Time for social distancing, not social boycotting

By Dr Birbal Jha

New Delhi, 30/03/2020 Social distancing is a buzzword doing the rounds. With the pandemic Covid-19 spreading out to the four winds and one of the preventive measures offered being social distancing, people have begun to look down on those found to be positive with the coronavirus. Sadly Reports are indicative of the social boycott of such patients. This will set a wrong trend which the society cannot afford to see. This is the time for social distancing, not social boycotting.

Social distancing is a preventive measure that keeps you away from any physical contacts with others in a given period. However, social boycotting is disallowing certain access to a person or a community for reasons whatsoever. It is a crime which nobody can be allowed to commit.

To break the chain of rapidly increasing coronavirus cases, social distancing and self -isolation are the best possible ways to keep the virus at bay in the given situation. The concerned Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the countrymen to stay home wherever they are, adhering to the lockdown. But the migrants’ crowding and insistence on returning to their native places will defeat the purpose of the clarion call and corona cases will spike to a new high. God forbid. Let’s save India and the world by saving ourselves.

The cliché – Bad News Travels Fast- came true with thousands of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrants thronged Delhi’s ISBT-Anand Vihar on Saturday and Sunday last to return to their homes. Fake news of the bus arrangements for their safe return to native places was reportedly circulated on the virtual campus of the WhatsApp University that led to unprecedented chaos.

However, the governments had to buckle under pressure and arrange transportation for their destinations. This poses a serious concern if anyone is found to be afflicted with the virus; it will wreak havoc as this virus spreads from human to human contact.

You can’t be half pregnant. We all need to commit ourselves fully to the lockdown as there is no sure cure to the Covid-19. The adage- self-preservation is the first law of nature- is very relevant in today’s context when nobody knows who will be the next victim of the pandemic coronavirus. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles tested positive with the coronavirus. Such incidence says a lot.

Let’s stand in unison fighting the pandemic Covid-19, which has taken the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Let’s not press the panic button but look forward to all possible preventive and safety measures as Coronakit, remedial approaches and facilities available for the mankind.

Developing a sort of immunity against any attack of a virus must be our prime concern for now and for which taking a proper dose of turmeric blended with a slight amount of pepper is more advisable as the Ayurveda says. This is what my mother has always advised me to do when thinking of driving out any disease as such. Realization of the importance of herbs and shrubs used in India is just like the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Don’t ever be swayed away in the name of modernity that often blindfolds people.

The basic philosophy of the Indian dietary system is preventive in nature and corrective in approach. It gives us a disease-free life. Any interference with the system is problematic to the folks. Remember when poverty knocks at the door, love flies out of the window. Love for handshakes is a case in point.

Dr Birbal Jha is a noted author and the Managing Director of Lingua Multiservices Pvt Ltd having a popular trademark brand ‘British Lingua’. He is credited with having created a revolution in English training with the slogan ‘English for all’ in India.