Crisis makes common people do uncommon things!
One often wonders what it is about a catastrophe that transforms a 9-5 person to live a life on the exact opposite side of the clock. This is what happened in Goa – and is perhaps the silver lining to the gloom and doom of the pandemic’s second wave.
In these unprecedented times, the Goan human spirit has risen to the challenge. We should be proud of our boys and girls – youngsters, professionals, footballers, clubs, socially conscious folks – all lending a hand to another Goan in need.
There is no toolkit conspiracy here. To challenge a systemic letdown, people from normal walks of life stepped in to fill administrative lacunae.
A young couple on hospital rounds caring for an infected aunt sent frantic messages looking for blood plasma donors, only to find that the numbers floating on social media were either fake or non-existing. The reality of ‘forwarded as received’ dawned on them. They realised that many others were in the same boat – searching for hospital beds, oxygen concentrators or oximeters – and a movement began. Soon, several volunteers joined their cause and unofficial helplines took shape, where Covid patients and their families could reach for information… and find solutions.
On the other hand, a group of lawyers realised a systemic flaw when people were dropping dead in the silent hours of the night for want of oxygen. They organised their fellow professionals to plead their fears before the highest court of the land – only to be stonewalled by shameful bureaucratic legalese. “Let justice be done though the heavens fall,” is a maxim that one reads in law schools only to forget it after a semester. However, the justices of the High Court had clearly not forgotten this dictum. They pulled up the government and issued orders to the responsible officers to make statements before them, and began monitoring Goa’s health debacle on a day-to-day basis. Even then, the administration did not see the perils of allowing travellers into the State, without a Covid negative certificate.
On yet another side, homemakers, religious groups and restaurateurs felt that in the fight with the virus, the basic need of food for patients and their families was being ignored. People, even those with means, could not get food as they were quarantined, ailing, alone or too old/infirm to step out of their homes during restricted hours to bring in food. These Good Samaritans started a movement to send food for the needy.
We live in a mirage of a Welfare State. But, where and when the State failed to provide medical help, safety, social security and hope, individuals, corporates, trade bodies, social and cultural clubs and even some political parties stepped in to fill the blanks.
It is quite easy for me to write this and sum it up like a jigsaw puzzle that is falling in place. I bet the Covid s/heroes, who are making a difference to Goa in the darkest hours, are doing it despite the odds. Not aware of the source of their next ray of hope, who will abuse and cast aspersions on their intention, who will pass judgments or smear their characters – not even aware whether their efforts will make any difference, but they trudge on. They make calls for oxygen cylinders, hospital beds in the wee hours when many of us sleep the comfortable sleep. They move paper burning the midnight oil to make the authorities wake up and listen. They rise early to cook the thousands of meals that must reach hospitals and homes.
They deserve thunderous applause, if not anything else
