HEADMASTER’S CLASS
“Time will teach you” – we have said and heard often. If normal time is the regular teacher, “difficult and trying times” are like the Headmaster!
Today, as fellow countrymen are bearing the scourge of Corona Mayhem – we are transiting through the most instructive of times. Whole class of countrymen has failed, and the headmaster wants to know if we have drawn our lessons!
Number One lesson undeniably is that we all ought to invest more time and resources on our health. Roll back to 2019. Some were chasing company targets and hyperbole careers and some others, seeped into the pleasures of good times and merrymaking. Health was neither a priority nor was on the horizon. Commercialisation blitzkrieg by the food and beverages industry has left the common man and woman in a daze. How and what we are eating and drinking is slowly but surely gnawing at our body beautiful. Our work schedule crafted by management with an insatiable corporate greed keeps us under constant stress and spares no time for physical activities. The result is a rather defenceless body which caves in easily against the Corona attack. Collectively and consciously we must now restore robust health as the life’s agenda number one in place of a swanky car or a plush apartment.
Adversity has washed off the veneer of civility. The complete medical ecosystem has morphed into a mega opportunistic multi headed hydra. The “Corona Bonanza” for the medics is all about sucking dry the paltry savings of hapless victims of the virus. Ramshackle Public health care system was always an apology, and understandably so. The deliberately kept void has been rapidly filled by exorbitantly priced private multi-speciality hospitals structured with the sole aim of profiteering from their patients. These very out of reach hospitals have given rise to sham medical insurance companies. The prospective patients who pay premium to these companies is often denied the compensation when the time arises. So the hospital profits, the insurance companies profit, the diagnostic companies profit. The patient may live or die; his kith and kin certainly are left smarting from a huge financial dent. The “Corona Bonanza” has removed any façade of professionalism, made black marketeers out of medicos who brazenly ask payment in cash so that they can conveniently hide their loot. Govt, most of the times comprising politicians, who either directly or by proxy, are owners of the medical eco system, looks the other way. Regulators connive after having settled for their share of the spoils. The stunned and dazed common man, shunned by powers in heaven and on earth, has no option but to resign to his fate! Such is the face of Human avarice!! Make no mistake, if me and you were a part of the medical system, we would have more than matched their footsteps. So what is the lesson headmaster is arriving at? Individually, save for that unforeseen medical emergency. Don’t splurge at the bar, for a plush flat or on the high end clothing and swanky car. None of them will pay for your medical bills. Corona mayhem also calls for collective group actions. Fair pricing, income audit of hospitals, fair and equitable medical care can all be demanded by social groups from the authorities. A Govt in sound sleep remains largely unshaken by the enormity of Corona mayhem. Their sensitivity lies with the “Vote Banks”. Time for “Vote Banks” to rise!
Next one. Let development be primarily counted based on per capita Govt Health and Education infrastructure. The kind that can match or beat the private ones. This, the Public must demand from the Govt. None other than the Prime Minister has stated in the Parliament that Capitalists are aiding in National Development. Since the outbreak of Corona, most of the companies have reported better than normal profits. Let some portion of that be diverted to creation and maintenance of Health infrastructure. It’s a pity that those who have been outrightly denied their “DA” have been asked to create emergency field hospitals rather than those whose pockets have been lined with Govt largess in the name of economic stimulus package from the tax payer’s money.
Corona has popularised the word “Social Distancing”. A Nation like ours, teeming with population, finds it to be a bit of an oxymoron. We are so many that we are breathing into each other!! This lesson is an easy one. Since the space occupied by people is fixed, people can’t increase in numbers endlessly. Its upto us to give some more space to ourselves. At no cost should humans resort to felling of more trees and flattening of mountains to satiate there greed.
“Help us God”! In distress and anguish, we turn to the omnipresent. Having been through a distressful event which resulted in the loss of a devout and noble relative and having invoked God in all manners, I can say that no help came forth. This article is a homage to the departed noble soul. We all in my family are devout people, pray regularly, and donate to the needy. I myself have helped countless people in achieving their life goals and so has my deceased relative. So why did He not help? For me the lesson is, when the chips are down, you are all by yourself. Do invest in your friends and family who can be called to stand by you in your calamity. That requires time and resources. Rather than buying expensive wares for flaunting on social media, take out time to spend on your near and dear ones. Rather than commiserating on social media, spend money and time to alleviate the distress of your mate. Revisit the merits of a joint family. They would be your real God in the time of your need!! Let your siblings and offsprings not miss on this one.
The 20th Century was scarred with debilitating pandemics and devastating wars. Our sagacious fathers and forefathers professed an abstemious life as against the life of indulgence towards which the youth today is being continually goaded by electronic and social media. Now we are face to face with the stark reality of reckless living. Listening to the Headmaster after his rap on our knuckles would do a lot of good to those of us who are fortunate enough to survive the Corona onslaught.
