Handling Covid-19 : State Vs Individual

Covid-19 crisis has suddenly turned the world upside down in every aspect. Besides the health risk world is facing right now, there is a threat of financial slowdown which can push millions of people into extreme poverty. Even strongest of Economies of world are playing catch up both to control the epidemic as well as to keep economic meltdown contained. As most of people would agree this is biggest crisis of our life times for almost all living being, this crisis requires unprecedented resolve from the humanity. While some of richest countries have struggled to adapt to a pro-active approach, there are still few examples of lesser resourced economies doing exceptionally well to contain the crisis. Almost immediately comes a question in mind, what is that these countries doing right? Is it the state or is it the individuals in the society? Can these measures can be ramped up in the course of few weeks or is it years of socially responsible behavior which is paying off in these times of crisis?

Amongst few countries which has been able to contain the crisis in very unique way is south Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. There are many more examples or even better examples, but even in these 3 country each one of them responded to the threat in their own unique way depending on their financial strength and Social fabric. There has been impact on their economic activities to a varying level but what clearly comes out was that role of individual has been one of key factors in ability of each country to ward of this threat.

While USA and many European countries are still in doldrums and the pressure is building on to open up the economic activities even in worst hit regions within these countries. The question is, can the Social distancing measures can be left to individuals or does it need to be enforced by force and penal codes. Sweden is one country which had taken risk and left it to individuals to social distancing guidelines, which has now been revised due to spike in death rate of elderly people. In a country like India or Indonesia where population density is high and furthermore large section of society still living under poverty the social distancing hardly means anything unless they are provided for in the period of economic inactivity. Returning migrant laborers in India despite all the hardships of travelling hundreds of miles on foot are forced to take this extreme measure to reach their ancestral village. These returning migrants may cause spike in cases in rural India but mammoth of this mass seems unstoppable by any kind of revival in economic activity in short term.

Most countries while have gone through some level of lockdown measures, now are forced to restart the economic activity to avoid the slipped slop of economic recession. Opening up restrictions are supported by social distancing guidelines however the great responsibility will be on individuals to follow the guidelines provided by their respective governments. This is where the self discipline and socially responsible behavior will come into play. It was already known that the Lockdowns and curfews can never be a long term solution and in most cases they were turned out to a tool to buy time to prepare for the situation afterwords. Of-course lockdown helped in flattening the curve in a lot of countries but what happens after these restrictions are lifted is what will matter.

In countries with big population or high population density or large population with low income group, it is being articulated that containing the community transfer will be a challenge but it is also true that socially responsible behavior will be key in this second battle. Self discipline and self restraint is something which is hard to measure even with most closely related demographic measurement tool like literacy or income. We can not expect a society to inculcate socially responsible behavior in matter of weeks or even months.  The individual who have been less sensitive towards their community, their surroundings, their society, their environment and their country, it would be challenge to make them use restraint for the benefit of others. Not allowing stigma amongst such mass would be additional task for governments.

So what could have been done to prepare for such disasters ? Of-course no country could have been 100% ready for such a situation however there is few things which can changed now so that when such a situations presents itself again we would be much more prepared economically as well as mentally. Apart from infrastructure to support better early detection and cure for infected people there is this key things which could have been game changing in the whole ordeal, a better educated, socially responsible and empathetic society. A society in which the governments can trust their citizens to adopt social distancing measure religiously without using force or penal codes. where individual stay maintain Social distancing for benefits of others, fully understanding that any measure taken at personal level to stop the spread of virus will ultimately benefit each individual in the society.

 

 

The celebrations.

