Does anybody remember the claims India’s Prime Minister made when declaring a sudden lockdown in March 2020? He had referred to the 18 days long Mahabharat war, to draw a forced analogy to something Hindu, true to the political zeitgeist of our times. #COVIDSecondWaveInIndia

The claim was that the 21 days of the unplanned lockdown will help establish “victory over the enemy”. Sorry, but a year later, the only thing Mahabharat-esque about the pandemic response has been the horrifying sight of multiple funeral pyres lit together.

The Hindu epic mentions how the many deaths in the Mahabharat war culminated in the battleground being lit with mass cremations of the many corpses. In Hindi, the phrase passed down to me in tales told at home was “dharti dhoo-dhoo kar jal uthi.”

The heart-wrenching scenes of mass cremations, happening on sidewalks, in whatever open space is available , (given the lack of space in crematoria) reminded me of the same phrase - of the ground burning with funeral pyres.

The military metaphors only catered to jingoism, not to systemic preparedness or alertness on a “war-footing.” Rushing to declare “victory” was a result of the war mindset,
which comes with being voted on a plank of hypernationalism.

The premature declaration of “victory over the enemy” led to a drop in precautions and public health measures, and here we are, terrified for the lives of our loved ones, not knowing who goes next.

I don’t have a smart one liner to end this thread. The visuals have traumatized me. The news of so many acquaintances testing positive, some landing up in the ICU (after scrambling for beds) has filled me with hopelessness. Sleep and calm evade me, I don’t know what to do.