COVID And Amphan: Indian Contrasts In Crisis Times!

When the extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan hit Kolkata and adjoining districts of West Bengal in the evening of 20^th May, 2020, with a speed ranging from 110 to 133 km per hour the damage could very well be anticipated. West Bengal is not new to cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal, in fact, three cyclones namely ‘Fani’, ‘Bulbul’ and ‘Amphan’ swept over the state within a span of one year only—from May 2019 to May 2020. However, the force and speed of Amphan was unprecedented in the state as some point out that the areas had not seen such a severe cyclone in 283 years. By late night that fateful day, closeted in the control room of her secretariat in Howrah, Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji, distressed and sad, said while briefing the media online that a few districts of her state and Kolkata were totally destroyed and it would take days to assess the damage apart from the loss of lives. She desperately hoped that the central government would come in with some help as her state was already drained of resources with the battle against COVID-19 raging on. Didi, as she is popularly known, also hoped Prime Minister Modi would come and see the damage for himself. And, the Indian Prime Minister responded magnanimously, announcing the very next morning his decision to visit the state on 22^ndMay.

Political differences between BJP-ruled central government and TMC-ruled West Bengal state government are only too well known with both parties not stopping the rivalries and the parleys even during COVID times, in fact, fighting over COVID issues in recent days. Therefore, Mamata wishing for Modi’s presence and Modi’s gesture in coming immediately is being viewed in a new light: that they have come together in a spirit of cooperation in the time of crisis, setting aside politics for the moment. The Prime Minister expressed full solidarity with the state government—hit by twin-tragedies, and praised its efforts in tackling both the catastrophes. He assured full help at every step of the way ahead—restoration, reconstruction, rehabilitation and the like, and announced a preliminary financial package for immediate expenses.  Later in her media brief at the airport after seeing off the Prime Minister, Mamata Bannerji appreciated Modi’s visit and his promise of joint efforts, not saying anything against the offer of help as claimed by a ‘national’ news channel that started carrying supers ‘Mamata Slams Aid’.

Unfortunately, Maharashtra wing of the BJP failed to learn any lesson from its central leadership bonhomie, and selected this same say to stage public protests all over the state claiming the state government’s mishandling of the COVID fight, perhaps the very first instance of such kind in the worldwide war against the killer virus. One of their allegations, as puerile as it sounded, was that why Maharashtra has witnessed such a spike in cases while Kerala handled it so competently. Well, ‘serving’ the interests of the local people for decades they still don’t understand why Mumbai is Mumbai, and why it should have the largest number of COVID-19 infections, like, in a similar way, why the virus should select New York for its special treatment. In totality, they must understand that COVID is not a political phenomenon and doesn’t go by who ruled which state. At this hour of crisis for the state the best option for them is to inspire the people to follow the precautions religiously and to jump in the fray for total cooperation. Perhaps, in India, political parties need multiple tragedies strike in unison to make them lose their political rivalries and power-hungry politics, even if for the time being.  

Vocal Regulations!

They are safe at home—he, his wife and their two boys. So far, that is to say. Their house is in a red zone—declared by the government due to the spread of the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. For nearly two months now they have continued to stay at home, at times working from home and he has been very strict lately, not allowing his young sons to go out at any cost. He has heard that young people, even if infected, can get on well without even showing symptoms and recover quite easily, but the problem is the possibility of their infecting elderly persons who are prone to having serious complications if infected. Naturally so then, he thinks, why grandsons are separated physically from grandparents. Their rations come mostly from online orders. At times, he has to go out to the fruit or vegetable vendors for the odd and fresh requirement.   

Things amuse him; although he had never seen such unprecedented times or heard about in his lifetime, and that humankind is going through a critical time. Wearing a mask is compulsory while venturing out; rightly so, he supports, because the goddamned virus thrives on human droplets. It all boils down to the plain fact that human beings can no longer open their mouths freely and unchecked. He talks to a stakeholder through a mask and the other one interacts back through his/her mask thus preventing scattering of the droplets while sound waves do reach them both, though a bit muffled. However, that is still not enough, there has to be at least one and half meters of social distancing between them so that the droplets somehow escaping the masks fail to reach the targets.

