going to be around for quite some time.

Many scientists and pharmaceutical companies are claiming to have found vaccines as a cure from Coronavirus but nothing seems to be a definite answer yet. Some experts are predicting that it may take a year or two to find a definite cure for treating Coronavirus victims.

Every day there is a new warning, a new directive, a new proposition on how to protect oneself from it. But every day there is a new avatar of the elusive virus, rendering us utterly helpless. We are just groping in the dark, shooting at shadows.

Sometimes, your mind starts imagining crazy things. Could the enemy be an Alien from outer space, who has come to destroy mankind! Or could there be some very sinister and deadly "thing" riding on the back of Coronavirus, like the enemy soldiers hiding inside the wooden horse, a Trojan Coronavirus! That is just your desperate mind, running wild, cooking up conspiracy theories where there were none.

Whatever or whoever the faceless enemy is, the wisest thing to do is to do what Noah did. He obeyed God's instruction sincerely and cocooned himself and other creatures in his Ark until it was safe to venture out.

You too have simple rules to follow and to stay home. Venture out only if it is absolutely necessary. And hope that others too practice safe measures. No one can say when the faceless enemy will strike.

Above all, pray and hope that soon the faceless enemy is identified, exposed and vanquished.

That will be the day of redemption, the day to start a fresh chapter of your life with all the life lessons learnt during the cocooned period.

Temporarily Closed for Prevention

Washington Post reported today that the state of Alabama, US, was in the grip of Coronavirus (Washington Post Report). Seventeen thousand positive cases were recorded in the last week. The streets, parks, amphitheater, movie theaters, almost every place looked deserted.

I usually go through the comments section of YouTube media reports and videos, just to know reactions of readers. Most often than not, you can find some incredible, interesting gems. Of course there are some lost, desperate souls who spew out their toxic narratives, innuendos and expletives. I simply ignore them.

One reader made a word play on the song "Sweet Home Alabama" by changing part of lyrics "I'm coming home" to "I ain't coming home"! I am sure he was just trying to be funny.

Another reader felt happy about the restrictions being followed by the state. Another lamented that even young kids were not being spared by the deadly virus. There was one grim observation that life will not be the same again because of Coronavirus. 

But what caught my attention in the news report was the notice posted by a movie theater. I have come across establishments usually posting "Closed for Renovation" notices. But this notice read "Temporarily Closed for Prevention".

The notice expressed two things. The word "Temporarily" expressed a positive attitude that "we shall be back soon", a hope that "we shall prevail, we shall win over the virus very soon". 

And the word "Prevention", most probably a word play on "Renovation", stressed the importance of taking every possible measure to keep oneself safe and prevent Coronavirus from spreading. It is quite heartening that the establishment, instead of lamenting about the losses that would be incurred due to closure of the movie house, gave importance to saving lives. Their priorities seemed to be in the right place. 

What is the use if you have gained money but lost your life!

Coronavirus has definitely turned our lives upside down, for good or bad. While there could be many positive outcomes, the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives is heartbreaking. Many families cannot even do proper "last rites" to their dead loved ones. All they could do is give a tearful, heart breaking farewell from a distance. The state agencies are disposing the bodies according to prescribed standards to prevent spread of the epidemic. It is quite heart rending to even read about these sad stories.

No one can say, for certain, for how long this deadly virus is going to ravage our lives. Every day brings in a new theory, a new finding, some scary, some positive and many in conflict with previous findings or theories.

But all through these gloomy times, there is a silver lining. It is not the first time that the world has faced a pandemic. Every time, the world fought and won the battle. That reality gives us the confidence that we too shall overcome these difficult times. It is just a matter of time before they found a definite cure. Until then, we have to be patient, careful, wiser and above all, be hopeful. 

After all, hope is what keeps the world turning.

Bye Bye Hagia Sophia, Bye Bye Turkey

Turkey was one of the places of visit in my bucket list. I had a chance of a five day trip many years ago. My wife and I went through the brochure and found the cost quite affordable and more importantly the timing was perfect. The tour was planned to match with the national holidays of the middle eastern country where we were residing at that time. As I was working with a Government organisation, I had nine days of holidays, including two weekends. Quite enough to extend the holiday beyond the five day itinerary if needed.

I always wondered at the grandeur of the imposing Hagia Sophia monument. A friend of ours, who had visited Turkey, raved about the place, especially the monument. Since then, Turkey has been one of the important destinations in my list.

We went to the travel agent, took all details of dates, cost, visa procedures and the forms to be filled. As I scanned through the brochure, I thought to myself, "now here is the chance I was waiting for, to finally make that long pending visit". The prospect of the tour looked good.

During the national holidays, one of the most common topics of conversation with friends was, the holiday plans. I was so excited about the tour that I started sharing my holiday plans with my friends. And that turned out to be a mistake. One of my friends asked me "Did you check out the weather prediction?". I said "No. Why?". He said "You better check it out. It is usually quite cold out there this time of the year".

And, the prediction turned out as my friend had warned. I don't generally like extremely cold weather and extreme weather was predicted for the days of the tour. My wife and I deliberated over this disappointing finding for a few days and finally decided to call the trip off. Instead, we spent the holidays in Dubai, our usual weekend/holiday getaway.

So, Turkey remained in my bucket list until a few days ago. It was reported in the news media that Turkey's President had passed a decree to return the status of Hagia Sophia museum building to that of a mosque. Various reasons were given for this bold move. It was hailed by many Islamic nations. There has also been a lot of outrage and criticism from various quarters of the world. However, the government of Turkey looks intent on implementing the president’s decree.

As for me, would I still be interested in visiting Turkey? The answer is “no”. Turkey is off my bucket list of places to visit

An incident happened when I was a kid. I was always wary of passing by mosques, especially during prayer times. Most mosques had high rising walls around them and a bunch of kids would sit on the walls with heaps of stones placed next to them. Their purpose was to keep the “Kafirs (Infidels)” away from coming anywhere close to the mosque. To me that picture was always quite unnerving. So I stayed away from going anywhere close to mosques.

I had a friend, who was my neighbor and one of my best play buddies. One day, I don’t know what came over him, he invited me to go with him to the mosque for the prayers. After all his unrelenting coaxing, I agreed with lots of hesitation and apprehension. That was a big mistake, one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

We walked together to the mosque, with my friend leading. As we approached the entrance, a barrage of stones were pelted on me. Luckily the stones did not find the intended target, except for one which came quite close to one of my eyes. I ran from the place clutching my face, which felt like it was on fire. Luckily no harm was done to my eye or any part of my face except for a deep gash very close to my eye which took many days to heal.

That day I vowed never to take a chance again to go anywhere near a mosque. I lived in the middle east for over 37 years and during all those years, I kept away from going anywhere close to a mosque. Couple of places where we stayed were quite close to a mosque but I made sure I kept away whenever it was time for prayer.

I had visited mosques a couple of times for offering condolences to colleagues on losing their loved one’s or to attend marriage parties. But during all those visits I was on tenterhooks. The stress I went through cannot be put into words. But I successfully maintained a poignant or happy look, depending on the occasion.

There were many beautiful and grand Mosques around the country. Many a time I was tempted to take photographs. I did take few photographs, stealthily, from a distance, through my window, especially on a rainy day when the sky was filled with thick clouds in the background of the mosque or when the dome and minarets of the Mosque looked beautiful with the full moon shining brightly in the background.

Some of the Mosques allowed visitors irrespective of nationality and religion. But I never dared to visit any of them. Getting anywhere close to mosque scares the hell out me even today.

So, as far as I am concerned, it is Bye Bye Hagia Sophia, Bye Bye Turkey!