It's a Monday morning, dated 15th June,2020 and even so early (4:30 am) this morning during the Corona Epidemic, it's absolutely gloomy. More so because of the trail of chaos and cloud of despair engulfing the globe like a rapidfire. As if some external and unseen evil force is treating the mankind with wrath, bringing suffering of all kinds to choose from its palate. It's deadly panic all around.
Watching news is like watching our own story proving the Darwin's Theory of "Survival of the Fittest". And the 'fittest' here means the one who is "alive" putting all odds behind. There is no fair rule of this gameplay. You might be a gym goer and fitness freak, but dead in a couple of hours as you were an asymptomatic carrier of virus. Or a poor undernourished kid whose immune system is so developed, that it has no effect of the deadly virus over poverty. You may be an alert corona warrior serving as a police, doctor, banker, health worker, essential supply vendor, volunteer or whatsoever... Or just a home-staying ordinary citizen of the globe... A celebrity or a migrant worker, a leader or a daily wage labourer... We are all facing the same storm of epidemic in our own capacity : some riding the boat of hunger, poverty, struggle for livelihood, while others sailing on a ship of uncertainty, despair, fear!!! Rather it's a cyclone of unprecedented events. All are feeling helplessly bound into containment, neither you can reach out, nor the hope comes in!
Mind it, it's across the globe. No longer bounded by geographical, climatic and political boundaries. It's purely death versus life. And the worst news is that it has not just charred our social, political, economic, financial, medical institutions and infrastructures but has affected our inner well being, accelerated the mental boggling and has put each individual into an emotional trauma like never before. Yesterday, the 14th of June, 2020 was a peculiar day in this context with the death of the iconic young hero Sushant Singh Rajput. At the age of 34 years, he seems to have rushed through life and gone too soon. Not that any death is less tragic, and not that the sacrifices of real life unsung heroes doesn't effect me, BUT I chose to talk about this particular episode of 'suicide' for a very specific reason that will unfold underneath. How Corona phase is adding up to depression, aloofness and aiding to suicidal tendency needs to be accepted and worked upon.
Like everybody else in this Corona Lockdown Phase, I have been a little disturbed, confused, restless, sad and not feeling well, but I am even more so after this suicide news outbreak. I am sure, most of us are affected similarly. Not that I was a great fan or something BUT seeing his young smiling face and watching his story of a full life, as clearly visible - a handsome well-educated healthy wealthy joyous ambitious successful young man, it's quite a huge disappointment to see him end on such a sad note! With a simple connection of belonging to Patna, or once sharing the same school, or something so trivial, one feels proud to be associated with rising stars like him. His untimely and unnatural demise, took the existing corona despair intensified by leaps and bounds. People got stuck to this news, as is clearly seen on media and condolence messages from all prominent personalities. And the only echoing screeching word is "WHY"??? What for? This WHY extends to 'NOT the cause of death as established by his postmortem report'. This "WHY" connects to the realisation that we as humans are not knowing a lot of things, and we understand nothing. Uncertainty has taken it's course, and we do not even have a vague clue of where the world is heading to... What are we all up to?
Being alive? Is that all? What for? What to hope? What should be our wish? What should we feel? Being rich, successful, healthy, wealthy, educated, popular all this and many more answers doesn't seem to fit in. Nothing seems to be an appropriate answer... This news, as I said earlier, will have a huge impact on the mental health of all those who come across it. Nevertheless, it's always tough to forget smiling young faces of tragic disasters. It's so disturbing and so depressing, beyond words. It is bound to shake the roots of human beliefs and aspirations of life. Importance of things and priorities got to change for everyone now, post Covid. But none seem to know what's right and what's not. The way ahead is far and unclear. Sometimes it feels as if the world is coming to an end. On a better day it seems as if once after reaching the peak of disaster, peace will resume. But till then we have to experience all this, roll the dice of this real life game like the movie Jumanji, learn new lessons and survive the game. And the risk involved is losing your one life.
