SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Oscar Rebello
This has been one catastrophic thermo-nuclear explosion. In just two or three weeks, just when we thought the times were back to being "La Dolce Vita", the COVID-19 surge has been so overwhelmimg in many parts of the country that, boy oh boy, is this virus something else??
The terrifyingly stunning and chilling aspect of this second wave is the relentless sledgehammer spread through the rural parts of our country, particularly Maharashtra. With rudimentary health services in our villages, this is a disaster waiting to unfold.
But let's get back to our bangrachem Goem (drugged out, corrupted, sloshed and smashed, environmentally devastated, but comically bangrachem). What a laugh!
As one has noted earlier, Goa is akin to the biblical Sodom & Gomorrah—but that has changed. According to Luke and Mark, they have revised it. It is now reported from top religious sources that Goa is infinitely worse than Sodom and Gomorrah combined. It is at the top of the heap of moral trash. We are the champions, my friend, and of course we will keep on "fighting" till the end!
My meandering musings on this second stick upon us then.
1. First some good news.
This wave transmits faster than your poses and pictures on Instagram. But unlike your pics, this time the virus is not as lethal. It is still killing, but not as brutally as the first round. However, that could change.
2. The level of callousness, indiscipline and the “We don’t give a ****” attitude primarily by the tourists in floppy hats and I love Goa T-shirts is stupefying and eventually mortifying.
And the enforcement agencies will pick, incarcerate and terrorise ordinary Goans who protest peacefully, as they enforce Section 144. But these same guys will permit selfies by maskless madmen on the steps of the Panjim church.
Chanting Bharat Mata ki jai is easy. Displaying a basic sense of civic duty is for the birds.
This of course doesn't absolve our puritanical Goans, clubbing at all the pubs and rock and weed-roll bars in the State.
The mantra is why should we stop living it up because thousands of others are dying? Goenkarponn any one?
3. Our doctors, nurses and ancillary staff are back in action. With a smile, without a whimper and the usual fake praise coming their way from politicians and the intelligentsia of society. Frankly, we have run out of toilet paper to wipe the praise heaped on us so mockingly and patronisingly.
To the people of Goa, we say: If you can't mask yourselves, go stuff yourselves. The advice and guidelines issued by the expert committee is like stale, useless chutney on idli wada. To be eventually spat out. What a futile exercise!
4. And finally, our only ray of genuine sunshine: Vaccinate, Vaccinate & Vaccinate!
There are numerous things one abhors and disagrees with the current BJP dispensation, which is actually just the Congress in disguise. But on this front the vaccination drive has been immaculate. Easily available, virtually free of cost, and produced on a scale no developing country can match.
The Goa government has pulled out all stops to get our people vaccinated. But it is here that we need the refrain "Bhivpachi garaz na" to be repeated ad nauseum. It boggles my mind how resistant and terrified we the people have become to the vaccine. Truly stunning.
I get daily calls from patients as to whether it is safe, whether they will clot, whether they will die if they take the jab. They almost will me to say: No, don't take it—and then they would be relieved. Some Johnny told me that he gets excess gas, so is it safe?
I couldn't resist it. I told him that both the vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, come perfumed so the gas should at least smell good.
It is a no-brainer, people. Go take your jab. That's the only way to control the pandemic. Israel has done it. The UK has almost brought the pandemic to its knees. And the key is mass inoculation.
The side effects are minimal, and it definitely, definitely protects (in this second wave, the negligible number of health-care workers afflicted is proof). And the risk of dying due to the vaccine is as negligible as Goans electing an honest leader—ever!
Also, can we have our ‘padres’, temple priests and mullahs exhort the faithful to go take their shots when their turn comes? Please guys do this one thing for science.
I know religion is the antithesis of science. But go on, give it a shot.
Just this once. Vaccinate yourself and most likely you will have a mild illness, even if you do contract it. Think about it!
In sum then:
Dying of Covid is one tragedy. Dying of stupidity, despite such an enthusiastic and fantastic vaccination drive, will be a very unique Indian thing to do!
Live free or die gasping
The choice must be yours
