Every life/death matters..

Coronavirus has wreaked havoc all over the world and India is at the center of all of it right now. During the first wave, what many were worried about was the impact of corona on so-called 'normal' people when compared to people with comorbities (people with pre-existing illnesses). Whenever, there was a death reported, the first question to be asked was

'Was he having diabetes?'

'Was he having some other illness?' 

'Was he having lesser immunity?'

It was fine until the first wave because we were still coming to terms with the pandemic and we really wanted to understand how it affects us. And let's face it, as a country, we were not prepared for it.

But what has been astonishing over the past few weeks is the way people are reacting to deaths during the second wave. There is increasing amount of numbness when deaths are being reported. The reactions have been 'Oh he must have had a comorbidity and so he died', 'Oh he may be a chain smoker and so he faced trouble'. This has been predominantly because people want to mask the shortcomings (I must say mistakes) in the way India managed the pandemic. It's ok if you don't want to question the government on how they have performed during the crisis. Political opinions are personal and you are free to react based on your love or bhakti for a particular leader. But that doesn't mean you can question the dead. We must always remember that a person could have succumbed to the virus because we were not wearing a mask when we met them. The root cause of someone's death could be YOU. That's how viruses work. A virus can kill a person even if he is perfect. The first wave might have killed more people with "comorbities". The second has killed more "normal" people. What if the third wave kills the healthiest? The children? Are we going to complain about them as well?

The least we can give on someone else's death is empathy. Because, everyone has a right to live in this world and everyone has a right to die with dignity - even if they have severe illness, even if they smoke, drink or are drug addicts. Remember, in India, the most common punishment for a murder itself is not a death sentence. So no one deserves to die just because they ate a lot of sugar in their lifetime.

There were a lot of people of the opinion that I am currently not in India and I have no right to question anyone in India on the basis of the country where I am living because it is a developed country while India is not. Well, I can say there is only one thing that I expect from my country and it's people, which is to respect both a living and a dead individual. That doesn't need good economy or governance. All it needs is empathy and humanity. I am sure that's not difficult for indians. I hope so. Or is it these days?