The Covid Dilemma that creates a chasm

The shoes were matching his shorts and the shorts were in-sync with the cap. It was all pastel and looked poetic as the putter swung his golf stick in a wide 180 degree arch. It was a serene moment and for passerbys, the scene embodied all that a rich and luxurious life can afford. Similarly, one could find a gentleman puffing away at his cigar as the golf cart ran parallel to our shared taxi or a professional golfer about to finish her turn at the course and walk back for a refreshing downer.

Things looked fine and the world seemed to be at peace. Even the masks were religiously worn in the golf course. Covid was but one of the many inconveniences that these frequent club holders faced and it was nothing that a little social distancing and mask wearing could not prevent citizens from falling prey to this distant disease.

Yet, the community researcher could not help feel despondent. Here he was, just a few kilometers from the slum landscape of D J Halli and it did feel like two different worlds in a matter of minutes. The backward region of D J Halli with its broken drains and open air burning of trash could perhaps be as large as the golf course itself but while the golf course entertained a few people at a time, DJ Halli was home to lakhs of people who lived cheek and jowl to each other in tenements as tall or as wide as a healthy well built person. DJ Halli is in the midst of a corona fear that has led to job losses and increased deprivation and even as the days progress, it seems more likely to fall in a deeper economic morass.  

The corona virus has inadvertently opened up windows to human behaviour and created deep rifts within the society as well as within individuals. The disease, due to its nature has made humans shun other humans and even worse has led to an active stigmatization of the victims, especially in the earlier days of the pandemic.

Worse still, the early days, though in the distant past had opened the window to human behaviour in the immediate aftermath of the first lockdown.