Small Gamora asks “Did you do it?”
Thanos: Yes
Gamora: What did it cost?
Thanos: Everything
These last lines from the movie “Avengers: Infinity war” seem to resonate with the current situation wherein Thanos is the COVID-19 virus and the frontline warriors like the doctors and other healthcare professionals, who are trying to save our lives from the deadly virus are our ‘Avengers’. Thanos was contemplating a genocide with the help of infinity stones. In a similar fashion, the virus is wreaking havoc all around the world. Lakhs have already succumbed to the deadly disease and it seems as if plenty more will follow. The similarity doesn’t just end there. Just like Thanos explained to Dr. Strange that the genocide was impartial, fair to rich and poor alike, and would eradicate half of the world’s population without any bias, the virus is also attacking people without considering their race, creed, religion etc., leaving death in its wake.
So how and where did this deadly virus originate. Nobody seems to have a definite answer to this and we may never know the answer to this question. Though many sources claim that this was an act of China, where it wanted to weaken all the developed and developing nations. Rumor has it that China developed the virus in a lab and spread it to other countries through their citizens and tourists.
Whatever may be the point of origin of the virus, it can be said without a doubt that if this was a planned attack by China on other countries, then they have succeeded in crippling the so-called giant economies of the world. Barring a few countries, all will be registering a negative economic growth in the current fiscal according to the forecasts by leading institutions. And these forecasts are showing a grim picture for all these developed economies barring China which at least is showing a positive growth. And it is getting worse with each passing day where the virus is claiming thousands of lives in a single day. These so-called giants i.e, the European countries and US are the worst affected.
Though the virus is claiming a lot of human lives all around the world, the worldwide lockdown imposed by most countries has helped nature restore its beauty and serenity. The lockdown has been imposed in order to check the transfer of virus among individuals through contact with infected people. The panic created by the virus has led the whole world come to a standstill. As a result of which the air everywhere is a lot cleaner. The suspension of most activities has helped the wild animals and birds live in a much more serene and cleaner environment. And all this has come at the expense of us. Many environmentalists claim that the pandemic was a result of us overexploiting the natural resources to satisfy our own greed. The whole event should stir up our minds and make us think whether we are asking a lot from mother nature. Because, the very incident has cast us as the real villains and the virus was a way to teach us a lesson that we shouldn’t take nature for granted. It is much like two sides of the same coin. To us, the virus seems to be a villain, while for the other species it’s a messiah and we seem to be the devils.
It’s about time we retrospect our activities which have put us in this grave spot. We need to come up with new and innovative ideas to continue our daily lives without causing any material damage to the environment. It is high time we learn to respect mother nature so that pandemics like these don’t happen again in the future.
Another lesson that this pandemic has taught us as individuals is the need for cleanliness, be it at home or at work. There is a need to keep our surroundings clean to stay safe and lead a healthy life. The regular washing of hands with soap which is being stressed upon all the time has been taught to us since our school days. Not only this, but we have also been taught not to spit in public places. But many of us didn’t pay heed to these things and now, when it’s a matter of life and death, we are religiously following these advices which were ignored for most of our lives. This depicts the very feature of human nature i.e., to ignore until the situation becomes too grave to continue doing the same.
Now coming to the psychological aspect of the virus which will probably have a huge impact in our lifestyle post-crisis. There may be a significant difference in the way we lived life earlier and the way we will conduct ourselves after the virus is gone. The virus has made us skeptical of the other person’s lifestyle. When the virus is no longer a significant threat, it won’t be easy to go back to our old ways. Covering our faces with masks while going out and social-distancing may become the norm. Gone may be the times when we used to go out in large numbers to celebrate a particular achievement at a restaurant. Restaurants with a large crowd will be seen as a room with questionable hygiene. This mentality shift will cost billions to many businesses around the world. People will think twice before ordering a shared-cab service or booking rooms on Airbnb or Oyo. These businesses need to come up with new ways to assure their customers that their safety and hygiene is being taken care of. A similar skepticism will arise in case of hiring part-time workers, as a result of which employers may not invite people working in other organizations, owing to hygiene issues. This will question the fundamental basis of gig-economy or the shared-economy, which was expected to be the future. It is now staring at a pit.
It again stresses the need to come up with new ideas to help these businesses not to venture into oblivion.
The question that seems to be in everybody’s mind is when will this virus cease to be a threat and free us from the seemingly never-ending misery of lockdown. Well, as has been iterated many times by many a people over the last few weeks, lockdown is not a solution to the virus. It is just like a pause button, though it doesn’t seem to be working as a pause button should but still it is limiting the casualties. The only way I can think of by which we can fight this virus, unless a vaccine comes up is by developing herd immunity. Many a life may be lost in order to eventually win but this seems to be the only way. The extension of lockdown is not helping us apart from the fact that it is giving time to develop the vaccine, in which no significant progress has been made till date. Sure, there are reports that some trials are being conducted in Europe. But unless they are successful, we can’t say for sure. And even if we somehow develop a vaccine, the demand will be far more than the supply and according to the law of supply and demand, the prices will soar through the roof and ordinary people may not be able to afford it. That is unless the global organizations intervene and subsidize them. The repeated extension of lockdown is taking a huge toll on the financial, physical as well as mental well-being of people. In my opinion it will be better not to extend the lockdown further. Rather people should be advised to practice social-distancing and checks must be employed to see if people are following suit. There may be some restrictions that must be decided upon but, completely shutting out all activities and waiting for a vaccine which may take indefinite time to develop and later make it affordable to all, doesn’t seem like a step in the right direction.
It’s been six to seven weeks since the worldwide lockdown has been called upon and it has caused a loss of livelihood for many, more so in a country like India. The number of cases though much less than the European countries, are increasing each day. Everybody seems to be saying that we are not doing enough tests and even then, there aren’t sufficient beds to quarantine all who are affected. Migrant labors are stuck far away from their homes without anything to do and if there is no relief from lockdown in the near future, they may die of anxiety let alone die of the virus. Therefore, in my opinion merely extending lockdown for the sake of delaying the inevitable is an effort in vain.
In conclusion, we can only hope that our ‘Avengers’ will be able to restore order in much less time than was possible in the movie.