I have already written about ‘solitude’ in one of my postings earlier. I mentioned that ‘I like solitude’ also. However, I would like to differentiate between the terms ‘solitude’, ‘privacy’, ‘seclusion’, ‘separateness’, ‘loneliness’, ‘quarantine’, ‘isolation’, ‘confinement’ to name a few.

If one looks at each word and where and how these are used, one can understand that they carry subtle to strong differences though all convey one meaning of ‘keeping away from the crowd’, in general.

The newly identified ‘Covid19’ had taken the (dis)credit of merging all these meanings into one with the term ‘social distancing’ and ‘quarantine the people’ with ‘lockdown’ thus ‘preventing the spread of the pandemic’. I am not sure how long our ‘healthy’ population keep ‘themselves engaged’ within their homes with their families, dancing, music, movies, browsing, reading, exercising, yoga, talking to old friends and relaxing.

Well. While in Europe and United States of America which are far ahead of India in many fields of science, technology and healthcare couldn’t find a solution to this though their populace is just nothing compared to that of India’s 130 crores. Pray, where they failed?

It is shocking to see the milling crowds and sea of humanity in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai especially the poor migrant workers left in the lurch with no work, no pay, no food, no place to stay safe etc. The electronic and print media keep screaming everyday about the spike in the spreading of the virus and the deaths. When in Europe and US we find death bodies on the roads unclaimed, we have cover page news item of a 60 years old daily wager taking his 38 years old second wife from Tanjavur to Pondicherry by cycle covering 130 kms for her cancer treatment. He is hailed, helped and lauded as a hero. The massive jam packed crowds of workers with no personal protection of mask, social distancing or frequent hand washing for 20 seconds gather in public places alive and kicking around also fill the pages of newspapers and television screens.

For me ‘Covid19’, its symptoms and its draconic spread and the preventive measures suggested are baffling right from day one to till date. Well, the scientists, biologists, doctors, virologists of esteemed organizations like WHO, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Wuhan Virology Labs and many other popular healthcare experts are working ceaselessly on it and I am sure that they know much better than me.