Short takes on C19
Imagine there’s a stampede. People are running helter skelter. After the dust settles, you see the extent of the damage. That’s happening now. We’ve unlocked (although a lot of people are not aware of it). There’s a good amount of traffic on the road. But businesses are bleeding. Airlines are realizing that it’s better to ground the fleet than fly it at 50% and low yields. Restaurants are seeing one or two customers a day. A shop that sells savouries and stuff is reporting that business is half the usual. A car dealer i spoke to said business is 25% of usual. A bakery near our place is running at 30% revenues. Uber and Ola are hardly seen on the roads. And fear continues to spread on WhatsApp and mainstream media. The Hindu, which used this headline in March – “Death toll spikes to 3″ is using this headline in June to describe a drop by 2000 cases a day – “Marginal decrease in cases reported”. The Times of India, on June 8th, had a blaring headline: “Bangaloreans apprehensive about stepping out”. Well done.
Deep philosophy alert. If our child is scared, would we scare him further? Why are we then spreading fear on WhatsApp, and reading it? We’re so particular about wearing a mask to a) protect ourselves from infection and b) prevent others from catching an infection from us. Why are we then so casual about not filtering toxic information that we read on WhatsApp, and why are we so trigger happy to forward that toxic information to everyone. You may argue that it’s harmless and it’s up to the reader to decide. Well, let’s ask that restaurant owner who opened up on Monday whether he thinks it’s harmless or not.
Probability or risk assessment is something very few people think of during these times. They don’t hop into an Uber thinking their probability of dying of C19 will increase if they do that. Of course it will, but from 0.00058% to 0.00059%. They don’t go to a restaurant to protect themselves from dying. But the BigBasket guy who delivers their vegetables could have had a cuppa at one of the restaurants with twenty of his Swiggy, Uber and Zomato buddies sneezing on his face when he’s sipping his coffee.
Below is a table which shows the risk of dying of various causes in India. We get completely petrified if someone famous dies of C19. Hell we get petrified if a political figure tests positive. But we don’t bat an eyelid while boarding a plane, knowing that there have been a lot of famous personalities who have been killed in plane crashes. Or car crashes.
There is only one way you can completely protect yourself from dying of C19. Grow cotton to stitch your clothes and grow vegetabled, fruits and grains for your food. And don’t meet anyone. Oh, but then you’ll probably die of boredom. Or the roof falling on your head. Best to buy a basketball to keep you company, but from a salesman at Decathlon who has already been tested negative.
At last count, 381 daily wage migrants died on the Shramik Special trains on their way home. And 500 died walking back. But, who’s counting these “cases”?
At last count, 15 people were beaten up and killed by the police during the lockdown. To prevent them from dying of C19.
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