By Benjamin Lyngdoh
The novel coronavirus pandemic is challenging peoples’ perception and behaviour in varied ways. In general, people are fickle and fearful of something and anything that they do not understand. In contemporary times the Covid-19 pandemic is one such ‘thing’. New and distressing information about it comes everyday and combined with new infection and death numbers. In addition to all this, we have something that we call today ‘university of WhatsApp. It is turning out to be a troublesome social media application. Here, we find all types of UGC (user generated content); the majority of which spreads unfounded and fearful information in the guise of being socially responsible. Now, in the absence of understanding and a lack of effort towards comprehending facts, fear turns into paranoia and spreads like wild fire. The result is the destruction of all reason and rationality. The fear and complexity of the problem pushes people to cling on to fear and paranoia. It is a paradox of sorts that we find it easy to abhor strength/facts but very hard to ignore unfounded fears. As such, this Covid – 19 pandemic and the fear(s) associated with it has resulted in people behaving in inexplicable ways. Happily, not everything is doom and gloom as there are positive stories too. Accordingly, I place the following pointers –
Firstly, a fearful people are a dangerous people. This is even more so if it takes the shape of ‘herd mentality’; then all reason and facts fly out of the window. This is what happened in the sad episode of (L) Dr. J. Sailo Ryntathiang. That the residents of Jhalupara and Nongpoh did not allow/offer a respectable cremation and burial respectively is highly condemnable. The scenes of the day were extremely shameful and deeply disturbing. In addition, we have the social media posts which did not help in normalizing the situation at all. It is difficult to believe that amidst such a pandemonium there was not a single sane mind to speak sense. But, would that have helped? When a mob takes control, sense dies a sad death! Nonetheless, it is bewildering as to how unaware the people were on ‘the basics of the novel coronavirus’ (as to how it spreads, the health protocols in case of demise, etc). Such information has been in the news for a very long time. Surely, the people must have been aware but their behaviour was nothing short of irresponsible and a gross depiction of foolishness. The trauma (and threads of anger) that the family and near ones of (L) Dr. Sailo went through can only be imagined. That was not the send-off deserved for one of the most respected surgeons. In the end, it was a relief that Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Church provided a resting place. Subsequently, the expression of regret over the entire episode by the people in question was too little, too late. Overall, we can only hope that we have learnt from the unfortunate event thereby ensuring that it never happens again in future.
Secondly, is our society evolved to the extent that we can take anything in our stride? Are we far-sighted and broad enough? This will explain the conundrum over the disclosure/non-disclosure of information concerning the ones infected with Covid – 19. The point to be noted here is that ‘perception’ is what makes us who we are and it also makes us do what we do. There has been a lot of talk as to whether the personal/professional details of the infected should be disclosed. There are some who demand that their details be laid out as this will help in the containment and mitigation of Covid – 19. They believe that secrecy will not do any good to anyone. Although this is a fair and tenable argument; the ground reality is something else. The majority are so fearful of this virus that disclosing details of the infected will be counter-productive. There will be stigma and in some cases maybe even ostracisation. The fact is that we as a people are more likely to take the disclosure in a negative/demeaning way rather than using it for having empathy and encouragement. We are not prepared for it! Hence, it is good that the government did not disclose too much information on the infected. As a case in point, we still hold stigma against people suffering from tuberculosis, HIV, leprosy, etc. Covid – 19 is a far more dangerous animal; so, what are we talking about?
Thirdly, a big shout-out to the health workers and police personnel who are at the vanguard of the struggle; their services during this emergency will be remembered forever. As a people we must salute them for their selflessness, courage and resilience. They are putting their lives at risk for the betterment of us all. If we are safe today, it is primarily because of them. I am regularly reminded of those social media posts with the caption, ‘We stay here (hospital/streets) for you, so you stay home for us.’ It does bring a warm feeling and a realization that we are all in this together. As such, for all those who took the lockdown and the restrictions seriously and followed it that is the epitome of a peoples’ fight. A big shout-out too to all the entrepreneurs who through the application of IT platforms have been delivering services to us all. They never give up and are always on the move. Their sense of service is highly commendable. It is expertise personified. They are also heroes in their own right. In particular, Christopher Rani and his team through their ‘strategic business unit’ called ‘CR School’ have taken an admirable step towards online teaching-learning. By all means, it is a great achievement! This is a perfect example which highlights that every problem is an opportunity and if you are ready to intelligently work on it, success is assured. After all, as a policy and planning matter, online classrooms are here to stay.
Lastly, nowadays people feel suffocated amidst this lockdown. It is understandable. After all, we all want to get back to our normal routines as early as possible. But our social interactions will never be the same again for some time. Social distancing norms (amongst others) are here to stay. How soon we will be able to move on with our activities/lives will largely depend upon the trade-off between risk and essentiality. The opening-up of socio-economic activities will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. For example, opening of educational institutional is very essential but highly risky too, so we have to go slow on it and it requires a lot of thinking; opening of bars and restaurants is non-essential and risky, so it can be put on hold; opening of salons is essential but extremely risky, so it can be deferred; opening of offices is essential and not that risky, so they may resume. The point is, amidst this trade-off we will all have to be patient. There is need for cohesiveness and cooperation. We the people will have to unite and be more understanding. Let this understanding be driven by ‘science and facts’ and not by fears. This is because one wrong move might just lead us into another spell of ‘strict’ lockdown. After all, we are in the same ship; we either sail together or we sink together!
(The Author teaches at NEHU)