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PolarextremesLessons from the ice cap for life under quarantine— PAGE4
W
“gone viral”now with-
out shudderingalittle?
Who canlookat any-
thingany more — adoor
handle, a cardboard carton, a bagofveg-
etables — without imaginingit swarm-
ingwiththose unseeable, undead,unliv-
ingblobsdottedwithsuction pads wait-
ingtofasten themselves on to our lungs?
Who can think ofkissinga stranger,
jumpingon to abus or sendingtheir
child to school withoutfeelingrealfear?
Who can think ofordinary pleasure and
not assess its risk?Who amongus is not
a quackepidemiologist, virologist, stat-
istician andprophet? Whichscientist or
doctor is not secretly prayingfor a mira-
cle? Whichpriest is not — secretly, at
least — submittingto science? Andeven
while the virus proliferates, who could
not be thrilled by the swell ofbirdsong
in cities, peacocks dancingat traffic
crossingsandthesilence in theskies?
Thenumberof casesworldwidehas
crept over a million. More than 50,000
peoplehavediedalready. Projections
suggest that number willswelltohun-
dreds ofthousands, perhaps more. The
virus has movedfreely alongthe path-
ways oftrade and international capital,
andtheterribleillnessithasbroughtinits
wake has locked humansdown intheir
countries,theircitiesandtheirhomes.
But unlike theflow ofcapital, this
virus seeks proliferation, not profit, and
has, therefore, inadvertently, to some
extent, reversed the direction ofthe
flow. It has mocked immigration con-
trols,biometrics,digitalsurveillance
and every other kind ofdata analytics,
andstruckhardest—thus far—inthe
richest, most powerful nations ofthe
world, bringingthe engine ofcapitalismto ajudderinghalt. Temporarilyper-
haps, but at least longenoughfor us to
examine its parts, make an assessment
and decide whether we want to helpfix
it,orlookfor a better engine.
The mandarins who are managing
this pandemic arefond ofspeakingof
war. They don’t even use war as a meta-
phor, they use it literally. But ifit really
wereawar,then whowould bebetter
prepared than the US? Ifit were not
masks andgloves that itsfrontline sol-
diers needed,butguns, smartbombs,
bunkerbusters,submarines,fighterjets
andnuclearbombs, wouldtherebea
shortage?
Night after night,from halfway across
the world, some ofus watch the New
Yorkgovernor’s press briefings witha
fascination that is hard to explain. We
follow the statistics, and hear the stories
ofoverwhelmed hospitals in the US, of
underpaid, overworkednurseshaving
to make masks out ofgarbage bin liners
andoldraincoats, riskingeverythingto
bringsuccour to the sick.About states
beingforced to bid against each other
for ventilators, about doctors’dilemmas
over whichpatient should get one and
whichleft to die.Andwethinkto our-
selves,“My God! This isAmerica!”
The tragedy is immediate, real, epic
and unfoldingbefore our eyes. But it
isn’t new. It is the wreckageofa train
thathasbeen careeningdown the track
for years. Who doesn’t remember the
videos of“patient dumping”— sick peo-
ple, stillin theirhospitalgowns,butt
naked,beingsurreptitiouslydumpedon
street corners? Hospitaldoorshavetoo
oftenbeenclosedtotheless fortunate
citizensoftheUS.Ithasn’tmattered
how sick they’ve been, or how much
they’ve suffered. At least not until now— because now, in the era ofthe virus,a
poor person’s sickness can affecta
wealthy society’s health. And yet, even
now, Bernie Sanders, the senator who
has relentlessly campaignedfor health-
carefor all, is considered an outlier in
his bidfor the White House, even by his
own party.
And what ofmy country, my poor-
richcountry, India, suspendedsome-
where betweenfeudalism and religious
fundamentalism, caste and capitalism,
ruled byfar-right Hindu nationalists? In
December, while China wasfightingthe
outbreak ofthe virus in Wuhan, thegov-
ernment ofIndia was dealingwitha
mass uprisingby hundreds ofthou-
sands ofits citizens protestingagainst
thebrazenlydiscriminatory anti-Mus-
lim citizenshiplaw ithadjust passedin
parliament.