The new phase, drastically different from our so called normal life before Covid appeared in our lives, has added a new dimension to people globally. The senior citizens all over the world are in awe, because it was time that they were preparing themselves to deliver all their wit and experience to the next generation. But they faced this unusual Covid phase, and it changed all life values and learnings upside down. It's like starting the game all over again. All previous rules of living lose their importance. These oldies are in new school, learning the skills of living a new life at 60,70 or 80. And they are now the classmates of the newly borns and the primary kids. This young generation has experienced this phase at such a tender age that it will stay with them for their lifetime. This masked life too can happen, this is the present and near future living condition. Being alive is most important, rest all comes later.... We need to be humane, we must help the needy, we must protect ourselves as this is deadly, how we can keep ourselves creatively engaged in home for so long, the online schooling and studies, video conferencing with family and friends, online bills submissions, life without malls, theatres, shopping, partying, hanging out etc... The kids got a hang of all this and already adapted to it. They will survive with greater acceptance to this chaos as the 'new normal', than most of us. At an age of around 5, kids know terms like COVID-19, containment, quarantine, isolation, social distancing, lockdown, and much more. And we have no resources to save them from knowing what death is, what is moratorium, suicide, postmortem, depression, mental health etc. We got to talk to them and resolve their curiosity about everything happening around to the best of our abilities. We have to responsibly make these tiny tots understand what is needed, to avoid any uncalled for situations arising out of false stories and confusion. Too much is at stake. We have to take the lead to embrace each other, and try our best to keep going. We are in middle of history being made. It's dark, but small sparkles of hope here and there will only make it conducive. Let's just keep moving. This too shall pass. Yes, every cloud has a silver lining!
For Sushant, may God give him the peace that he might be looking for.... Though what he chose was to become a distant shining star, and alert this world of more emotional and mental turmoil on way... I fear and suspect many more people falling prey and unsettling situations in store. We should keep alert for our ownselves and for our contacts, sensitive towards any sign of unusual mental health. Precaution is better than cure, and in case of death, there is no cure! We have to get out of our shells and restrictions and reach out to each one we care about, by being available emotionally. We can do nothing by analysing the 'Suicide Note' if found. And even that note is flawed, because the one writing it, is aware of the hypocrisy of human kind... What impact will it have on those who will be left behind? Sometimes there is so much to say and reveal, that one doesn't have words and expressions, it feels easier to let go and say nothing. Depression sinks in. This Corona has this far reaching depression effect, and this dangerously puts all human kind exposed.
Watching news is like watching our own story proving the Darwin's Theory of "Survival of the Fittest". And the 'fittest' here means the one who is "alive" putting all odds behind. There is no fair rule of this gameplay. You might be a gym goer and fitness freak, but dead in a couple of hours as you were an asymptomatic carrier of virus. Or a poor undernourished kid whose immune system is so developed, that it has no effect of the deadly virus over poverty. You may be an alert corona warrior serving as a police, doctor, banker, health worker, essential supply vendor, volunteer or whatsoever... Or just a home-staying ordinary citizen of the globe... A celebrity or a migrant worker, a leader or a daily wage labourer... We are all facing the same storm of epidemic in our own capacity : some riding the boat of hunger, poverty, struggle for livelihood, while others sailing on a ship of uncertainty, despair, fear!!! Rather it's a cyclone of unprecedented events. All are feeling helplessly bound into containment, neither you can reach out, nor the hope comes in!Mind it, it's across the globe. No longer bounded by geographical, climatic and political boundaries. It's purely death versus life. And the worst news is that it has not just charred our social, political, economic, financial, medical institutions and infrastructures but has affected our inner well being, accelerated the mental boggling and has put each individual into an emotional trauma like never before. Yesterday, the 14th of June, 2020 was a peculiar day in this context with the death of the iconic young hero Sushant Singh Rajput. At the age of 34 years, he seems to have rushed through life and gone too soon. Not that any death is less tragic, and not that the sacrifices of real life unsung heroes doesn't effect me, BUT I chose to talk about this particular episode of 'suicide' for a very specific reason that will unfold underneath. How Corona phase is adding up to depression, aloofness and aiding to suicidal tendency needs to be accepted and worked upon.Like everybody else in this Corona Lockdown Phase, I have been a little disturbed, confused, restless, sad and not feeling well, but I am even more so after this suicide news outbreak. I am sure, most of us are affected similarly. Not that