Lockdown Musings : Will the little bird in neighbourhood tell something new?

In this silent evening, travelling birds get lost on the way. On the way to its destination....... the little bird wants to tell me something. – This line is from rough translation of popular Bengali song ‘Nijhum o Sandhaye’ and perhaps it has a relevance as India is ‘locked-down’ for straight 21 days since March 25.

Staying indoors, your’s truly blogger is also faced with the predicament and boredom and hence this piece!

But writing something personal from the inner call is certainly not an easy proposition at these challenging times. My thoughts get moving from one end to the other. Should I pen some readable stuff for young children, should there be humour or a general political piece broadly guided by the advertisement tag of LIC – ‘Ghar me rahiye...Surakshit rahiye’.

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Well, countrymen and women know it pretty well – Staying Home is Staying Safe as the ‘unseen’ corona virus – which should have been named Wuhan virus – continues to spread.

Do I sound emotional?

Russians, it is said, generally keep their emotions under lock and key and display them only when they deal with relatives and that too on special occasions. I am not a Russian and have no fascination for some of the communist falsehoods also! 

Now, talking about humour one gets lost as the generation next is something soon getting out of our grip perhaps in more ways than one!!

Younger generation and their fashion statement always left me baffled. Perhaps couple of decades back there used to be Jeans (pant) worn by young ladies and it used to have words ‘Look Here’ written on the back. The emerging whatsapp generation is more updated. They can soon replace the alphabet ‘L’ with another alphabet – a, b, c, d, e or F...and concoct the word or pronunciation to their choice.

Are they not capable of these antics? And anyone opposing them could be easily dismissed as ‘old fashioned’.

Next my thoughts revolved around mythological prowess as two epic serials ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ returned on Doordarshan - DD Bharati to be précised.

But thinking about mythology and the likes of Lord Krishna, one thought of glancing through the book ‘Krsna’ penned by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 

Keeping the entire matters in the context of global concern about the pandemic – one notes the line “Final Death is inevitable”.

Yes, of course – the fear about corona virus is all about Death. Then are we exaggerating all these fears about the unseen virus and death associated with it. I am not at all trying to demean the efforts to control the virus from spreading and immense sacrifice being made by millions of corona virus.

The book ‘Krsna’ further raises a vital question: “Why then should you be so much afraid of death?”

 There is yet another oneliner – “You may die either today or in a hundred years, you cannot avoid death....Actually, death means annihilation of the present body”. 

But we are all mortals and hence the fear and there is nothing to be apologetic about. The same oriental philosophy teaches that life is a duty, and hence to discharge that ‘duty’ you need to live.

The global scare is definitely not unwarranted. It is not one of those PJs --- hmmmm? Did not get it? My wife cannot understand this. My daughter knows it – pretty well – Pakau Jokes ! This is also the Delhi phenomenon.

Now coning to Delhi, everybody in the town is talking about Nizamuddin meet – the infamous Evangelical congregation of Muslims – ostensibly to popularise Islam.

This congregation was really unwarranted. Did somewhere down the line, the Modi Sarkar has gone ‘defensive’ as the anti-CAA agitation and Shaheen Bagh protest had left its adverse impact. PM Modi is also ambitious and wants to win a Nobel prize, may be. So he is perhaps reluctant to continue to get the tag of being ‘anti-Muslim’.

There is often a debate on the merits of Chinese communism and liberal democracy in India, however faulty the latter might be. It is generally accepted that communist China has provided its citizens with better health services and more food and clothes than democracy has done in India.

With its often callous approach to citizens' welfare and high political sensitivity, Indian democracy fails to inject elements of self-discipline and social regulation. Indian social behaviour always remains the totality of ignorance, insensitivity, poverty and arrogance.

This blogger is no exception ! At least my wife would readily agree about all four elements about me – Ignorance, Insensitivity, Poverty and Arrogance.

My daughter Tanvi and her cousins would add a refrain - 'Gussa', the anger !!

That Dawn will come certainly

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In Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal, a unique order was issued by the state government allowing sale/take aways of sweets ! 

In Kerala, the CPI-M led LDF government initiated a move to deliver alcohol that is liquor to the homes of alcoholics during ongoing 21-day long Covid-19 lockdown.

Thankfully, the Kerala High Court has ordered against the state government's initiative.

PM Modi's spiritual appeal against Wuhan virus/ Covid-19 fetch criticism

Prime Minister Modi’s April 3 video message to the nation said the lighting of a lamp symbolizes that "we have to move towards the light from the darkness created by the coronavirus."

"No force is stronger than our spirit and enthusiasm," he said as positive Covid-19 cases in India spiraled to 2,543, claiming 72 lives.

