Thoughts random: In times of coronavirus - V

Rajendra Kshetri *

Good Morning Manipur,

Here's this quote dedicating to all the stake holders in the global fight against Covid-19: "Thousands upon thousands of people have studied disease. Almost no one has studied health " --Adelle Davis

Right from day one of our schooling days(Lower Primary to High School) in the early Sixties and seventies, we pupils (the term 'pupil ' rather than 'student ' is more appropriately used here) have been told/taught by our teachers and elders that "Health Is Wealth ".

Nothing could be truer than this. We memorized it, learnt it by heart all through our high school days. But we didn't pay much attention or importance. Did we? As we graduated from high school to college days, we again came across, read the same "health is wealth " but least bothered we were.

It's only when age catches up (It is more of a fashion to say age is just a number) that you came to realise the full import of what had been told/taught/read.I remember reading somewhere some time back that half of our life we squandered our health in pursuit of wealth and the remaining half we squandered our wealth in pursuit of health.

Now I know, am fully convinced more than ever, as I progress to the twilight zone of life that it is no longer "health is wealth ". It is this, the one and only truth: HEALTH IS THE ONLY WEALTH. So friends, stay healthy. Coronavirus will run away from you.

Thoughts Random 18

#InTimesOfCoronavirus#(May 19)

1. Corona. Coronavirus. Novel Coronavirus. Coronavirus disease. December 2019. COVID-19. Thus formed the acronym. Try asking people (not excluding politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, teachers, students) the full form of Covid-19, I am not particularly sure if everyone of them could spell out what it stands for.

You can't blame them though as the acronym has, in that last 4/5 months, become so internalized in our cognitive system that it is as good and easy as one's own vernacular. There are of course smarty cynics who would spell (as I did come across a fb post) the full form as 'China Organized Virus in December 2019 '. So much for the cynics though I personally feel that such cynicism should have no place in the global fight against Covid-19.

2. By the time Oxford, Collins, Random dictionaries come up with the most used terms/words in 2020 in their latest editions, 'Corona ', 'Covid-19 ' would surely figure in the top three, if not top the list.

3. 'Corona ' the term itself sounds per se beautiful, even lovely. It is the 'virus ' suffix that makes it sound dreadful, terrible and hateful. Minus virus I love corona as it sends a ray of hope and light.

4. Lockdown makes you do things you have not been able to do before. For instance, the other day, I was clearing/disposing iron/tile/marble scraps and other old stuffs, stored somewhere in a corner of the backyard. You know what I found. I found my portable (manual) typewriter OLYMPIA. I thought it has been lost/misplaced during house constructions and quite forgot all about it.

Took me back to my PhD period when typewriter, most popular being Remington, was the one and only means to type out my handwritten thesis. How lucky are we now with all the PCs, laptops, smartphones and others. Are we really??

You tell me. I for one miss the charm and pleasure of writing long hands. An Old Man (??) schooled in the old schools huh!!!

THANK YOU LOCKDOWN for enabling me to find my long lost old friend.

5. Defeat/remove/fight the virus in Coronavirus . Corona sans virus gives you a ray of hope, a ring of light and a stream of strength.
#Maintain #SelfDiscipline #Maintain #SocialDiscipline.

Thoughts Random 19

#InTimesOfCoronavirus#(May 21)

1. There were/are heroes and heroes and heroes in the history of mankind. Every historical era has produced its own share of heroes. Heroes remembered. Heroes celebrated. Heroes worshipped. And heroes unsung. Heroes unremembered. Heroes unhonoured. We read about them and their exploits, watched films/movies made on/about them, and got inspired.

2. To have been born in the fifties (of the 20th century) and now moving on to the second quarter of the 21st century, I always consider myself lucky and fortunate to be a 'child of 2 centuries ' . So are you---my/our contemporaries.

We grew up at a time and place when 'cow-boy' (western) movies are the most popular and widely watched. The John Waynes, the Clint Eastwoods, the Burt Lancasters, the Amitabh Bachans, the Anil Kapoors were /are the heroes of our times. Little did we realise (then) that they were/are Entertainers and NOT Heroes.

3. The Covid-19 Pandemic has changed our perception of heroes. But for the novel Coronavirus we would not have noticed the REAL HEROES who are out of their comfort zones, twenty-four seven , saving/trying to save human lives unmindful of their own lives. The DOCTORS, the NURSES, the FRONT LINE HEALTH WORKERS are the HEROES of our times who have taken/are taking head on the unprecedented challenge/crisis of Coronavirus.

4. COVID-19 makes us realise the value of a Nurse. When faced with the survival crisis, it is the NURSES the State/Society asks for, run into. Come to think of it. A Nurse is worth ten times more than a Messi or a Christiano.

5. To think that Nurses are so grossly underpaid in times of Corona Pandemic...

Shame, Shame on you, the power-that-be , whoever and wherever you are.
#FightCovid19 #RespectFrontlineHealthWorkers.

Thoughts Random 20

#InTimesOfCoronavirus#(May 27)

1. It is more than one hundred and fifty days since the novel Coronavirus started spreading from the Wuhan city of People's Republic of China. The whole world has been reeling from/under an unprecedented wave of extreme anxiety and uncertainty.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has compelled countries after countries to go for longer/extended period of lockdowns and curfews as precautionary/preventive measures. But then, the human world can't go on to live on lockdowns. Lockdown has to end sooner or later and life has to move on.

2. How does one plan to move on when death is staring at your face, that too in the absence of a vaccine or effective drug against Covid-19. How does one remove the Corona-induced fear-psychosis that surrounds our daily lives? Easier said than done! Not really if we, to begin with, start realising that Coronavirus is here to stay (in one form or another) and hence must be dealt with.

The way forward is to learn to live with the virus just as we did/are doing against HIV AIDS. Remember there is still no AIDS vaccine yet but we have moved on so resiliently. The world has moved on since the outbreak of AIDS in the early eighties.

3. While medicines of all kinds, allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic and other para medicines, are yet to prove/establish their effectiveness in the global fight against Covid-19, there ONE MEDICINE available at no cost. SOCIAL MEDICINE.

4. Social medicines are what we practice, ought to practice , in our daily lives at individual/family/community and societal levels so we as individual members, our family/community and society remain healthy.

What we eat/not eat, whether or not we maintain/practice personal/family/community and social hygiene, whether we keep our Environment clean or not, whether or not we possess discipline and are responsible citizens, are very much part of social medicine. The relevance of social medicine in the times we live in cannot be overstated especially in times of Coronavirus.

5. The Covid-19 Pandemic demands to pay serious and concerted attention to maintain social/physical distancing, practice hand sanitizing, use face masks more than ever before as part of social medicine to combat the pandemic.

EITHER WE LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE CORONAVIRUS or THE CORONAVIRUS SHALL OUTLIVE US.
#PracticeSocialMedicine
#FightCovid19.