Corona Virus and the Poor Indian People
By: Bobon Shankar
Tags: Corona, Covid 19, Coronavirus, Virus, Blog

Corona Virus and the Poor Indian People

Today is exactly one hundred and sixteenth day. Officially, the Corona period has now passed from childhood to youth. We invoked Mrs. Corona Devi with drums, flutes, canes, bells, firecrackers and applause, and then a few days later we lit lamps and candles all over the country and prayed to her with a very melted and gurgling heart. Perhaps it is because of a very good explanation that we Indians are the custodians of utmost hospitality. She may have penetrated into our household and in everywhere of our society now in a very good way, just like the malicious aunt of distant relationship, who is now not even mentioning the name of departure.

This is just a few days ago, few people had arranged the Yajna and the worship of Goddess Corona on Kolkata Maidan. Why only in Kolkata! In different parts of the country, it is not clear how many arrangements are being made for the satisfaction of Corona Mata. But there is no sign of MataJi leaving the country. On the contrary, the numbers of corona infections are increasing by leaps and bounds every day.

At this moment that I am writing this report, the number of Corona virus infections in India in a single day has surpassed all previous records by about 39,000. India now ranks second in the world in the number of people infected with the corona virus in a single day. Official estimates say a total of 543 unfortunate people died of Corona Virus in the country yesterday. So far, the total number of Corona Virus Infection cases in our country has increased to one million seventy seven thousand six hundred and eighteen. A total of 26816 people have died of Corona disease in India so far.

In Maharashtra alone, the number is unusually high, at 11,596. Our leaders, ministers and guardians of the country have also come up with ways to gain self-satisfaction. They say that in a country with a population of 130 million, it is very low. Probably they want to mean that if more and more people dies, they would have something to say. Now you see, the elders of our country build a temple without any hesitation and spend crores of rupees in the name of God. However, in the current situation of the country where the livelihood of millions has become a question, no positive plan has come to light yet.

Alone in the tourism and hospitality sectors, millions of people are currently unemployed, and this number will continue to grow over time. The guardians of our state have thought that God, who himself is lying helpless in the temple, in the mosque, in the church, will provide food for all these unemployed and poor Indian citizens and their fathers, mothers, wives and children. In fact, our unplanned leaders do not know how to save mankind from this terrible situation.

Day after day lockdown, people can’t go to work, rail and other transport systems can be said to be almost closed. Many people are becoming mentally ill, wondering that whether they will get a hospital bed if in case they are infected with the Corona Virus, or if they will need a general treatment right now, whether they will get it or not. Even if you take into account the number of people who died helplessly without being able to do dialysis, you will surely be shocked. But the businessmen of politics have come down with these things in the hope of hunting crocodiles in the muddy water. Blaming each other, personal attacks and many more that are seen on the television screen every day, I don’t want to say the more. Even at a time when everyone, regardless of party affiliation, needed to jump together to solve the problems of the people, the political leaders are drowning the people of the country in deeper frustration through factionalism and politics.

Another problem with leaders is that they are changing their word frequently. Whatever they will say today invariably will change it on tomorrow. If you have to change the decision, then why to announce it in so much hurry! May be it is very common to the leaders that they will make false promises to the people, but what is the point of harassing people in a new way in the midst of so much harassment in this troubled market?

As has been heard from 12–13 date of this month, that as the tourism business of the state of Jammu and Kashmir has almost come to a standstill since August last year, and the state’s lion’s share of people’s livelihoods depend solely on tourism, more over as a result of this Corona panic which has now become even more frightening, that is why the present administration ofSrinagar has come together and agreed to re-open the travel market to the travel-hungry Indians by taking some well-planned decisions. According to the July 15 issue of the Economic Times, Indian tourists will be able to set foot in Kashmir from July 14, even if foreign tourists are not allowed to do so. Tourists must follow only a few reasonable rules and regulations. It was a real pleasure to know all this, but on that very eveningit was heard that tourism in Srinagar was closed again due to Corona Virus for the time being.

