Lockdown Woes by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (the dot read aloud .TXT) 📖

Is it a coincidence to read a quote by Mahatma Gandhi?

Remember please that henceforth our lot is poverty. The more I think of it, the more I feel that it is more blessed to be poor than to be rich. The uses of poverty are far sweeter than those of riches.

                                                                 Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. IX, p. 206, 25-3-1919

After much of the clutter, silenlence prevails, and now time has let me think about poverty in the midst of prosperity.

Life taught me the most valuable lesson - money can leave you at any time to make you feel depressed and unhappy.  Learn to live life without depending too much on it.  Survival of the fittest is what comes to my mind now.  If you succeed to spend your days with whatever you have, you have learned to live life as it is.

The civilized society that we are now living in didn't happen in a day.  Hundreds of years had passed with people who lived their lives with little money, little comfort and a lot of hardships.  Just think about the man who has to hunt for his food daily in the dangerous, thickly covered jungle.  Without any modern equipment and with the help of crudely developed tools, the early man survived to live in the midst of unpredicted dangers and natural fury.

After long years with all the comfort and sophisticated technology,  we grumble and murmur with every little hardship.  We can't spend at least a second without the comfort of an air conditioner or a lift.  It may make the lives of a modern pathetic if there is no life and he has to climb so many stairs to reach the highest floor where he lives.  Excellence in technology has some hidden dangers of scrapping the comfort and happiness in one go and let the man feel depressed and unhappy.   Think about the days when we were left to live in the darkness without any electricity.

In the year 2000, when debit cards and credit cards were slowly introducted into the lives of common people, no one expected how things will unfold. 

Initially every one had the difficulty to visiting ATMs to draw their money.  Most of the people were familiar with visiting banks, filling the chalans, waiting in the ques for their turn and get the money.  Somehow people managed to allocate time for their visits to the banks and get the money they need.

Within years, many people started to use ATMs and forget visiting banks to get their money.  The ATMs in open for 24 hours made things easier.  People visited ATMs conveniently to draw their money. 

In a way, the demonetization gave a shocking impact on the materialistic life style of people who spent money lavishly to enjoy a sophisticated life.

Sudden curb on the free money flow initially crushed the attitude of people.  It helped every one to remember how our elders lived years ago with less amount of money and a life without many electronic gadgets.

Demonetization has come as an eye-opener to many that it is better to think about the present life than thinking about the future or feel bad about their past lives.

What is the value for a currency note or a coin?

 
Definition of lockdown

1. the confinement of prisoners to their cells for all or most of the day as a temporary security measure
2. an emergency measure or condition in which people are temporarily prevented from entering or leaving a restricted area or building (such as a school) during a threat of danger

People all over the world are under a partial or a complete lockdown.  For more than twenty days, maximum population from different countries are forced to stay at home.  Work from home may sound a better option for employees who were feeling frustrated due to travelling more than an hour every day for work.  But that can only be for a minimum number of days.

Just like a natural diaster that affects the lives of people,  the outbreak of corona virus has affected the healthy/normal lifestyle of thousands. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world from different countries may vary.  Due to lockdown, billions of people are affected and the health service sector has been struggling from providing better treatment to the affected.  The reason for lockdown is to avoid the spread of the virus.  But it has affected the life of people who are daily wagers.

Economic slow down has started and no one knows when will the world return to its healthy economic state.  With all the schools and colleges closed, students miss their classes and their learning phase has been paused for a while. 

Woes of walking started from my home.  With a two-wheeler not in proper running condition, my husband was forced to walk fourteen kilometres up and down from home to the shop and from the shop to home.  Every day turned out to be a night-mare, if he failed to get a lift from some good souls.  Sometimes he got a lift to cover half the distance, and then walk the remaining distance to reach the shop.  Most of the days while returning home in the afternoon, he was forced to walk in the hot sun.  He had to sit for a while at least in three spots on the way home.  Looking tired and worn out, some good souls even offered him packed food and a bottle of water.  It is good to realize still there are good souls in this earth and compassion has not died out.

Migrant workers at our place have to decide walk home.  To escape from the pangs of hunger and bleak future,  migrant workers have to take the decision of walking home.

The nationwide lockdown has so far seen heart wrenching stories of people who were left to the mercy of almighty.  The migrant workers who were already in the verge of breaking down due to hard life were now thrown at the mercy of their unlucky, ill-fated stars.

Publication Date: 01-12-2017

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Dedication:
Demonetization/lockdown woes