The Makings of the Pandemic

and why we need to have more conversations

10th October 2022. I went to the doctor for an appointment after a sore throat and a mild fever, and he declared it to be a viral infection. “Covid is long gone, but we have to be safe” he said in a solemn voice.

I thanked him, and picked up my prescription. Standing in line at the chemist, I could hear his voice echoing in my head. “Covid is long gone”

Is it really?, I asked myself. I’d seen more instances last week where I felt like Covid might be gone, but the impact still remained.

It all started a couple of weeks back, where I was taking the regular BMTC bus to the metro. I turned around and spotted a man who I instantly recognised. He was an assistant at the high school I went to, and he smiled a big smile recognising me too.

I started asking him about how things had been, and noticed that his old cheery smile had faded. He said the pandemic had been tough on him. He had got married the year before and invested in a new house, only to have a lockdown come in to play spoilsport to his plans. School closed down, and he had to make do with his daily expenses from his savings. While talking about it, he lowered his voice to a whisper and asked “Do you have some money? I need to buy some medicines for myself, I haven’t been keeping too well”

He was embarrassed to ask. Without thinking, I pulled out my phone and transferred him some money. He thanked me, and was on his way.

I’ve thought about him a lot these last two weeks. It also seemed like I saw him everywhere I went. While commuting on long auto rides, or taking the metro, I tried to strike up casual conversations with more than one person. Every time I mentioned the pandemic, their faces dropped. It seemed like that one trigger that could turn a really good day into a bad one.

We don’t talk about it enough. As much as we’d like to collectively forget one of our toughest years, we can’t. The pandemic happened. Millions of people died, thousands lost their jobs and countless relationships suffered.

From the auto driver I met last week, who was trying to pay back a humongous loan, to the fresher applying for a job for the 50th time, every person has had an intense experience with the pandemic.

We’ve all had it bad, but for some people its been worse. And its still going worse. Unemployment in this country was at a staggering 12.6% during the early months this year.

In these times, we’ve all realised how easy it is to connect globally. We can read about the women’s protest in Iran and stand in solidarity with a tweet, but we don’t know about the housemaid in our locality trying to make ends meet after the death of her husband. The point I’m making is to not compare the seriousness of both the incidents, but to explain how disconnected we’ve grown.

With today being World Mental Health day, I wish for us to be kinder to each other. To look up from our phones in the auto and have a conversation with the auto driver. To not bargain too much with the vegetable vendor. To not judge on first appearances and to help as much as you can.

“Be curious, not judgemental”- Walt Whitman