There is Something Special in the Soil of Gujarat

On Sunday when our beloved  prime minister during his 'Man Ki Baat'  talk  proffousely begged pardon from the countrymen, especially of labourers, the destitutes and other marginalized sections of the society for the hardship caused due to the declaration of twenty one days countrywide lockdown.

The act of the prime minister set me on deep thought that for whose sake he has to take such an unprecedented measure and still himself apologizing to the countrymen with folded hands!! What a great human being and what a  demonstration of outstanding leadership in the face of colossal adversity.  In the last two weeks, his communication with the countrymen with such precise words, tone, diction and clarity and his concern for the safety of each individual Indian is unparalleled.

Spare a thought, so called advanced countries in the world with superior men and material have come a cropper to face the challenge posed by the CORONA virus.  What would have been our country's fate  like in the past if any disempowerd prime minister at the helm at this situation? Simply UN-imaginable would have been our plight and it would have set cat among the pigeons.

Leading a diverse country like India with so many internal foibles coupled with illiteracy in most of it's rural pockets makes it even harder for a leader to reach out with his message to bring in semblance of order in the crisis of grave nature like the one country is experiencing that of Corona pandemic.

After a week's confinement, stepped out today to bring in essentials, on the way, overheard a conversation of two teenaged boys discussing pros and cons of  the current lockdown situation and saying, " India is lucky to have such dedicated prime minister to steer the country in this hour of crisis."

While in home confinement also read cross section of people commenting on the actions of the prime minister, some for and some against but one comment was particularly striking that it hailed the prime minister as ' Man of the Century. ' It may sound too early to judge so, but the manner in which he handled the on going crisis would give an indication that  he has all the qualities of one in the making.

Suddenly  a thought occurred in mind that  turned my attention on Gandhiji, who has been hailed worldwide as a man of the 20th century, fought against the British without weapons, epochal Sardar Patelji whose action of unification of states especially his action of annexation of Hyderabad under Agent General K M  Munshiji and now Modiji leading from the front a war against Corona made me to think- There is Something Special in the Soil of Gujarat.

Wuhan, Busan to Kalburagi -The Rise and Rise of CORONA

In the early January of this year when reports on Corona started trickling in from Wuhan,  personally thought China is paying for it's recent aggression be it Docklam or it's building-up of military base in the  South China Sea violating maritime agreements disregarding the interests of other sovereign nation's like Philippines, Vietnam and others in the region.

 But never did I realize that the epidemic becomes pandemic and sweep across the nation's to spread like wild fire and blow into a crisis of global proportion putting very human life at peril. And the least, one day, it would loom large in my own home town sending people into tizzy.

Soon Corona became talk of the town. Every one started to tell a new story each day further increasing the anxiety of the denizens and frightening them out of their wits.

But there emerged one story that the hot climatic condition is inimical to the Corona virus and it won't survive in such conditions. As Kalaburagi known for its hot summers, people of the town found solace in the thought that they are insulated from the impending danger and breathed a  huge sigh of relief.

 But lo!! The next day the news report carrying the news of first casualty from the town sent them into a tailspin and once again the fear psychosis is back to grip the town.

Consequently the district administration swaung into action announcing do's and don'ts and whole life is turned upside down in a matter of couple of days. Followed it up with Janata Curfew, the normal life of the city dwellers totally thrown out of gear. Now they not only have to come to terms with new norm of life but also with the new vocabulary that of social distancing and home qurantine revealing new knowledge of why did people call a Hanuman temple located in an outskirt  of the city as 'Quaranty Hanuman.'

With subsequent declaration of three weeks lockdown, the whole city has come to wear a deserted look barring essential supplies shops and occasional aimless wayfarers and gallivanters flouting norms only to be caught and carried to the police station.

People of the town have risen to the occasion to put up their brave front in this new order of life but for a class of people,as they say, habits die hard, have given go-by to the norms of social distancing and home isolation hoping that just by becoming a mosqueter would act as a shield and can walk daringly rubbing shoulders with others with gay abandon. Contrastingly another class is viewing everything with suspicion even their own shadow and their right hand is relectutant  to touch their left hand without sanitizer leave apart going near to a person.

Apart from labourers and destitutes for whom the government is taking care for their livelihood. In the last fortnight, in this whole exercise, most hard hit are the city's  another class that of boozers, tobacco puffers and tobacco chewers especially those who chew special variety specific to the town called 'MaWa' a preparation includes stuffed granular beetlenut flavored with red color when ejaculated as saliva sticks permanently on the ground that any one can see how this class has contributed to the beautification of the city in important public places like Rail stations, Bus terminals, Market yards and other vantage points of the town. Walls and floors in these places decorated with randomly spread typical red colour with natural designs would have made even Picasol jealous with their artistic work.

This class of people has considerable numbers in terms demographics of Kalburagi in particular and North Karnataka in general. Now they have to fight the battle on two counts, one to curb their habitual  instincts and the other to change their behaviour. And are equally affected with aftermath of the outbreak of pandemic  as the one who are actually infected with the virus itself.  And they need equal care and treatment to survive and thrive.

With the daily rise in numbers of infected in  different parts of the country, the district administration has further tightened the situation. With the arrival of new Police Commissioner, policemen are tiptoeing all around the town, shops are shut, roads are empty, all most all are 'mosqueterd',  some with home made, some covering with their hand kerchief. Every day people are waking up with the renewed hope of the earliest relief from the pandemic and restoration of normalcy in the situation.

It's intriguing how did Chinese nomenclate the tiny invisible virus as CORONA? But before the arrival of this new CORONA, all that Kalburagi people knew about the name of CORONA was the luxury sleeper bus that carried people from Kalburagi to Bangalore and the brand of slippers that is popular among Indian mass. But now the very name sending shivers down the spine of people of the town!!





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