This post is no way a part of New Year resolution, but I felt like sharing this today. On this New Year’s Eve I was sitting in a city and country where I have been living for just one and half month. I had couple of invitations for New Year’s Eve but I declined them, or I wouldn’t attend any of them because of the chaos they bring along with them. So I spent the evening sitting on the couch watching TV. I know its most ridiculous thing to do on New Year’s Eve but it was a thought experiment for me in a way. Honestly I felt weird sitting in the living room and looking out of the balcony as the firework went off in drizzly sky but I just wanted to be alone. Having company is makes the life better, but in a weird way don’t you think that any kind of company is just a distraction? A way of getting away from yourself, an escape? These birthdays and new years are celebrated in such a volumes that we sometimes don’t realize the subtle affect they have on our psyche. It wasn’t long back that I witnessed a moment where I felt like passing a big milestone in my life. There was nothing particular about that moment but I still felt like something changed in me. I wasn’t the same as the person a moment ago. I have heard somewhere that we think we are spending time but in actual time just passes and it’s rather us who get spent. Time can bring us to a crossroad that can change our life completely, and when that happens we are so busy with the change that we almost forget to acknowledge that moment. These moments are way too bigger to be compared to be New Year’s Eve and birthdays. Of course birthdays are special for everyone as that’s the day we started our journey on earth however it’s also true that we remember nothing of the exact day when we were born. So in retrospect we can’t look back and relive that day, all we do is celebrate the hypothetical idea of being born. May be parents have better idea of celebrating their children’s birthday, and how important that moment is when the child was born in the parents’ life. What I mean is that most we celebrate is the idea of a change happening, more than the moment of change. I just wondered in the middle of the night, what is about this moments that people are so euphoric, roaming around in city roads, setting off firecrackers, dancing and singing. Do they really think that something is changing which more than just a date? We welcome every year with full heart with as much excitement as possible but rest of the days look excruciatingly similar as the days in last years. So in totality its becomes another weekend night out, where the next day we get up hung over and we curse the Monday that seems approaching faster than we thought last night. We really don’t need resolutions, goals or to do lists, all we need to do is realize and acknowledge that it’s a new year and it’s not the year we left behind. Hope I was able to explain it enough.

Wish you all a Happy New Year !!!

Oceans

I remember the night, sitting on the edge of a dismantled boat, they call it a “Dhow” in Kenya. I was in Diani, beautiful sea shore on Indian Ocean on the coast of Kenya. I was there with two other friends and they had retired for the night, it must have been 11.00 pm in the night. I couldn’t sleep, so went out of the resort. Beach was empty. But here was this boat, ragged as much possible but still discernible of its glorious past. View in front of me was frightening and surreal at the very moment. For some reason I have always imagined sea as a living body, as something with life of its own, with a palpable soul. That night it was in front of me. Just the ocean and me, nothing in between. I could feel the water trying to reach me to say something, waves slowly fading away as they touch the ground, but every hush it made while fading away was a syllable in its own language. With most honest thoughts I know I didn’t feel the rapture that people talk about in front the sea, it was rather a reticent enormousness that engulfedme. I just sat there, trying to understand what I was witnessing.

Oceans are so much similar to dreams to me, all we can do is skim the surface of it, or may be reach a level under, but trying to reach the whole depth is a question of ridiculous nakedness of our own incapabilities and obliviousness. I dived in that very ocean, I was so happy to even touch the things that existed below mean sea level, or was it all even that? I was born in mountains, Himalayan foothills, so land I understand very well, the tougher the better. Land changes shape, in spite of our minuscule life size, we see creations taking shape and perishing on land all together. I wonder how deriding oceans laugh would be, looking at humans who think they have conquered the world. While I was diving and was under the water, most of my focus was at staying alive. What’s left was busy admiring the beauty that ocean chose to show me. I didn’t take pictures, wouldn’t that be wasting beauty? What I could witness from naked eyes could never be explained in pictures or even words.

Every time I see an ocean, it’s impossible for me to turn my eyes away from it. I look in wonder at the indomitable, boisterous persona that the ocean carries . With as little as we have got to offer to ocean in return, I feel like surrendering to it with unpardonable contempt for our own ignorance. Like all our continents, oceans were never claimed to have been discovered, they were always recognised as ever existing reality, to be accepted rather than understood.

