Last few months have been harrowing for many Indians. It is a period that most of Indians would like to forget. Those who have undergone the trauma of covid-19 and survived would be thankful that the period has passed away peacefully without major loss of life. Those who have lost their near and dear ones would be having tough times in accepting what has happened to their lives. The second wave of covid-19 was like a war where devastation was widespread and impact debilitating. In fact , the number of people who have died would have been more than many wars which the country has fought. It will not be wrong to say that covid-19 has struck us where it hurts the most. Seeing one’s close family members struggle with Covid-19 has been perturbing and mentally stressing to say the least. Hopefully, we are past that period but the mind is still creating confusion. But What is the Confusion?

Should the mind think about reasons why it happened or should it let it go just as something uncontrollable? It is right that life and death are not in total control of man. The nature still controls the timing of life and death but it is also true that average longevity of human life has increased because of progress done by science. Preventive and curative measures have been developed to increase the longevity of life. So, will it be right to say that second wave of covid-19 was something that was bound to happen and there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. Is this a reason to settle one mind or to explain our defeat? Is it true or a false assurance that something like this will never occur? These are very thought provoking questions that continue to trouble the mind.

Let us find some answers in Mahabharata. Was the mistreatment done to Draupadi bound to happen? If everything in Mahabharata was bound to happen then why did Pandavas fought the war. They should have just forgotten it and moved on in their life. But they chose not to forget and to go for a war simply because the same thing should never happen in future and an example should be set in place. While this post-event action was curative in nature, it does not absolve Dhritrashtra, Yudhistra ,Bhisma Pitama and others who continued to witness the event sighting their helplessness. Helplessness can never be an excuse for not doing what is required. Further, courage is nothing but an act for standing for the right even when many others are expressing their helplessness. Covid -19 showcased helplessness en-masse. It is also debatable whether Covid-19 was a man-made disaster or natural disaster?

Today, conspiracy theories are doing rounds that it is Chinese agenda to spread covid-19.If it is so, then why were not able to pre-empt it. When the target is clearly identifiable then what was stopping us for constantly looking for Chinese Biological weapon. We are just trying to delude ourselves with deluge of reasons clearly knowing that things have gone wrong at our end. So many right things could have been done to prevent this. Our per capita health expenditure is lowest in the world and continues to remain so. Doctors and paramedical staff are rare commodities in India. Had we invested more in this, wouldn’t the damage be less. Had we implemented limited lockdowns earlier like we are doing now ,wouldn’t the cases peak out earlier and at lower levels than at what they really peaked out. The problem with doing right is that it has associated costs and it can be done only when we are ready to pay that cost. What is costly to us as a society, ‘economic loss’ or ‘human loss’ is another enigma of this modern world.

It is still puzzling that we took so long to put limited lockdowns in place that most of the damage was already done. Clearly, it seemed that initially we are ready to pay some human costs to save some economic costs. Some one may argue that if we don’t save economic costs then the human costs may be even more. Now the question comes that whether covid-19 gives more time for a person to survive or hunger is more quicker to act. Are we in so desperate position that even after printing so much money we are supposed to choose between hunger or covid-19.These are troubling questions that are going on in our silent mind. The mind of man never sleeps and questions don’t die without getting answers. The only guess is that this moment of introspection will keep returning to us to find the answers we need to get to have ultimate peace in life.