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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