As the covid pandemic is spreading like a wildfire each one of us must come forward and contribute in whatever way it is possible. The projections that are being made are scary. One can only pray that things turn better before long. But it is not the wish that matters here, it is the small and big acts of responsibility the can make any difference. Right now people have started realizing that it is not an ordinary thing any more. There is no scope for complacency. What people can do voluntarily is to impose restrictions on themselves; don’t come out of your houses unless needed. It is not time to argue for things that hold weight in routine life. We must avoid all gatherings, small and big, in the interest of life. Life is the most precious thing and its safety is the supreme form of worship. For the government it is time to compensate for the mistakes it made in the previous months. There must be a rationing of government resources. All the institutions and officials must not be invested into firefighting. Someone needs to do a long term planning. This crisis is not going to go away in a day or a week. The time that is still available needs to be made use of in countering the long term effects of the present crisis. Healthcare comes on the top. It is not just the covid infected people who would need treatment, there are other ailments that can take one’s life if not attended to urgently. So hospitals and make shift health facilities should take a long shot and make preparations to deal with this emergency of an unimaginable proportion. Just raising the alarm is not sufficient, practical steps need to be taken to save human lives. One more area of concern is the daily, and essential needs of people. We have poor people amongst us. The government and the civil society need to come forward and arrange for the food, and medicines, for this vast population. The year long pandemic has already rendered many families penniless. If the virus spares them, hunger would not. So this is time to take all the elements of this crisis into account and contribute to its mitigation.
Taking a long shot