Modi on Friday sought to keep the nation engaged and united in its battle royale against the unseen corona virus and urged citizens to lit lamps for nine minutes at 9 pm (2100 hours) on April 5, Sunday.

But the appeal has not enthused opposition parties with a Congress leader Shashi Tharoor calling the entire episode as a "photo opportunity" by the Prime Minister with "no vision" post the lockdown that ends by mid-April.

Prime Minister's message came a day after he held marathon round of video conferences with the Chief Ministers wherein they discussed about exit strategy from the lockdown that was enforced by him since March 25.

"We have to move towards light from the darkness created by coronavirus," Prime Minister said in his video message.
The challenges before the Indian authorities in the war against the virus that has left an adverse fallout globally increased manifold after a large number of Muslim clerics and international participants met in Delhi last month in total violation of social distancing norms.
There has been sudden spurt in the cases of corona virus positive impact after it came to light that those who attended the meet in New Delhi had gone to various parts of the country.
In Delhi alone, on Thursday there was a sudden spurt in such cases.
According to officials, the figure of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday in Delhi was 152 but the number shot up to 293 cases by Thursday evening. Among them as many as 182 people are those who took part in the religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat. There were similar instances of increase in number of cases in other states too.
In southern state of Tamil Nadu, there have been 75 new cases -- mostly linked to Tablighi Jamaat, and the total number in the state rose to 309 - at the second spot behind 416 of Maharashtra.
Earlier, another southern state Kerala was at the second spot.
From Telangana at least 1000 Muslims had attended the meet and the state has seen at least six deaths of those due to corona virus.
Prime Minister, however, did not make any mention of the Tablighi Jamaat, which is also seen as a culmination of administrative lapses.
A total of 2,943 people, including 1,810 from the Markaz, have been quarantined, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. Over 21,000 people have been also directed for self-quarantine at their homes.
He appealed to Delhiites to stay indoors and adhere to the norms of 21-day lockdown.
The Delhi Fire Service personnel disinfected the venue where the meeting of Muslim clerics took place.
The Markaz has emerged as a hotspot of coronavirus cases in Delhi.
Delhi police has booked Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, the head of the Nizamuddin Markaz, who is still absconding.
Maulana Saad said in an audio clip on Thursday said the pandemic is the "result of sins we humans have been committing".
The Delhi Police have also identified and quarantined 275 foreign nationals, who have been staying in various mosques in the city after attending the Jamaat's congregation.

Four members of Tablighi Jamaat, including three foreigners were tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh.

In Maharashtra, cops have registered cases against trustees of a madrasa and a mosque in Mumbra for giving 'shelter' to Bangladeshi and Malaysian nationals who had visited congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat.
In his video message - third such national broadcast since March 19 all dedicated to corona fight, the Prime Minister said that people displayed unprecedented discipline and a sense of service during the ongoing 21-day straight nationwide corona virus lockdown that started on March 25.

Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor flayed Prime Minister's video message saying it showed no road map "to ease people's pain".
"Listened to the Pradhan Showman. Nothing about how to ease people’s pain, their burdens, their financial anxieties. No vision of the future or sharing the issues he is weighing in deciding about the post-lockdown. Just a feel-good moment curated by India’s Photo-Op Prime Minister!," he
tweeted.
Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum, told UCAN
“More than lighting the candle and lamps, the need of the hour is to concentrate on how we
could help the people who are facing hunger and disease, the plight of the migrant workers who
were the worst affected".
Prime Minister's appeal is "like paying to the God for his help and blessing but doing nothing to get rid of the problem". he said.

Father Savarimuthu Sankar, spokesperson of the archdiocese of Delhi, however said “Prime minister’s address is certainly a moral boosting at this difficult times because it show that
we are all one and have to fight this pandemic collectively".
"Modi's address is one way of reminding people that together we can achieve the goal and at the same time showing the solidarity with the people who lost their near and dear ones".
“Certainly there are many issues to be address like migrant workers
sufferings," he also hastened to add.

Lt Governor of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi, a famed woman and a former cop, welcomed Prime Minister's call for lighting lamps saying 'alone-together' will be a key weapon to fight the virus.

"9 PM for 9 Minutes on April 5 th, switch off all lights and light a lamp... Says our @PMOIndia. He has given us the weapon to Breakthechain  #AloneTogether to kill the devil of #coronavirus," she tweeted.

Some net savvy citizens quickly took to the Twitter and hailed the Prime Minister's appeal for lighting the lamps in unity.

"Nice idea to unite family, ward ,village, district state and nation. We stand united," one of them wrote.

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