MOROSOVIRUS: UNWANTED SUCCESSOR OF CORONAVIRUS
Sitting at home during
lockdown within the four walls of my flat in Delhi, like in a compartment of a
stranded wayside railway yard, with
a pantry jointly managed by my wife and
me , it is only natural for me to be carried
by a wave of imagination about
what it will be like after the
invisible demon chooses to say good bye to us. I wonder what kind of specie we will emerge
after the protracted war with the unseen is deemed to be over.
Only a couple of months ago, whenever we met in a get together with
our friends and families, we felt miraculously rejuvenated. And this was in
addition of our daily habitual meets with our kith and kin and a wide circle of
friends. There were no hiccups, no hesitations. And now , with the present concept of social
distancing being taken a little too far,
I am afraid, social distancing may not in the long run, begin to mean distance of miles even between the
closest of kin , as an unfortunate
legacy of coronavirus, if at any point of time it deludes us into the belief that it has left
for good .
My fears are born out of
its mode of behavior that has forced us to live the life of prisoners, some in the house arrest , many
others in the dungeons and many more running
away to escape being caught endangering their lives in so
many ways. If we shun these negative expressions then let us call it ‘living
the life of a recluse’.
I find the behavior of
coronavirus very funny . I feel it is all the time around me, with its
large family , wherever I am , though I
have not dared stepping out even ones. A little natural cough or a periodic
sneeze and I shiver in my shoes without wearing them,
as I
see it coming and run to kitchen
to gulp in quickly the hot water
as if with every gulp I have shot it down and am watching its spoils with the
pride of a skilled hunter.
If a vendor
comes to my door at my calling ,
we jump, nevertheless, to the floor ,
rush to wear the mask and take the packet of medicines from him with half opened doors as if he is a ghost and is handing
over a can of scorpions. The faces familiar for years have become
suddenly alien, and still worse, have
become untouchables and in many cases
woefully stigmatized for none of
their fault. We keep washing hands fearing it is in our fists
. While we pretend to know where it is, none knows for certain where it is. It
is such a deceptive enemy. I call it deceptive because, with all my claims to knowledge about it, I may
come absolutely unscathed despite being in the crowded market without mask, and
, if ill luck would have it , a single transaction with a single unknown person may
get me into the worst problem .
And finally , my mind goes to the future , the uncertain future ,
when the semblance of previous life has returned and the world, which was
standstill, has started moving again.
But can it move with the same pace and fashion ? Now the very same
people who would hug me at the very sight of me will indeed move ahead to hug me, as old habits die hard, but will pull back quickly and will rub hands in exasperation . I do not know
when will the time come when we can hold the hands again and shake them as
earlier, instead of contented with folding hands saying Namaste invoking our rich cultural practice, a virtue out of
necessity .
With phobia and fear psychosis building up all
over the world I see coronavirus throwing up
morosovirus as its successor. It is creating
a vast trail of morose people . I see, hear and read every day
about people’s changed behavior, in some cases verging on perversity, idiocy,
and even lunacy. I see the old sacrosanct norm of love thy neighbour being
thrown to winds. I loath to imagine a scenario where the present day tactical distancing becomes
a permanent barrier like international border between two
people howsoever close they may be .
While the nation through its
democratically elected governments, both
at centre and at states, has risen to the occasion, pushing all possible resources to combat deceptively
aggressive invisible enemy , coronavirus and endeavouring ,at the same time, to mitigate the suffering of millions of poor who, being in unorganized sector have been
disorganized and disoriented, will surely succeed in winning the war against coronavirus , but how will it
contain the evil impact of morosovirus remains to be seen as this virus, jocularly
called morosovirus, may be left behind
by coronavirus as its successor as
Seleucus was left behind in India reluctantly by
Alexender as his successor.
I pine
to see the day when we shall overcome
the impact of both , the predecessor as
well as the successor and return to the good old days
forgetting both of them . I pray the day
comes sooner than we desire .
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