While the spread of Coronavirus must prod human beings to make behavioural changes, China, too, must realise that the time is not for aggressiveness but introspection
More than 2,500 years ago, Gautam Buddha preached the four noble truths. Dukh (suffering) was central to all of his teachings but he also found a path that led to the end of dukh. COVID-19, which emanated from the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, has bought immense dukh to the human species. The pain may not be over anytime soon. While the outbreak of the disease has been a tragedy for many of us on planet earth, it has also brought sukh (happiness) to the environment — the rivers, flora, fauna …and even some human beings. Here, a pertinent question arises: Will we, the humans, learn something from the blow or will everything resume as before?
Human confinement has forced many of us to spend quality time with our dear and near ones. This was something that was forgotten for years. Planetary developments of the last few weeks have strangely brought both sukh and dukh; though a post-confinement era may bring hard times for hundreds and millions of people. But at present, WhatsApp groups and software like Zoom have become popular (in the latter’s case, India took the right decision to ban its use in Government offices when it was found that some of the traffic was discretely transiting via China).
I personally joined one of these groups with my French family with whom I hardly communicated in normal times. In the course of an exchange, a six-year-old nephew was asked if the confinement was not too hard for him; he took no time to answer, “I would like it to last 1,000 years.”
For the first time in his life (with the exception of holidays), he had both his parents with him from morning till evening. Of course, he had to do some homework but his teacher was his own mom. What a delight even to do homework! And his father was here, too, to play, watch cartoon with him and help put on a disguise. He will certainly remember the “good days” of the confinement all his life. This does not mean that there is no hardship around and that to remain stuck in a small flat is pure sukh. It is here that we must realise why this tragedy is so special. It has struck the human species deeply, infecting so far more than two and half million people and killing nearly two lakh individuals. Can humans realise that we are, perhaps, the most fragile (and the most foolish) species on planet earth?
Comparatively, many other species are doing well, not only the wildlife, which were once sold on the wet market in Wuhan and who may now survive, but also all kinds of animals seen in viral videos exploring the great empty cities of the humans. Many rivers are doing well, too. Some scientists have noted that the water quality of river Ganga has gone through such a change that in some cases, it is fit for drinking. It was reported that the water of this holy river had become good for achaman (ritual sipping) in Haridwar. In both Haridwar and Rishikesh, water quality has seen tremendous improvements as industries remain closed, people are confined to their homes and there are no tourists. The main reason for this is a 500 per cent decrease in total dissolved solids (TDS), industrial effluents, sewage from dharamshalas, hotels and lodges. We had conveniently forgotten that religious tourism pollutes, too.
The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, an NGO doing remarkable work on the environment, suggested that this may be the way forward for pollution control mechanisms in the country. To do so, studies will have to be undertaken in a number of States, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among others. The rivers must include the Sutlej, Buddha Nullah, Cauvery, Ulhas, Waldhuni, besides the Ganga and the Yamuna.
Another question that comes to one’s mind, again and again, is: When the virus is dead and gone, will the human species start destroying the planet again? Will we be able to analyse the tragedy and identify the cause of dukh and find the way to a greater sukh, just like the Buddha did more than two millennia ago?
Another small improvement COVID-19 has brought is that the constant nasty political fights between the majority Government and the Opposition have somehow got subdued (this is valid for all nations). Instead of playing a constructive role to build the nation, the Opposition usually plays a shooting game, arguing black when the Government says white and vice versa. On its part, the Government is more often than not interested in the Opposition as it has the mandate to govern for the next few years. Nevertheless, the virus seems to have brought a relative truce among our leaders and this is a positive development. Will there be a day when the only objective of our political leaders will be to ensure the well-being of the citizens, more particularly the less privileged sections?
Coronavirus seems to be an atheist, too. Several religious congregations thought their respective gods or messiahs were protecting them but this was not the case — whether in Nizamuddin, which sent the virus spreading throughout the country, or in Mulhouse, where a religious congregation has been the main hotspot in France, or some Jewish temples in Israel where the priests thought that they were invincible.
Many other cases could be cited like a Christian preacher in Louisiana, the US, defying rightly worried authorities or those in Pakistan, who held a gathering of nearly a quarter of a million in late February, despite warnings of coronavirus; they all became “super-spreaders.” Does this mean that the COVID-19 does not like religious extremism or exclusivism? Nobody can answer this question today but the fact remains that nobody has been spared. The ultimate question is: Will humans be able to become more human? The time has, perhaps, come for us to think of our past deeds. This is also vital for the future of the planet.
Meanwhile, since January, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has engaged in a major propaganda campaign. It is doing everything it can to possibly cover up how Coronavirus became a global pandemic. The CCP Central Propaganda Department is aggressively attempting to avoid getting the blame for what it has done. But a backlash has already started. Julian Reichel, the editor of the popular German Bild magazine, wrote an open letter to President Xi Jinping saying, “China is known as a surveillance State that infected the world with a deadly disease. That is your political legacy.” China has to realise that the time is not for aggressiveness but for introspection. Today, the virus has raised the question of survival of our peculiar species.
(The writer is an expert on India-China relations)
