Good end to bad rubbish

The nasha (alcoholic high) of power is something I learnt about in Year 2020. Around the world, bruised and battered by a once-in-a-century pandemic, Governments and administrators lunged to take some tough calls… calls that turned lives and businesses upside down and all but mocked the masses. To give the devil his due, most nations were indeed moving toward slow, patronizing death and damnation.

But that was largely because many world leaders inexplicably paid no heed to the warnings, predictions and prophecies till it was all but too late. Schools, shopping malls, cinema halls, pubs and offices were allowed to remain open for months before the body bags began crowding the streets and panic set in. Overnight, quarantines, lockdowns and even harsher separation measures were introduced.

Year 2020 has been miserable, one that should be best forgotten.

But if we look back as the year draws to a close, we have to remember the glimmers of camaraderie and re-assurance that stood out amid a grim tragedy that caused mayhem and loss of life and livelihoods. A highlight was how mankind clambered together as never before to ride out the storm, providing succor to one another in trying times.

Today, as we prepare to ring in the New Year 2021, there's some hope… hope that the Machiavellian forces shall finally take a breath and step back, at least long enough for some sensibility, calm and good health to be restored. There's a (suspect?) vaccine around the corner, but so is another strain of the novel Coronavirus, now christened COVID-20. It remains to be seen if mankind comes up trumps, or the pillage and plunder continue for some more time.

Something had to give

Inevitably, someone had to raise the ante, man the driver's seat, confront the demons head-on and save the day. In any crisis, that is the end-game in today's progressive science and media optics, with many Nobels going a-begging for any willing takers. Notably, the takers were the general public themselves. Pitifully scared and petrified to even touch near and dear ones, the world nonetheless slowly witnessed the miracle of general camaraderie and togetherness not witnessed for decades.

A large part of humanity found some heart and actually helped one-another, even absolute strangers—with food, rations and other means of sustenance during the lockdown, which saw a massive exodus of migrant workers and frightening levels of job losses. Neighbors got together too, as communities set up their personalized 'cooperative societies' to ride out the lockdowns and ensure that essential supplies,

foodstuff and commodities were within arm's reach, available when needed.

I am not talking India alone. A survey conducted in France during April-May's heavily-policed lockdown threw up some interesting findings. Confined for months to their homes, the lockdown saw a 'funneling effect' on relationships. While some were strengthened and grew through care, support and increased presence, others simply collapsed or fizzled out. Insurance firm Aviva revealed that a study had found that the number of adults aged 25 to 35 years who wished to end their relationship(s) tripled from 2 per cent in December 2019 to 7 per cent in May 2020; during the height of the lockdown.

Nasha doesn't last

Year 2020 also taught us that the nasha of power doesn't last for long. We all know what happened to Donald Trump, though he is yet to completely accept reality and move on, and out of the White House. Perhaps that home-truth will strike closer to our homes as well, and soon!

The flipside to stronger and more durable relationships is that proximity appears to breed contempt; that's too much familiarity, even within families and couples. Being ensconced in the same few rooms for a few hours is fine. But days, weeks and months of togetherness seemingly disables us from masking what we truly are. The truth comes out—naked, transparent, brutally exposed.

According to India's National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), cases of domestic violence during the lockdowns increased by 131 per cent, those related to cybercrime against women jumped by 184 per cent, while instances of rape and assault against women declined by 119 per cent, the last being the one saving grace of COVID-19. But perhaps that last solace was fleeting too, as cases of marital rape are now listed as 'domestic violence'.

Clearly, as a species, Year 2020 tested us to the limit, and beyond.

Health infra was tested

In India and around the world, COVID-19 did one more thing; it tested our medical infrastructure and readiness to the core. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities found themselves woefully short of doctors, medical equipment, ICU beds, ventilators and life-saving equipment, even as authorities worldwide struggled to cope with an unprecedented crisis. The hockey stick surge in COVID-19 cases overwhelmed and scorched the healthcare system, even in developed nations.

In a frightening economic announcement in India in September, the Finance Commission said the country would require nearly US $69 billion (over Rs 508,000 crore) over the next five years for the provision of just basic healthcare to citizens. Clearly, COVID-19 has been a clarion call, one that has informed us bluntly that if we didn't wake up and shape up soon, millions would have to ship out (of the world) over the next few years, even from the most basic of ailments. Another saving grace—at least we know what is needed to prevent future medical debacles. Now, we just need to summon up the gumption and will to walk the talk. I say let's walk.

Another recent study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) revealed that India's primary health centers are overwhelmed due to the COVID-19 health crisis and are facing an acute shortage of supplies. It further highlighted that inadequate health services due lack of basic supplies and equipment, shortage of skilled work force medical and paramedical staff is exacerbating the situation. When I say medical and paramedical staff, please read doctors, nurses, mid-wives, auxiliary nursing midwives and Anganwadi workers. Our healthcare system is running on fumes.

IT infra was tested too

As companies downed shutters and office premises turned into little ghost cities, employees cowering in their homes had to be provided a means to stay connected, at least those that didn't receive the dreaded pink slips and were rendered jobless. India's Information Technology (IT) companies came to the rescue, and what a wonderful life-saving task they performed.

Get a load of this—over 25 crore white-and blue-collar employees of India's companies had to be provided a way to work from their homes, in quick-time. It was a massive achievement, and a validation of India's status as the world's IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) backbone.

Year 2020 made 'Work from Home' a part of life, which is now here to stay, more so as companies realize the massive savings on infrastructure and other costs, especially in these trying economic times. And much like India's electronic media, our educated working class also learnt to face the laptop camera everyday in their best suits at home… Let's just ignore the fact that below the waist, they mostly sported shorts or pyjamas!

Online classes for students also became the norm in Year 2020 and laptop and Wi-Fi sales hit new highs.

Also hitting new highs was a great thing that happened—finally, in Year 2020. The death of the on-the-lap godi (paid) media. Year 2020 and the farmers' stir literally killed them and they are now all but gone. Today, we see highly encouraging visuals of them being thrown off Delhi's borders as they try to ensnare innocent victims and malign the farmers' protest.

Starry nights.

Minimal living

Chirping birds. No smog. Clear blue skies. Star-filled skies. Monkeys and other four-leggeds roaming fearlessly on empty city streets—return gifts the pandemic gave us, taking some pity on mankind. Our cities turned clean, for a while, our mountains pristine again, while the oceans breathed a temporary sigh of relief. The air was pure and fresh, smelling like a new-born puppy. Nirvana, it was, for some… But even during and through temporary, new-found spiritual bliss, we lived in fear.

Increasing global joblessness and failing economies taught us to go back to the basics, and learn to live minimally. Every one of us suddenly realized that many of the things we were buying (therefore, spending on) were unnecessary. For the last many months, only that which is most essential is on the shopping list of all that still walk the planet.

PS: Do note that liquor sales are at an all-time high, in India and around the world. Clearly, we have our priorities right.

I could go on, and on. But we still live with COVID-19, and COVID-20 seems to have arrived. The fear lives on. Let me leave you then today with a little axiom.

Year 2020, we will try our best to forget you. But we will never be able to.

Year 2021, join me in wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and we all hope you shall bring us happier tidings.

The writer is a communications consultant and a clinical analyst. narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com Views expressed are personal