The appeals from Indians for oxygen and hospital beds on social media are harrowing and understandable. But they also speak volumes about the unreliability of Indian institutions in times of crisis. You simply can't rely on the system, so you need someone's mobile number.

Many Indians praised a former foreign minister for responding on Twitter to all sorts of consular complaints years ago, even though her very involvement highlighted the ministry's bureaucratic inaction on a host of files related to ordinary Indians low down the priority list.

Also, the inability of Indian govt/institutions to plan ahead is striking once again. They only kick into gear in midst of an unfolding crisis. It's like seeing states/center bicker year after year over Indian air pollution only as the skies darken in Oct/Nov, when it's too late