He remembers his language teacher very clearly now; the teacher was notorious for his split-wide mouth spitting out the words, and he being a front-bencher was exposed to the droplets sometime landing right on his cheeks. In those innocent times the mouth-openings or floating spit particles hardly bothered anyone. Now, the droplet syndrome has landed on humankind like a bombshell. No wonder, he muses on, the schools and colleges are closed indefinitely: just imagine the free-flow of droplets, invisible or not, oozing out from the spirited teacher and all those of the students in equally spirited response. This is serious man, don’t make fun, he cautions himself; but his musings cannot be checked—even in the times of rigorous checks and controls.  

The crux of the problem is opening of the mouth, he thinks more seriously now. Why, this is going to affect every field of human activity in future: even in small allowed gatherings of the business or homely or the religious kind the main speaker will not be able to indulge freely in opening or demonstrating his/her mouth cavities; in entertainment shows the actors will have to restrain themselves from mouthing or lip-centric exercises, confounded because in their scenes before the camera they cannot possibly wear masks;  in restaurants/bars, even after strictly following social distancing norms, there will be precarious moments when customers let go of the masks for the pleasure of eating/drinking and allowing words regurgitate through the holy mess of saliva, food and drinks; debates or petty quarrels in any form of public transport will have to be guarded strictly against and even in one-to-one encounters caution must be exercised as to how much of mouth-opening is being adhered to.

A profound question comes to his mind now: why humankind has been singled out for this? Have the human beings been talking too much? Well, he reasons, more than being talkative the human beings perhaps have been indulging in too much of needless and harmful talking—leading to all kinds of unrest most of the times. He recoils back in wonder: wow! look at the animal world—all animals, birds, insects are totally spared from this regulation; the animals are really freaking out everywhere, in all sites mostly infected by human invaders, and are opening their mouths in ecstatic boundless joy, in their word-less natural sound waves; even the mosquitoes at his home now finding exquisite pleasure in searching and hunting out their victims.  Well, at his reasoning best, perhaps humankind has imposed untold torture and misery on the unsuspecting animal world over the centuries, and so now is paying for it.

He turns his attention to the television screen for the latest updates. He looks fondly at his wife sitting quietly by his side and at his two sons busy with their smart-phones. He smiles in satisfaction: he can still open his mouth freely here. So far, that is to say. 

Vizag Gas Tragedy: Compensation Cover For Callousness?

Photo: english.sakshi.com

Tragically ironical that in the time the ‘StayHome’ mission people of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh should find themselves forced to run out of their homes in the early hours today terror- struck. A polystyrene gas plant of the LG Polymers near Visakhapatnam started leaking gas in the early hours and the deadly gas started entering into the homes of more than 1000 people of five villages in a 3km radius of the chemical plant. Shocked inhabitants ran out of their homes into the streets breathless and with a burning sensation. Several of them fainted or lost consciousness and fell in the streets while many others ran, sat down or stood there helplessly or loitered around in a daze. However, as against the StayHome irony, at least COVID preparedness of the district helped give immediate relief to the affected with ambulances, oxygen cylinders and ventilators kept in readiness. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also called in.

Bringing back memories of the horrendous Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 that killed nearly four thousand people and impacted thousands in the long term, eleven citizens lost their lives in today’s polystyrene gas leak with around 25 continuing to be under critical care and more than 300 being hospitalized. While there was intense media coverage of the tragedy hardly anyone questioned why the gas leak should have happened and the possibility of any callousness involved. The chemical plant reopened in the early hours today after being closed for 40 days due to lockdown. Now, after such a long interval of shutdown why the factory management should not bother to check everything and any possible disorder in the plant machinery beforehand, knowing very well that there was a near-fatal gas called polystyrene produced in the plant? No answers are given till this piece is written except for one of two voices calling for prosecuting the factory.

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh visited the site promptly and announced hefty compensation packages for the hospitalized, for the ones kept under ventilators and for the kin of the dead. LG Polymers is believed to be one of the most favorite companies of the administration and several irregularities over the years were ignored. Naturally then, no question has been raised over any negligence or callousness that could be involved in the incident leading to loss of innocent lives. Even otherwise it has become customary in India just to condemn such incidents or express dismay or express heartfelt condolences and do nothing as follow-up. The VVIP archival condolence messages that get put up too promptly also reflect such kind of deplorable mental approach. Hope someone would do deep into why such tragedies should keep on happening and who is accountable for the Vizag Gas Tragedy, this time. It should not end with experts saying that any long-term impact of the gas leak is unlikely or the authorities finally taking credit for handling the incident and its fallout efficiently.