Over forty days and counting. Counting our
blessings while going through a multitude of emotions. Foremost of them
being grateful that we are surviving to count days while the
not-so-fortunate have perished due to the coronavirus.
Having being programmed on a heavy dose of positivity, we are relieved that our immediate relatives, our friends are not positive for Covid-19. We are concerned about the economic impact on a huge section of society whose livelihood has come to a halt – and its socio-political fallout. We are anxious if any of these fallouts would impact us directly – salary cuts, loss of jobs, inability to service loans, closure of the business. But what we think about the most is the return to normalcy and end of the lockdown.
Everyone is a corona expert by now. We all seem to have enough and more information about the origins of the malaise, the trajectory it followed in different countries, the mutations that the virus has undergone, various kinds of treatment – scientific as well as exotic. Needless to say, we also have our verdicts on how things should have been handled and would be very magnanimous in sharing the way forward; if only someone had the good sense of asking us.
I am reminded of a quote attributed to Arthur C Clarke albeit in a very different context, “The future isn’t what it used to be”. It rings so true of the post-lockdown world, specifically what we assume it would be. To start with, having seen two extensions, we can’t be sure of the date itself. The categorization into zones as per severity is another dimension where the level of freedom and restriction would vary – and this categorization is dynamic. What is green today, could be red tomorrow. Finally, the local governments are fully empowered to insert additional layers of measures depending upon the local nuances. So to start with, let’s get this right – post lockdown world will not be uniform or standardized – both in terms of timing and nature.
Some other levels of distinction and differentiation in terms of liberties and restrictions would be between urbanized and rural settings, industrialized and agricultural zones, business or service sectors. Despite an identical number of infections, the experiences would significantly vary by setting, zone and sector.
The government of the day has to grapple with the horns of a dilemma. At an ethical level, there is a choice to be made between mitigating the economic loss (which impacts lives) and containing the loss of lives (which impacts the economy). It is a modern-day variant of the social contract where the rulers need taxes to guarantee its citizen a certain quality of life. A Machiavellian version of the social contract is an unethical choice between revenue and life. Unfortunately, we have seen examples across the world and ages where unethical choices have been made – else why would the tobacco industry exist? All we can hope is that the right trade-offs are made which might mean more short-term pain for long-term gains.
Some choices have been made and we would witness quantitative easing of restrictions. After weeks of longing, we do see a glimmer of hope of re-belonging to a normalized world. A world that we were part of a few weeks ago before someone hit a pause button. The long nights of lockdown have been necessary, painful, and nightmarish. Time to look forward to an ‘Unlocked Dawn’.
Having being programmed on a heavy dose of positivity, we are relieved that our immediate relatives, our friends are not positive for Covid-19. We are concerned about the economic impact on a huge section of society whose livelihood has come to a halt – and its socio-political fallout. We are anxious if any of these fallouts would impact us directly – salary cuts, loss of jobs, inability to service loans, closure of the business. But what we think about the most is the return to normalcy and end of the lockdown.
Everyone is a corona expert by now. We all seem to have enough and more information about the origins of the malaise, the trajectory it followed in different countries, the mutations that the virus has undergone, various kinds of treatment – scientific as well as exotic. Needless to say, we also have our verdicts on how things should have been handled and would be very magnanimous in sharing the way forward; if only someone had the good sense of asking us.
I am reminded of a quote attributed to Arthur C Clarke albeit in a very different context, “The future isn’t what it used to be”. It rings so true of the post-lockdown world, specifically what we assume it would be. To start with, having seen two extensions, we can’t be sure of the date itself. The categorization into zones as per severity is another dimension where the level of freedom and restriction would vary – and this categorization is dynamic. What is green today, could be red tomorrow. Finally, the local governments are fully empowered to insert additional layers of measures depending upon the local nuances. So to start with, let’s get this right – post lockdown world will not be uniform or standardized – both in terms of timing and nature.
Some other levels of distinction and differentiation in terms of liberties and restrictions would be between urbanized and rural settings, industrialized and agricultural zones, business or service sectors. Despite an identical number of infections, the experiences would significantly vary by setting, zone and sector.
The government of the day has to grapple with the horns of a dilemma. At an ethical level, there is a choice to be made between mitigating the economic loss (which impacts lives) and containing the loss of lives (which impacts the economy). It is a modern-day variant of the social contract where the rulers need taxes to guarantee its citizen a certain quality of life. A Machiavellian version of the social contract is an unethical choice between revenue and life. Unfortunately, we have seen examples across the world and ages where unethical choices have been made – else why would the tobacco industry exist? All we can hope is that the right trade-offs are made which might mean more short-term pain for long-term gains.
Some choices have been made and we would witness quantitative easing of restrictions. After weeks of longing, we do see a glimmer of hope of re-belonging to a normalized world. A world that we were part of a few weeks ago before someone hit a pause button. The long nights of lockdown have been necessary, painful, and nightmarish. Time to look forward to an ‘Unlocked Dawn’.
No comments:
Post a Comment