The situation is exactly the same in Goa. According to media reports we have come to know that Goa will be reopened by the middle of this month, but suddenly the Government has changed their decision for the time being. The government can do that. But without repeatedly despairing if the government thinks a little and speaks to the media, then it really feels good.

Irfana’s family hotel is in Srinagar near Shalimar Garden. The hotel and tourism business in Jammu and Kashmir has suffered the most due to unrest, shelling, stone pelting, curfew, shutdowns, army patrols, etc. in Jammu and Kashmir for a long time. The number of tourists has come down to a very bad place. They had no income from the hotel but there was a constant fear for children. School, college closed day after day. This educated lady, living with her husband, two teenage sons and a daughter, lamented a few years ago, “Boys and girls will no longer be human in this environment. Brother, I am scared.” The eternal longing of mothers all over the world for her child seemed to be caught in Irfana’s throat. I heard a few days ago that they have left Srinagar and their family is now a resident of Delhi. They are trying to adapt to the new environment by force. In this way, even with utmost suffering, Irfana and her husband is now trying to make their children a humanbeing. In Delhi too, the travel business was the only source of income for the family. This Covid 19 has now taken it away.

Timir runs a small travel company in our Kolkata. His parents live in a remote village in Bankura district in the far south of West Bengal. A few years ago, Timir came to Kolkata from that village with a small amount of capital to make a fortune here. Slowly the business was also coming. Barely had his business begun to grow slowly, all of a sudden his family was in turmoil in this terrible Corona storm. On top of that, he was stuck in a locked down in Chandigarh for about three months when Corona started. In Calcutta, his wife and baby daughter were forced to live alone in a desperate situation, despite the harassment of landlords and grocers.

Do you want to hear more? Timir was compelled to purchase return air tickets from Chandigarh to Kolkata three times and could not return, because our Indian government had suddenly extended the lockdown period without informing the people in advance, but the airline did not refund any fare for canceled ticket. On the contrary, they are saying that if Timir will buy a return ticket from Chandigarh to Kolkata within a time frame of one year from the date of purchase of their ticket, then only the fare will be adjusted. What a surprise!

Listen to another funnier thing, Indian Railways arranged the special trains to bring back the stranded passengers from different cities of India, and told them to buy a ticket and board that train. What kind of ticket is that? The same dynamic fare system that is in place in Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express and so on trains, that means the amount of fare will increase along with the demand of tickets.

Is this really my country? This country is now the kingdom of businessmen and profiteers. The leaders of these business states do not have time to think about the common people of the country. A miserable darkness is all around now. This country is now only for a handful of rich people.

Timir somehow managed to return to his home finally after three and a half months after spending a lot of money and mental agony and only on yesterday I got the news that he has been compelled to give a chop shop at a corner of a three point crossing at Jadavpur in Kolkata. All the hopes of Indian Tourism may be dashed in this way due to extreme state indifference and administrative failure.

I could not write any word of hope in today’s article, forgive me my friends. Tell me how I will write? Day after day, in all the media like newspapers, TV, FM, etc., I am constantly bewildered to see the statistics of Corona, its horror, human death procession etcs. People of the country has no work, no food, and all those who are in charge of running the country and those who are not, all these personalities of the rulers and the oppositions, after eating good, wearing good and enjoying all the best facilitiesare keeping themselves busy with mock fighting with each other. For them, there are hospitals built with the tax money of the people of India and there is food, there is accommodation. So they can give you good hopes and promises, but what will happen to those of us, the ordinary Indian people who are stuck on the wall, who will buy food if they earn money and then get food for their families.

My dear friends, we are now facing a very dark night. We are just searching for a little light. That flame of light, which will free us from the darkness of inertia, the darkness of ignorance, and the darkness of humiliation and will lead us to the path of one truth, the path of the great India.