Now that we are seeing the apocalyptic sweep of our favourite virus across the globe, maybe it’s time to reflect, on our Goan response to the possible apocalypse knocking our doors in about three to four weeks.
First things first!
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These are four indisputable facts, I would like to put in the public domain.
1 Siddhivinayak temple, the famous one at Dadar, which has celebrities and politicians walk bare feet for a darshan is shut down, so is the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh with extremely restricted access.
2The Umrah and Haj, two of Islam’s holiest rituals are on lock down as are numerous mosques across the Arab world.
3The Vatican, Christianity’s fountainhead as it were, has suspended all Good Friday and Easter services and virtually all churches in Italy are Chiuso (closed).
4And lastly a sobering factoid. Most dailies in Italian are running 18 to 20 pages – yes pages – of obituaries every single day. That is the kind of death toll there.
So the point is Hinduism, Christianity’s and Islam’s high priests have heeded the advice of science and to protect their faithful and pilgrims health have gone on lock down mode right away.
But in Goa, we do things the ajeeb way. Shigmo (barring the honourable exception of Valpoi) is on a rock and roll, colours, music and the virus running riot in a lethal cocktail. All church services and other assorted retreats are packed to the rafters, few precautions notwithstanding, and the virus lurks in the pews, mischievously greeting everyone ‘peace be with you’. The mosques are chock-a-block with Friday namaaz worshippers.
You can hurt anything in Goa. Hurt the environment, hurt the water bodies, hurt fellow humans, and hurt the future of our kids. But woe betide, if you hurt religious sensibilities
No politician worth his or her salt is prepared to hurt religious and cultural organisations (also called vote banks) and tell them to just shut the mass gatherings up even if it means thousands could perish (which religion never loved martyrs?)
And do politicians have the spine to do so when they are gallivanting the countryside addressing ‘large’ gatherings for that inconsequential Zilla Parishad (ZP) election?
Frankly I think our window of opportunity is over and my guess is we will see exponential increases in the infection rate and deaths in the coming weeks. We refuse to heed scientific evidence coming out of China, Korea, Italy and Spain.
Which then brings me to my original poser: Are Goans immune to COVID-19?
If we escape this epidemic and its tragic and horrendous cost to human life, the three reasons will be this:
. The heat: This is like Rapunzel’s golden locks we are clinging to, so as to climb to safety. Maybe it will work maybe it won’t but I wouldn’t bet on it.
. The irresponsible and inexplicable lack of testing facilities in our country: There is no way we can differentiate the common flu from COVID-19 without tests. So chances are people will die overwhelmingly and the death certificate will say pneumonia or heart attack and not COVID-19.
. And finally my immune hypothesis: Goans inherently have what I like to call the dominant ‘stupidity gene’. So chances are that the virus may drop by and just say to itself that these Goans are in any case going to die due to climate change they have invoked upon themselves; die of thirst (Mhadei); or of drug addiction and fatal accidents while driving on their near perfect autobahns. So the virus may well say: “Why should I waste my fire power on these stupid people. Spare them.”
. Post script: The other day I had a patient of mine who approached me with flared nostrils and admonished me. “Why are you spreading panic doc? You are a man of no faith. God will protect us.”
Though I’m prone to temper, I calmly told him. If you were to go for a picnic to Dudhsagar and visit the notorious Devils Canyon where the currents are terrifying and where hundreds have perished and where alligators and deadly insects thrive. And some religious head were to tell you – “Fear not; throw your child in the waters. The Lord will protect thee – Would you throw your child in?” His nostrils cooled down and he said “No, I wouldn’t.”
So, I said the same logic applies here, the virus is the invisible alligator and Goa – well, Goa has been the Devils Canyon for the last three decades or so in case you haven’t noticed.
Moral of the story then is that faith and politics is one thing, stupidity and obstinacy is quite another.
By all evidence we are opting for the latter. The malls in Goa, according to an official, I spoke to, are being kept open for a very scientific reason. They are testing the hypothesis – ‘Shop till you drop dead’ – really works or not.
