Overcoming the Paradox of Covid 19 and Compassion

This post is written majorly considering the current situation in India

So here we are, 16 months into the conundrum that nobody ever envisaged. While we thought that the worst is behind us when 2020 ended, this year Covid 19 has come out all guns blazing at us. We have been hit by a typical Mohammed Ali counter attack while we let our guards down at the start of the year.

Just think about it, in summer of 2020 nobody knew what to expect. The Pandora’s box has just started spitting out the Covid 19 surprise around the world. We in India sat at home in lockdown and watched china, US and Europe face the music. We tightened our seat belts expecting at least a crash and not just rough landing. Indeed, by the time the rainy season started India got its own taste of Covid 19. By September mid we hit the peak in terms of numbers and slowly it reduced by year end. The only thing that we learnt, especially those who survived this initial onslaught was complacency. By the time winters arrived and cases were at decline, India was roaming on streets with masks on its chin, sneezing and spitting around the roads and sanitizers hidden in shelves. The general understanding and commentary around the country was.

India is a country with huge population so the numbers looked high in first wave. Indians have better immunity than rest of the world so the death rate was the lowest. Covid 19 is mostly affecting the elderly people and people with Comorbidities. So…so let’s get on the streets and let the guard down.

While rest of the world saw 2nd and 3rd wave by the time 2021 started, India was busy conducting cricket matches and political rallies. Let me stop my commentary of the situation here as I don’t want to head down the rabbit hole and just rant about the situation. Starting April 2021, we as a country are peaking towards the worst pandemic in the history of humanity. Today, nobody has an idea when we are going to hit the peak of the 2nd wave and move towards the decline.

To sum it up, we are in the middle of a healthcare massacre. By now we have understood that neither our favorite cricketers or political leaders or bollywood stars can help us if situation goes bad.

But this is a country were the common men takes care of each other. Whatever be the type of crisis this country has seen, heroes emerge in each and every locality. There is no shortage of compassionate and kind people in this country. And this is the irony that I want to talk about.

We as citizens have united very well again. But Covid 19 is such where our regular methods of care and compassion has even higher degree of complication. Given the nature of disease, one cannot go and take bedside care of a patient. One cannot go to the homes of patient and offer words of encouragement, cook or take care of their domestic work. Neither can we drive someone to hospital in the easiest of way as generally one could have done. Even if we have the intention to help, there are many challenges to put into practice our kinder side.

But here is a list of 5 activities that one can perform while still being safe and at the same time equally effective.

1. Share hygienic and healthy food: The biggest problem in second wave has been that entire families together have fallen prey to Covid. With no domestic help allowed, feeding oneself becomes a big challenge. The recovery of home treatment patient partly depends on the food regime they follow. So, if you have any Covid affected families around you, please look towards executing this task and be of help to them. Using disposable packing is recommended to avoid any spread of infection.
2. Help maintain supply of medicines and home essentials: Since the patient and families are recommended to be isolated, getting medicines and home essentials from outside is a challenge (The home delivery services are majorly affected due to restrictions). Any help in this regard to known and even unknown people in your locality will be a good way to show kindness and be of optimum use to them.
3. Communicate message on availability of emergency essentials: I have seen many kind hearted people tracking the availability of oxygen at various oxygen refilling stations and then posting it on social media platforms. There is lot of chaos to get real time information and it becomes even difficult for patient and their family. One can spend time in validating any real time information on availability of beds, oxygen, ICU’s etc. and spread the information for people in nearby locations.
4. Encourage and Entertain: For people undergoing home treatment Covid 19 can be mentally draining. If you have any of your friends or relatives going through it, try giving them a call to have few encouraging words, make them smile or even entertain them to keep their spirits high.
5. Pray and Meditate: Perhaps the easiest one is sparing some time out to pray or meditate for wellbeing of fellow humans. I cannot emphasize on the power of prayers. Swamiji had uploaded a guided meditation for this last year which is surely worth practicing.

Feel free to add more suggestions in comments to encourage the community.

I really hope everyone who are reading this post are safe and sound. If you think I can be of any help please free to message me in comment box, I will try my best to help you out depending on your location.

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः।

सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग् भवेत्।।

sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ sarve santu nirāmayāḥ|

sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścidduḥkhabhāg bhavet||

May all be happy; May all be free from infirmities; May all see good; May none partake suffering.

Take Care 

Rajesh

P.S. Please educate and encourage people to follow strict sanitization and apply for vaccination slots.