I was a great fan or something BUT seeing his young smiling face and watching his story of a full life, as clearly visible - a handsome well-educated healthy wealthy joyous ambitious successful young man, it's quite a huge disappointment to see him end on such a sad note! With a simple connection of belonging to Patna, or once sharing the same school, or something so trivial, one feels proud to be associated with rising stars like him. His untimely and unnatural demise, took the existing corona despair intensified by leaps and bounds. People got stuck to this news, as is clearly seen on media and condolence messages from all prominent personalities. And the only echoing screeching word is "WHY"??? What for? This WHY extends to 'NOT the cause of death as established by his postmortem report'. This "WHY" connects to the realisation that we as humans are not knowing a lot of things, and we understand nothing. Uncertainty has taken it's course, and we do not even have a vague clue of where the world is heading to... What are we all up to?Being alive? Is that all? What for? What to hope? What should be our wish? What should we feel? Being rich, successful, healthy, wealthy, educated, popular all this and many more answers doesn't seem to fit in. Nothing seems to be an appropriate answer... This news, as I said earlier, will have a huge impact on the mental health of all those who come across it. Nevertheless, it's always tough to forget smiling young faces of tragic disasters. It's so disturbing and so depressing, beyond words. It is bound to shake the roots of human beliefs and aspirations of life. Importance of things and priorities got to change for everyone now, post Covid. But none seem to know what's right and what's not. The way ahead is far and unclear. Sometimes it feels as if the world is coming to an end. On a better day it seems as if once after reaching the peak of disaster, peace will resume. But till then we have to experience all this, roll the dice of this real life game like the movie Jumanji, learn new lessons and survive the game. And the risk involved is losing your one life.The new phase, drastically different from our so called normal life before Covid appeared in our lives, has added a new dimension to people globally. The senior citizens all over the world are in awe, because it was time that they were preparing themselves to deliver all their wit and experience to the next generation. But they faced this unusual Covid phase, and it changed all life values and learnings upside down. It's like starting the game all over again. All previous rules of living lose their importance. These oldies are in new school, learning the skills of living a new life at 60,70 or 80. And they are now the classmates of the newly borns and the primary kids. This young generation has experienced this phase at such a tender age that it will stay with them for their lifetime. This masked life too can happen, this is the present and near future living condition. Being alive is most important, rest all comes later.... We need to be humane, we must help the needy, we must protect ourselves as this is deadly, how we can keep ourselves creatively engaged in home for so long, the online schooling and studies, video conferencing with family and friends, online bills submissions, life without malls, theatres, shopping, partying, hanging out etc... The kids got a hang of all this and already adapted to it. They will survive with greater acceptance to this chaos as the 'new normal', than most of us. At an age of around 5, kids know terms like COVID-19, containment, quarantine, isolation, social distancing, lockdown, and much more. And we have no resources to save them from knowing what death is, what is moratorium, suicide, postmortem, depression, mental health etc. We got to talk to them and resolve their curiosity about everything happening around to the best of our abilities. We have to responsibly make these tiny tots understand what is needed, to avoid any uncalled for situations arising out of false stories and confusion. Too much is at stake. We have to take the lead to embrace each other, and try our best to keep going. We are in middle of history being made. It's dark, but small sparkles of hope here and there will only make it conducive. Let's just keep moving. This too shall pass. Yes, every cloud has a silver lining!For Sushant, may God give him the peace that he might be looking for.... Though what he chose was to become a distant shining star, and alert this world of more emotional and mental turmoil on way... I fear and suspect many more people falling prey and unsettling situations in store. We should keep alert for our ownselves and for our contacts, sensitive towards any sign of unusual mental health. Precaution is better than cure, and in case of death, there is no cure! We have to get out of our shells and restrictions and reach out to each one we care about, by being available emotionally. We can do nothing by analysing the 'Suicide Note' if found. And even that note is flawed, because the one writing it, is aware of the hypocrisy of human kind... What impact will it have on those who will be left behind? Sometimes there is so much to say and reveal, that one doesn't have words and expressions, it feels easier to let go and say nothing. Depression sinks in. This Corona has this far reaching depression effect, and this dangerously puts all human kind exposed.
Very Well written
ReplyDeleteWriting helps me to clear my boggling mind too... Thanks for appreciating 😊😊💖
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