(Writer’s creativity and satire have been served in abundance. Love me for the writing prowess and loathe me for my guts, make sensible comments, just don’t spew hate, you’ll be respectfully mocked and blocked. I almost wanted to title this – ‘All men are Rapists, Bigots or Jihadi’ but went against it to spare some from dying.)
India is a prodigious nation of 22 major languages and over 720 dialects. As if the complexity of its heritage was not abundant, there are nine recognized religions, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Baha’i Faith and hundreds of castes, communities and many more that we may not know that are entrenched in the minds of the people that reside there. And those who migrated have bourgeoned like hydra all over the globe. Despite the travel, their thoughts perhaps have not advanced. Again, I am not saying all, but there are surely some who spoil it for the rest of us. It is a secular nation so much so that this 43-year-old self-appointed swami-turned-charlatan fled India, went on to form a micronation.
The point is, there is so much unsubstantiated unity in diversity when there are elections approaching or when there is a pandemic like COVID. Everyone seems to do their part as if the 1.36B are singing kumbaya in divine unison (refer to the lighting of the lamps). Some, which is still a large number considering the population even break rules, by coming out onto the streets clapping, pounding drums and utensils to generate world records of kinds. When all that their fearless leader asked was to applaud in the comforts of home, whatever that might be and stay away from the streets. Well, what can any régime do when their subjects don’t abide by protocols. After all, it is not a communist nation like China where their heads impose and there are hefty consequences for going against them. Besides the conspiracy theories and banning ‘Tik-Tok’, looks like there is nothing ‘we’ can learn from them. How can we forget, that we are the bizarre that forced caregivers to flee by pelting stones?!?
As if the bedlam caused by the pandemic was not enough, an honorable State Chief decided to take half of all the public sector employees’ and pensioners’ paycheck. The State Chief or the Chief Minister as they are called are US equivalent of a Governor. Indian states have Governors too, but they are seldom seen in action besides cutting ribbons and lighting candles. The buzz is that this is one of the highly praised premeditated decision anyone has ever seen in their lifetime. Well, my eighty-year-old seems to disagree along with millions of others who see it as contemporary oppression. Or perhaps, they learned something from China after all. Just like that, the penurious got half of what they are reliant on. There has been no assertion of what that Chief and his poodles were offering in support of this crucial situation. Coming back to the spirit of my writing, COVID traveled the world and continues to take down many precious lives but none have had a conundrum like in India.
In the US, there are so many epicenters of the pandemic. Let’s take New York for example which is predominantly Catholic / Christian and Jewish. COVID didn’t adopt any faith although I heard it took on a convinced dogmatic connection! Even in Wuhan, China where it had originated, and where Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity exist, no religion was associated to humans, caregivers or the pandemic. Then it went to India, and said ‘Allah, Allah’, converted to Islam, and nonetheless became the most-wanted jihadi. Some are even calling it Mohammed ‘Coronuddin’. Nizamuddin attendees became scapegoats although any religion could have idiots while their fearless leaders despite ignoring social distancing haven’t been chastised yet. And in all this ruckus, no one seems to question the religion of doctors and nurses that are serving where they are allowed.
While haters are pushing their agenda through social media and imprudent forwards, some have taken the saying, “Too stupid to understand science?!? Try religion” extremely. It is true that Gods don’t kill people, but it is people with Gods that kill other people. I was chatting with a ‘no longer’ friend. They believed that the 14% Muslims were the reason for the pandemic spreading. When I dared them about the rapes that have beleaguered the nation where the perpetrators were mostly Hindu. And if “All Hindu men are rapists; all Christian men are bigots; and all Muslims are COVID Jihadis” statement was true. They got so mad and hung up on me. It sounded like a death knell of that relationship. It was clear to me that the real pandemic is not COVID, it is the mind of humanity-hating nincompoops.
(Picture credit: Clipart Library)
QUOTIDIAN BLESSING 