Thefirst case of Covid-19 was
reportedin India on January 30, only
days after the honourable chiefguest of
our Republic Day Parade, Amazonfor-
est-eater andCovid-denierJair Bol-
sonaro, had left Delhi. But there was too
much to do in Februaryfor the virus to
be accommodated in the rulingparty’s
timetable.Therewas the officialvisitof
President Donald Trump scheduledfor
thelastweekof themonth.Hehad been
lured by the promise ofan audience of
1 m people in a sports stadium in the
state ofGujarat. All that took money,
and agreat deal oftime.
Then there were theDelhi Assembly
elections that theBharatiya Janata
Party was slatedtolose unlessitupped
itsgame, whichitdid,unleashinga
vicious, no-holds-barredHindu nation-
alist campaign, replete with threats of
physical violence and the shootingof
“traitors”.
Itlost anyway. So then there was pun-
ishmenttobemeted out toDelhi’sMus-
lims, who were blamedfor the humilia-
tion.Armed mobs ofHindu vigilantes,
backedbythepolice, attackedMuslims
in the working-class neighbourhoods of
north-east Delhi. Houses, shops,
mosques andschoolswereburnt. Mus-
lims whohadbeen expectingthe attack
fought back. More than 50 people, Mus-
lims andsome Hindus, werekilled.Thousands moved into refugee camps
inlocalgraveyards. Mutilatedbodies
were still beingpulled out of the net-
work offilthy, stinking drains when gov-
ernment officials had their first meeting
about Covid-19 and most Indians first
began to hear about the existence of
something calledhandsanitiser.
March was busy too. The first two
weeksweredevotedto toppling the Con-
gress government in the centralIndian
state of Madhya Pradesh and installinga
BJP government in its place. On March
11 the World Health Organization
declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic.
Two days later, on March 13, the health
ministry said that corona“is nota
health emergency”. Finally, on March
19, the prime minister addressed the
nation. He hadn’t done much home-
work. He borrowed the playbook from
France and Italy. He told us ofthe need
for“social distancing”(easy to under-
stand for a society so steeped in the
practice ofcaste)and calledforadayof
“people’s curfew”on March 22. He saidnothing about what his government was
going to do in the crisis, but he asked
people to come out on theirbalconies,
and ring bells and bang their pots and
pans to salute health workers. He didn’t
mention that, untilthat very moment,
India had been exporting protective
gear and respiratory equipment,
instead ofkeeping itfor Indian health
workers and hospitals.
Not surprisingly, Narendra Modi’s
request was met withgreat enthusiasm.
There were pot-banging marches, com-
munity dances and processions. Not
muchsocialdistancing. In thedays that
followed, men jumped into barrels of
sacred cow dung, and BJP supporters
threw cow-urinedrinking parties. Not
to be outdone, many Muslim organisa-
tions declared that the Almighty was the
answer to the virus and calledfor the
faithful to gather in mosques in num-
bers. On March 24, at 8pm, Modi
appeared on TV again to announce that,
from midnight onwards, all ofIndiaContinuedon page 2ThisweekthenovelistArundhati Roywitnessedanexodusofthepoorfrom
NewDelhiafterthegovernmentimposedasuddenlockdown.Hereshelooks
athowcoronavirusisdividingIndia—andwhatthecountryshoulddonext
Mainpicture:unabletofindwork
underthelockdown,ayoungcouple
withababyleaveGhaziabad,onthe
outskirtsofNewDelhi,andbeginthe
longwalkbacktotheirvillageBelow:migrantworkersqueuefor
lunchinNewDelhiatacampsetup
bythegovernment
AP; AFP via GettyThetragedyisthe
wreckageofatrain
thathasbeencareeningdownthetrackforyears
The pandemic is a portal