AJ

The Anti-Lucifer effect

Stanford prison experiment is again in news. Ben Blum in His recent claims have come to a conclusion that the whole experiment was somehow rigged to get the desired results, and in laymen’s terms “Standard protocols” for conducting an experiment were not followed. Honestly i read the news and didn’t give much thought to it, until a friend of mine went on to support the original theory that we more or less are influenced by the circumstances and under certain external environments we are much likely to behave in certain manner irrespective of our own personal feelings and values, which is called “the Lucifer effect”. The title takes its name from the biblical story of the favored angel of God, Lucifer, his fall from grace, and his assumption of the role of satan.

It was a disturbing thing to me to see people agree so easily with the conclusions of the theory, more importantly i could see right in front of my eyes why the whole experiment has been so successful in convincing people of its results. As Ben Blum rightly said that we desperately want to believe that we humans are not inherently evil but if circumstances present themselves in way to make us act in an evil manner, there is very little we can do about it.

Of-course the finding by Ben Blum are relieving in a certain way, and it puts back the onus on individual for the pain and suffering they inflict on others. The whole ordeal was still must twisted and terrifying to me.

Let’s consider the two circumstances one by one. Considering the first situation that Prof Philip Zimbardo (Author of The Lucifer effect, and architect of whole SPE) was right and we try to believe that we are profoundly affected by the situation we are put in. Although the present situation doesn’t look too bad, the future seems disturbingly griming. With resources getting scarcer and geopolitical scenario tenser than ever, we are heading to a future which will put us all in a very dangerous position, and since we are assuming we are being controlled by the environment around us, i shudder to think what we would be doing to each other.

Now let’s consider we actually are in control of ourselves under any circumstances and we actually can control what we do to others, and then look at the past. Millions and millions have died in hate crimes and genocides. What does that prove? I don’t know if it proves anything but it surely points towards a very cynical world view. It points to a assumption that we humans are not inherently good people, that irrespective of knowing and understanding our circumstances, our minds and consciousness still want to oppress and subjugate others to pain and suffering.

So what is the way out? I am not sure. The most optimistic world view would be that we humans are inherently good, and only under forced circumstances, we behave evil.  I am not sure if any experiments have been done to prove the outcome. May be in bits and pieces this hypothesis is being proved at every street corner, in every city, and every piece of land inhabited with humans. Every act of kindness, no matter how small it is, itself is living proof of a this “Anti-Lucifer effect”. Honestly i couldn’t think of a better name.

A.J.

Ref:

1. http://www.prisonexp.org/book/
2. https://medium.com/s/trustissues/the-lifespan-of-a-lie-d869212b1f62

What Success Looks Like Everyday

While reading “Made in America by Sam Walton” last few days, it was easy to come to a conclusion that no matter what a man can achieve, his humility sometimes is biggest reflection of him after all. Sam Walton while describing his journey all the way from his first store in Newport Arkansas till he received Presidential Medal of Freedom categorically kept in readers mind that whatever he achieved in his life, personal wealth was last to be mentioned. His customers and his associates were his greatest achievements. He never planned to make Walmart the giant it is today, but he was never complacent either.

David Glass (Former President and CEO – Walmart) commented once that “Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know. First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve ever known. And once he sees he’s wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction”. What i was able to infer after reading the book is that, Sam Walton never started the whole thing as a grand plan. It was one day at a time and one step at a time. Little improvement everyday, rather than expecting a giant leap overnight.

That’s what success takes. It wears you down to last piece. The Journey most times is tiring, monotonous and even irritating sometimes. I saw a TED Talk few days ago which was in similar lines. A speaker went on to explain his achievement with just a little twitch he did with his behaviour. Whatever he planned to achieve, he always divided the whole plan into smallest pieces possible. As small as a milestone which can be achieved in 15 minutes. It made a lot of sense to me. Being present at what you are doing right now and giving 100 percent of what you have got is what you need to do to achieve something which would take 10 years to achieve.

I wouldn’t say that Made in America is most inspiring book, Sam Walton hardly uses the big inspiring words we generally expect from an icon that he is. The whole story is rather a revelation about what your everyday should look like if you want to achieve something big in your life. Today people may not have very high opinion about walmart as a company, but it’s an epitome of one man’s conviction and his relentless pursuit of something bigger than himself

A.J.

 

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton