India Writes Against COVID

Quickly without looking in the calendar tell me what day it is today or how many weeks have passed since you have been in quarantine? If you hesitated a little or were unsure about the answer, you’re not alone. Most of us have gone through the same phase. This COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives completely. Our mobility is severely restricted and this crisis has disrupted the ‘Temporal agency’ that is our ability to maintain, manage, structure, and manipulate our experience of time. Uncertainty has taken over; a feeling of being stuck and unable to plan anything for the future, is what is happening right now. We don’t know exactly when we will be able to meet our friends, family and other loved ones or when will we able to go out on a vacation again. For a moment, this time can feel like something that drags on forever yet somehow these past few weeks have gone by with a blink of an eye. This has happened as our sense of time has broken but that doesn’t stop the hours and week fro...

If we look back in history we will find that human greed has accompanied us for a very long time now. Be it greed for more power, more money, more followers, or more resources, we humans never fail to destroy rather ‘utilize’ anything and everything to its core, which usually ends up getting extinct or defunct. We belong from an era that might call creative self-destruction. In the same manner that diamond cuts diamond, we humans cut others in order to boot up what we already have. But here's the thing, we might have pushed our environment too far. What if our greed is responsible for this situation we are in? Our generation has never experienced anything like COVID-19 before, one virus that has locked down almost the whole world. Now that roads are often ‘car-free’, the pollution has reduced and we see elephants roaming in the roads of Dehradun or leopards walking inside and out a mosque in Hyderabad which simply implies the fact that this planet belongs to others as well. This vi...

On 25th March 2020, India went on a complete lockdown when there were only 650 cases of COVID-19. For the 21-Days Nationwide lockdown, everything was shut down except medicine shops and essential good stores. Restrictions were strict and unnecessary roaming around was prohibited. Police even charged the common man with batons to keep them in their respective homes. About 50-100 cases were reported daily. In other words, strict rules were implemented. 3 months have passed. Unlock Phase 1 and Phase 2 happened. Now the number of cases has surpassed the mark of 600,000, which is almost 1000 times from the numbers which India saw before lockdown. Markets are open, negligible social distancing is observed, and state borders have been opened. Also, the daily number of cases have increased. Not by 1000, not by 2000, but the daily average rise in COVID-19 cases has become 19000-20000. India is now the World’s third worst-hit COVID-19 country with around 450 deaths on a daily basis. Some medical...

When the entire world is busy finding the cure for COVID-19 and some of the countries have gone through their first and second phase of vaccine trials, India launches its first COVID-19 vaccine, COVAXIN, for the initial phase of clinical trials. Manufactured by Bharat Biotech of Hyderabad, COVAXIN may show a ray of hope in the current pandemic situation. COVID-19 cases in India have increased exponentially on a daily basis and a vaccine is the need of the hour. Many countries such as the United States of America, England, Germany, Japan and the mainland, China have created their respective vaccines which have gone through different phases of clinical trials. However, some cleared the first phase and some have reached the third phase of trials. In this race of finding the antidote, India launches its first candidate, i.e. COVAXIN. The vaccine was approved by the Drug Control General of India last week and clinical trials are expected to begin from this or next week. The vaccine was co-j...

Are you feeling stressed or anxious lately? You're not alone. About a month ago, my germaphobia, combined with anxiety that everything I touch has coronavirus on it ended me up in the doctor's clinic - my hands were 'burnt' from using hand sanitizers way too often. The spread of coronavirus and social distancing is challenging and worrying - increased anxiety, feeling insecure, fearing that normal aches and pains might be the virus - the list is endless. Our world has become strange and turbulent, don't you think? A tiny virus has changed everything we know about our daily lives, governments, and healths into a world of FaceTime, Zoom calls, and panic buying of sanitizers, masks, and disinfectants. When did Indians start living so clean? A report by the WHO's mental health department to the UN warned of another looming crisis: "The isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil – they all-cause or could cause psychological distress," said t...

The petrifying and grave impact of COVID-19 has shaken the world to its core. While the whole country is under lockdown, people have now had to adapt to a work from home (WFH) system to maintain a continuity of work. All the sectors are still trying to conform to the new challenges that this pandemic has brought, but the sector which has faced major problems is the education sector. This crisis has crystalized the dilemma for the policymakers over deciding whether to keep schools close or open. To curb the spread, schools were announced to be shut due to which over 91 percent of students have suffered. It proved to be challenging to try something new and go beyond the traditional chalk and board method. Teaching has now been happening online in an unprecedented form without being trialed well. With lots of trial and error, only a few schools could successfully adapt to online methods for teaching. But what is happening with those teachers and students who do not have the resources to k...

In our current pandemic situation where hospitals are running out of beds, and private hospitals are charging a huge amount for COVID-19 treatment, South Delhi’s Radha Soami Satsang Beas is all set to open the world’s largest COVID-19 facility for around 10,000 patients on 16,50,000 sq ft of land. In order to handle the rapid increase in Delhi’s COVID-19 cases, this facility will be beneficial. With 10,000 beds and 18,000 tons of air conditioning, it will be the largest Coronavirus Facility in the World. Mud floor is bare and the ceiling is having slow-rotating fans which will provide a slow breeze to the patients. The Satsang ground has been taken over by the Delhi Government which is almost the size of 22 football fields. Delhi Government has also planned to add 15,680 more beds by taking all the banquet halls, auditoriums, and other public facilities but this plan is not confirmed yet. Earlier, Railway coaches were converted into COVID-19 facility. According to the latest statement,...