What will tomorrow bring? More fear or hope? Hope for whom?
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his inaugural address in 1933, said the only thing to fear was fear itself. The coronavirus pandemic has health, economic, social, administrative etc., aspects. There is also the fear aspect. This is not confined to the present only. Fear is very much in the minds of people, including doctors, fears for the virus pandemic making a re-appearance after six months or more. Neither World War I or World War II had the reach the coronavirus has.
These wars, although deadly and horrific, did not involve South America and large parts of Africa. The coronavirus respects no national boundaries, is invisible and so unbearable so far. No fear is worse than the fear of the unknown, the fear of nature’s forces, which man can neither channel nor comprehend. Overnight it has become intensified and magnified. It is filling our minds with primordial apprehensions.
Humankind is groping in the dark in fear. Parents fear for their children, immigrants for their livelihood, the fear of galloping unemployment is all too visible in America, Europe and other parts of the globe. Where man can find no answer, he will find fear.
I am 91 years of age, so I do not fear. But I do for my wife, my son, my grandsons and my friends. Will fear be the new normal? Is a new age being born? Has medicine failed?
The newspapers devote most of their pages to the damage the coronavirus is inflicting on men, women and children. TV is a mixed blessing. It informs, it also produces fear in our minds.
What will tomorrow bring? More fear or hope? Hope for whom? To those who are living in controlled panic? Don’t panic is the mantra of the medicos. But doctors and nurses are dying of the virus. Is hope the hope? Does any of us have an answer?
The lockdown will end after eight days. Gone will be social distancing. How will educational institutions accommodate students when each has to sit six feet from the other? Where will the space come for those in the same class? The same applies to travel. The air industry the world over has gone bust. If it revives, then will each passenger sit six feet apart? Take liquor shops. We saw the bedlam in Delhi the other day. When these booze shops reopen, no one will follow the six feet rule. Hence, we are living in a coronavirus pressure cooker. Damned if you uncover it, damned if you don’t!
What about political public meetings? I have no answer, except posing questions. Like everyone else I eagerly and impatiently await the invention of the magic vaccine, which will be available by early next year. One hundred laboratories are working night and day to produce one. I am not a religious person, but I do believe in auto-da-fe: belief in fate. Neither pessimism nor optimism is the need of the hour. Both are matters of the temperament.
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Satish Gujral’s death last month did not attract the notice it should have. I knew him for almost 45years. He was among the great painters of the 20th century. He was also a gifted architect. The Belgian Embassy in Chankyapuri is his creation. He was stone deaf for the better part of his life. Then a miraculous operation restored his hearing. He was great fun to be with. The art world has lost a genius. His wife Kiran is a most remarkable lady.
***
I never met Irrfan Khan or Rishi Kapoor. The latter’s father, I met several times. He was not only a super actor, he was an artist, creative, original, who stirred both the heart and mind.
Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor were both beloved of cinema audiences. He stole the show in his films. To my regret I did not see any of Rishi Kapoor’s films. Both he and Irrfan were men of courage and died like heroes.
Of my film world friends, two have died. Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand. Dilip Kumar Sahib is alive but far from well. He is in his 98th year.
In the 1960s, Dev Anand produced and acted in Prem Pujari. I was then working in Indira Gandhi’s office. Dev Anand came to see me. I had met him earlier in New York. He said he wanted the Prime Minister to see the film. I took him to the PM. She said to Dev, “Let Natwar see it first”. I did. She did not.
These wars, although deadly and horrific, did not involve South America and large parts of Africa. The coronavirus respects no national boundaries, is invisible and so unbearable so far. No fear is worse than the fear of the unknown, the fear of nature’s forces, which man can neither channel nor comprehend. Overnight it has become intensified and magnified. It is filling our minds with primordial apprehensions.
Humankind is groping in the dark in fear. Parents fear for their children, immigrants for their livelihood, the fear of galloping unemployment is all too visible in America, Europe and other parts of the globe. Where man can find no answer, he will find fear.
I am 91 years of age, so I do not fear. But I do for my wife, my son, my grandsons and my friends. Will fear be the new normal? Is a new age being born? Has medicine failed?
The newspapers devote most of their pages to the damage the coronavirus is inflicting on men, women and children. TV is a mixed blessing. It informs, it also produces fear in our minds.
What will tomorrow bring? More fear or hope? Hope for whom? To those who are living in controlled panic? Don’t panic is the mantra of the medicos. But doctors and nurses are dying of the virus. Is hope the hope? Does any of us have an answer?
The lockdown will end after eight days. Gone will be social distancing. How will educational institutions accommodate students when each has to sit six feet from the other? Where will the space come for those in the same class? The same applies to travel. The air industry the world over has gone bust. If it revives, then will each passenger sit six feet apart? Take liquor shops. We saw the bedlam in Delhi the other day. When these booze shops reopen, no one will follow the six feet rule. Hence, we are living in a coronavirus pressure cooker. Damned if you uncover it, damned if you don’t!
What about political public meetings? I have no answer, except posing questions. Like everyone else I eagerly and impatiently await the invention of the magic vaccine, which will be available by early next year. One hundred laboratories are working night and day to produce one. I am not a religious person, but I do believe in auto-da-fe: belief in fate. Neither pessimism nor optimism is the need of the hour. Both are matters of the temperament.
***
Satish Gujral’s death last month did not attract the notice it should have. I knew him for almost 45years. He was among the great painters of the 20th century. He was also a gifted architect. The Belgian Embassy in Chankyapuri is his creation. He was stone deaf for the better part of his life. Then a miraculous operation restored his hearing. He was great fun to be with. The art world has lost a genius. His wife Kiran is a most remarkable lady.
***
I never met Irrfan Khan or Rishi Kapoor. The latter’s father, I met several times. He was not only a super actor, he was an artist, creative, original, who stirred both the heart and mind.
Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor were both beloved of cinema audiences. He stole the show in his films. To my regret I did not see any of Rishi Kapoor’s films. Both he and Irrfan were men of courage and died like heroes.
Of my film world friends, two have died. Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand. Dilip Kumar Sahib is alive but far from well. He is in his 98th year.
In the 1960s, Dev Anand produced and acted in Prem Pujari. I was then working in Indira Gandhi’s office. Dev Anand came to see me. I had met him earlier in New York. He said he wanted the Prime Minister to see the film. I took him to the PM. She said to Dev, “Let Natwar see it first”. I did. She did not.
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