One of the many facets of American life is a reluctance to discuss the causes of a crisis during said crisis. For example, Republicans frown up discussing gun control after one of their numerous mass slaughters involving semi-automatic weapons.
It’s a good thing I am not an American (just enamoured by a few).
About me
One of the benefits of age, experience and being a female person of colour is that I readily admit that I rarely know the answer to anything. It stems from the fact that my experience as a human being is so distant from the realities of other women, irrespective of age or colour.
My peculiar world lens allows me to write about the tsunami of a double variant coronavirus and the so-called “existential” crisis that India is now facing, while many are still saying, “everyone is in my thoughts and prayers.”
Existential??
I am reluctant to find an answer to any question that involves the word “existential.”
Personally, an “existential crisis” is an Act of God, a nuclear meltdown or the Louis Vuitton boutique in Bond Street shutting down. (fyi My inappropriate humour stems from British public school foot-in-mouth affliction that extends beyond BoJo).
However, unlike Brazil or other EMs, there are many measurable indicators that India could have avoided the current crisis, namely
- How no country on this planet appears to have evaded a second wave of the virus, which can be more deadlier than the first. Actually, planning for a second deadlier wave would have saved lives.
- In the interim period, when corona cases were low, states or even the federal government could have ramped the production of ventilators. This step is logical given that we already know the corona virus affects lung capacity and requires hospitalisation. Tax breaks or subsidies would have eased the blow.
- Industry bodies and the government should have agreed in advance that industrial output (as and when necessary) would be directed towards supplying hospitals with medical grade oxygen, as and when required by government order. If the US can put industrial output on a semi-war footing to deal with domestic shortages, why not India?
- Postpone mass gatherings of individuals. While the Glastonbury festival in 2019 attracted 175,000, India’s Kumbh Mela in the same year attracted 100+ million attendees. The Kumbh Mela by any measure is one of the largest gatherings of human beings on this planet.
- Postponing elections in states that require in-person voting.
- Locking-down states (such as Maharashtra) when the double variant was first detected.
Finally…
Honestly, none of this is rocket science. It is government planning 101 for the world’s most predictable problem, namely that there is a high probability of a second deadlier COVID-19 wave in India.
I will leave you with one last thought: my closest friend from business school is also my mentor, and he constantly challenges me to NOT care about issues that I do not have the power to change. He tells me that my empathy hinders my progress as an entrepreneur and takes away my edge.
In this particular instance, I have to respectfully disagree with him.
For, if I am not my brother’s keeper and do not care about your mother as much as I do mine, what “existential” purpose am I serving through anything I do?
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