A RESET BUTTON PRESSED..........REBOOT IN PROCESS

From Australopithecus, to Homo Neanderthals, to Paleolithic, to Neolithic we have come a long way. We here  is the Human race or us the mere mortals. Our intelligence and our ability to comprehend and our ability to communicate has alleviated us from mere animals to humans. We developed the devastating atom bomb, we went to space and landed in moon, we are now well ahead in our plans to colonize mars, and by doing things that even two centuries ago was thought as preposterous. Somewhere in our Psyche  we have started believing that we are the creators of this universe. We are the chosen ones that can create ,destroy and create again.

 In the movie The Jurassic park there was a wonderful dialogue it goes like this, ”God created Man and God created dinosaurs. God destroyed dinosaurs and Man created dinosaurs,” We mortals have started behaving very arrogantly now a days. We are trying to control nature, the ultimate force, without thinking about what nature can do to us. How ferocious nature can be was evident from the recent tsunami or hurricane Katrina or the Latur earthquake. But Katrina, Latur and the tsunami was just sample of the force that nature can unleash on the mere mortals, making us realize how insignificant we are in front of the forces of nature controlled by the almighty, if we do not pay heed to it.

 Definitely not and in fact we are going further we are now questioning God's very existence. We are saying that we the mortals are the only intelligent being and we are the creator of our own destiny. We are deliberately now looking for designer baby’s  or for that matter cloning the good the bad the ugly. Why are we doing so?? just to prove that we the mortals have achieved the power to act like God?? We are now designing microbes and viruses  only to prove that one is greater than the other. Our behavioral Pattern now a days also echoes the same sentiments. We don't care for any body else now a days It is back to Darwinian theory the survival of the fittest. 

 In this backdrop, came January 2020 and there was a news somewhere in the pages of Times Of India that a place in China called Wuhan has been hit by a Virus that is spreading very fast and that people and population are getting sick. But the tag line was “nothing to Worry”. We were completely oblivious of that news and brushed it aside as another figment of imagination of Times of India ,as was the rhythmic updates about Air India, time and again. Then Came February and the situation in Wuhan was no longer under the wraps  and then rest is for all of us to bear and fight this pandemic.

The rigmarole of lockdowns started with each one stringent than the earlier and currently we all are in the complete lockdown stage for a very long arduous and onerous duration.  Each one of us is trying to find out, what to do sitting at home?   We had lost touch with home completely. Here home is not just four walls where every participant would come at their will, eat the food already laid on the table prepared by the domestic help, sleep whenever, get up when ever and get back to the outside world at one’s own whims and fancy. The little time that one would get in the home would be spent on the six inch by four inch screens. But that is all going to change now.

HOME would now have to be defined. We have now a formidable task at hand to redevelop our communication skills, redevelop the nuances of staying as a productive squad or a team. The actual, indubitable meaning of HOME is now for sure to come back in practice. Division of labour, empathy for the members of the ménage is all coming back and the forgotten skills and practices are now being established.  HOME is now getting back to what HOME was defined.

Should we all thank the Virus for these humongous changes?  Needless to say that the environment is cleaning  with an unprecedented alacrity. When I sat to write about these changes I came upon a coincident that came as a forward in my watsapp. The regularity of such pandemic over  the eons is just a reminder to each one of us that we are , as a human race, is but helpless in the onset of such disaster and that not everything is under our control though by far we as a race would love to control everything and to the extent that we want to control GOD or the supreme power. From Bubonic plague of England ,to the cholera pandemic, to Spanish flu, to the small pox epidemic of Australia and now the COVID 19. Scores of people decimated in such outbreaks and  changed the population demography .

We as humans have been defeated time and again but we do not realize that nature has its method of taking care of itself. Now with this lockdown we can surely see the differences that these few days of reduced carbon emission has brought about. Water in Venice's canals appeared to run clearer in the absence of boat traffic in early March. Nitrogen dioxide is produced from car engines, power plants and other industrial processes and is thought to exacerbate respiratory illnesses such as asthma. This NO2 has dropped significantly in all part of the world from Wuhan ,Seol, Singapore, UK, Europe,India to USA. These are ascertained from the comparative satellite imagery of the same time last year to the images taken currently.

Having said about the impacts of the pandemic and its positive as well as negative effects we do have a footprint for the future ,that is if we have learned anything from this pandemic. This world wide lockdown in the macrocosm  and the lockdown in our country in the microcosm is like a glimpse of the future of how to live and stay in harmony with nature . This lockdown is also a glimpse or better a peek into the future,  if the virus continues its onslaught and we as powerless humans waiting to be decimated along its path.

What prophets, priests, Imams, Moulavis,  and philosophers could not achieve over centuries of preaching holy books read in sacred places of worship, a deadly  accomplished  in a matter of mere months.  Today we are all reacting as humans and not as Hindus,Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, elite, poors, dalits, bhabhans, bhoomihars, harijans etc etc etc.

This Virus has the potential of making us recognize our common humanity, making us realize that we are after all humans first and then comes our religion. Practising any religion with utmost fervor and not willing to accept the scientific methodology of treatment is not a wise thing and that we all humans are same in all aspect, the elite, the rich, the poor, the dalits, the bhabhans  the bhoomihars, the harijans, are all in the radar of the virus.

In the eyes of the corona virus, whether we are Iranian or Italians, Indians or Pakistanis, Bangladeshis or Chinese Americans or Europeans,  believers  or atheists, we are all in its gun sight. Just as an army of ants. Have we cared for one ant over the other?       …..No. Never.

Now is the time to set aside hatred, be it political or racial; religious or tribal, powerful or powerless, elites or non elites.

One very interesting thing that has come out of this pandemic outbreak is the acceptance by the entire world to switch over to  Namaste as a form of greeting which is the essence of Indian hospitality and greeting . Today I just saw a video of Prince Charles where he consciously made an effort to do Namaste to all the dignitaries and was feeling proud to certain extent .  

Namaste is a Sanskrit word term translates to “bend or bow to you,” and so, a person bows [the head] slightly when doing namaste to another person to signify ‘the Divine within me bows to the same Divine within you.’ It is considered to be a sign of respect and gratitude.

“By folding your hands together, you keep your energy protected and contained, as opposed to absorbing another person’s [energy],” explains Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, a trauma specialist and Nichiren Buddhist. This mudra of Namaste is now the only protective way and the west , from whom we have learned the modern living ,is desperately trying to implement it in their life style.

This nation wide lock down is a blessing in disguise and I would say Nature’s way of taking care of itself. The pollution levels have gone down, the air is purer , birds are chirping dolphins have appeared at places where they wanted to eons ago, ( Dolphins are seen in marine drive recently ). Yes Nature has pressed the reset button and it is resurrecting from pathos to life once again.

Families are staying together, the forgotten values are being inculcated, people have shifted to basic good food, in all the trash is out and the good is coming. 

THANKS TO CORONA VIRUS, the nemesis of human kind manufactured by Humans…….it’s the Frankestine of the present.