We call it survival of the fittest, right? Well, this time when we are at war against this omnipresent, invisible enemy, we should call it survival of the fittest minds. The insane will have to perish and the sane might survive.
It was raining outside. An unwelcomed rain. Gloomy clouds. Like the ones detested by through the fields we were quaking rhythmically. Brown sheathed seats, glass windows and quiet passengers all around me. I was sitting on a side-lower berth in a three-tier coach of Indian Railways, heading home back from my hostel. My journey had started not long ago and my destination was due in a few hours. I was going home after three months. You might think I must have been elated knowing I would be at my home soon but this journey was as unwelcomed as the rain chasing it. I was on this train because of a blunt email sent to me by my college. It said I was supposed to vacate the hostel within two days. A repercussion in my opinion. A repercussion of what some of us did thousands of kilometres away.
"What was their plan behind all of this? What do you think?" the uncle sitting in front of me abruptly asked. Boredom. Boredom and insanity are two dissimilar things but quite often these make us behave in an equally strange manner. "Excuse me, what?" I inquired. It turned out later that he was not just bored but also worried sick thinking about his daughter who lived away from her family in a hostel. And yes they were kind enough to keep her there amidst this pandemic. "Do you think this Karuna thing wasn't a planned attack? What are the chances? They must have thought of getting rid off some of their population!" he blurted. I calmly replied, "No. I don't believe that any nation would ever think of doing something like this to its people." He said, "Hmm, maybe... I don't know."
I am not much of a talker, especially around the ones who are unknown to me or the existence of logic. Hence, I was trying my best to avoid any further conversation with him and then I couldn't help but notice that he had constant anxiety stuck on his face. He caught me looking at him and asked, "Boy, aren't you worried about yourself or your family?" and I replied after a short pause, "Yes I am." Then he said, "I have a daughter a little younger than you. She is in a boarding school in Doon and I just had a talk with her on the phone. She said she doesn't want to come back home as her school is ready to continue its hostel facilities through this Karuna period. It's making me sick. Just the thought of us being stuck in different parts of the country amidst this apparent chaos."
I never liked delving into the lives or chaos of others but this time I made an exception and managed to say, "Maybe she has your's and the family's safety at the back of her mind. She is a young girl. I am sure with better immunity against this virus in comparison to you. It is not that my opinion here matters at all but I would have done the same if my college was kind enough to facilitate it. I know that you as a father must be having the habit of always taking the worst hits of every blow from the environment around the family. But this time you and the elderly are the ones who should take a step back and think about yourselves first." His lips didn't move for a moment and then he smiled. He went quiet and I was a bit relieved.
I kept looking outside the window. Watched the trees running in the opposite direction as if asking me to go back. Tried to look around the cabin. Most of the passengers were wearing face masks. Some were yellow, some blue but white was everywhere. They were wearing white as if unanimously declaring peace in this war against this invisible enemy. To my surprise, I didn't come across many hawkers on the train and the ones who came weren't loudly canvassing for their products to win the election against the others. I think it was the first time on a train journey that I saw the actual expressions of train hawkers. Pale faces. Sweat beads on their foreheads. Trembling hands. Need in their eyes. But their paraphernalia wasn't being used this time just like their loud throats were numb.
We Indians, in general, are equally gregarious as other people around the world but many of us don't smile at and greet our co-passengers. On that day when people were behind masks, I could see them observing each other. I hoped that they had gentle smiles hidden behind their veil because I felt that a sense of connection and togetherness is all that we were expecting when we were heading towards isolation. Soon that journey waved me goodbye and I reached the place from where I am typing this, my home. I am practising self-quarantine and it's not going exceptionally well for me. It's a story for some other day because today I am worried about something bigger than this.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." This was said by Albert Einstein and unfortunately suits a time like this very well. When people are expected to cut short their carbon footprint, they don't pay heed. When they are expected to prevent deforestation, they don't pay heed. Now, when they are being urged to save their own lives, they aren't paying much heed. The first question that pops up in my mind is that, why do these morons don't want to live? Well, I guess I won't get an answer to that but thinking about the people at the frontline makes me sad and I am sure everyone feels the same. People are risking their lives to save us. Some are ready to serve us in return of just one simple action. One simple promise. Promise to stay at our homes.
When the Earth was greener, living beings were bigger but less self-destructive. In the times of bloodthirsty predators. In the times of dinosaurs. They faced a fierce struggle for survival. We call it survival of the fittest, right? Well, this time when we are at war against this omnipresent, invisible enemy, we should call it survival of the fittest minds. The insane will have to perish and the sane might survive. I say 'might' because we humans are all together on the Noah's Ark this time. We are to wait until the water recedes, but if some of us don't we all might sink together. I am not much of a believer in God but I pray that we don't.
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