Sham Lal Langer
Complete lockdown in the entire country announced by PM on 24-03-20 at 8PM is very welcome step. The way number of people affected is increasing day by day world over and the way no of deaths are increasing day by day, all of us agree, we have no other choice except to abide by the lock down. . This is very clearly based on the experience we gained from China, South korea and some other countries. China in particular has been able to stop the spread of this virus only because they resorted to complete lock down of Wuhan, a capital city of Hubei province. with a population of 11 million .
India has timely taken steps to arrest the spread of this Coronavirus. Success of Janta Curfew on 22nd encouraged our PM to go in for complete lock down. Let us all pledge to ourselves to follow this in letter and spirit. I am the one who has never missed my walk even during peak winter despite advice of doctors and children to avoid the same. I was taking the risk since it was related to me only and none else. But since 22nd I have stopped walk in the park completely since there is every possibility I could risk catching the Virus myself and then spreading the same to my wife and the society and so on. I do not want to go up carrying this burden. Jaan hai to Jahan hai.
Many critics are saying this will impact the working class very badly and they are worried about their survival. I am very optimistic and am sure all will be well. Recently our MC banned entry of all the maids in the society till the lock down period. MC requested all the members to not to deduct their wages. Very welcome step by MC. I am absolutely sure no member will deduct their salary. This means their life moves on without much difficulty. We did pay advance to maid so that she could buy her ration in time. I am sure others must have done the same if required.
Recently I saw a request from our Mr Srinivas to contribute for distribution of 100 dry ration packets costing Rs 300 each. Admirable and very noble initiative . In two days he got a contribution of more than Rs 38000. I am sure many such initiatives are being taken by the societies and other organisations to take care of the working class. In India I am very confident all of us who can afford are always willing to contribute to such cause.This is in our DNA
I was told that construction workers could be the biggest sufferers. I thought we will do something about them. I checked up with Mr Tarun of L&T, Project director for Convention center, if we could do something for their workers. He told me, ” Larsen and Toubro is taking full care of them. They have designated officer who is taking care of all their needs.” Having worked on many projects, I am sure all the contractors do take care of their workers in such situations. They treat their workers as their families and consider them as their responsibility.
Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti, Hero Honda declared to stop production during this lock down period and declared to pay full wages to their workers. Our corporates have always been very supportive under such circumstances. Yes, there could still be some workers who will face difficulty but govts are also taking steps to mitigate their sufferings. People who can afford and the govt will surely make sure that nobody suffers during this lock down and if required, during further extension of this lock down. Let us do our best to make it a success. That is the only way we can defeat this Virus.
Today Govt has announced packages worth Rs 1.7 lac crores to mitigate the sufferings of working class
There is no denying the fact, this will have a very serious impact on our economy and that of the economy of entire world. I was very happy to hear from T.T. Jaganathan, Chairman TTK Industries on CNBC TV18 in the morning. Anchor asked him about the impact of Coronavirus on manufacturing. He said,” Three weeks lockdown is not the end of the world. Industry has enough strength and will bounce back.”
In 2008 entire world had economic shock, nobody could imagine, the economic recovery could be so fast. World economy recovered in a short time and life went on as usual. Let us do our part of helping others to the extent we can and observe complete lock down in letter and spirit. Good sign, sensex jumped by 693 points on 24th March and despite lockdown by 1861 points on 25-03-20and 1410 points on 26-03-20.
It is heartening to see that despite their political differences, GOI and all the state govts are fully united in their approach to fight this invisible enemy and this gives me great hope and faith in our govts. Let us leave it to them, they will take care of us.
On a lighter note this lockdown will have the following positive impact:
Yesterday I told my wife let me sweep the home and swap also. She said ” We are two only, who is making home dirty, we will do it after one week.” I said, ” in that case, why do u get upset when maid does not come even for a day.” She had no reply. Maybe next time maid does not come she will not increase her BP and mine too. Anyway our, agreement, I do sweeping ,swapping after every two days and dusting once a week and she does the rest. For me this will be good exercise to compensate me for my walk.
Since 22nd we do not see any Juthe bartan in sink. Both of us clean the same immediately after we use it. So there is no heap of juthe bartan in the sink as was the case before 22nd. Maids absence would lead to frequent calls to security gate and begging other maids to come and clean the mess.
Other day my younger brother working as President in Cadila, told me that he is sitting with his wife and deciding on the distribution of work in the absence of maid. My daughter told me , ” her son is cleaning the house and her daughter is taking care of washing etc of clothes( They were not lifting a plate earlier), he is preparing dinner ( He was doing earlier too) and I am taking care of breakfast and lunch.” She is a journalist and is going to office daily to ensure timely publication of paper. .
I am sure other couples must be doing the same and this will helps the society to follow the west in this respect. I wish this becomes a permanent habit.
Let me share with you how do I pass my day in this complete lock up. U know I love plants and love taking care of them. While going through Y tube Videos on farming my passion, I realised I know nothing about gardening and I was sort of misguiding the malis who are even more ignorant . I am now spending time on increasing my knowledge on gardening and practicing the same. Believe me it is very interesting. e.g. I learned by keeping the banana peels dipped in water for three days you can get liquid fertilizer which is rich in potassium and calcium and is very good for plants. A pinch of haldi/gamla helps in saving the plants from disease.
Have u ever realised our fridge, our chimney, our washing machine and other appliances need some routine maintenance which we never do. Y tube helps u with that too. Besides reading, I have started learning that too. So bibi bhi khush, Lock down bhi ho giya and ghar ka kaam bhi ho giya.
God tried its best to make us behave and when we did not He said,” Lo Corona aur sambhal jao.”
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