The Conch Shell Solution

 The deafening sound of the conch shells, being blown from Ayodhya by the adherents, is proof enough that the victory is in sight. We would have avenged not only the oppressive rule of the Muslim invaders which lasted for almost three quarters of a millenium, but also won the battle against Covid-19. The certainty with which the latter was being flaunted was visible in the mask-less appearance of the  several VIPs who graced the occasion of the Bhumi Poojan for the Ram temple.  One of the attendees was euphoric as he mouthed his complete faith in our honorable PM Modi, under whose auspices Bharatmata was finally going to regain its spiritual balance and be restored to its former Vedic glory. With free speech being one of the main tenets of every functional democracy, he had all the right to express his opinion, which he did admirably. 

Yet, the 32-year-old student activist Natasha Narwal was denied the same right earlier this year. Charged with inciting the crowds with her speeches, she was jailed in the deadliest of prisons in the country.   According to Natasha's father, Mahavir Narwal, the government is moving India closer to authoritarianism by demonizing anybody who questions its policies. Agrees Minakshi Ganguli, South Asian Director for Human Rights Watch, "Indian authorities are using draconian counterterrorism laws against activists simply for criticizing the government or raising their voices against injustice.”

But, let's not go into bad news. For there's too much of it. Let the distressed farmers cry their crocodile tears, whose crops are either wasting away in the fields, or are receiving such low prices that the paltry financial returns don't justify the back-breaking work. As the soyabean farmer Souratmal,  from Madhya Pradesh says, "we had to dump truckloads of our crop. For the cost of transporting them to the market was too high to break even, let alone make any profit". 

Let the doctors vent out their frustrations as they battle the rising number of Covid-19  cases, against a collapsed health system and deplorable conditions. Let the monsoons rage and 870,000 affected people of Assam scurry to save their Aadhar-voter-id cards to prove their nationality lest they be rendered illigal overnight! Let 200 million people go hungry to bed, their rumbling bellies having grown  accustomed  to such ghrelin (hormones which stimulate hunger) theatrics.

Let the conch shells blow...for, according to an article published in speakingtree.com, the vibration caused by their sound works at a microbial level, purifying the  air, ridding the mind of vices, and killing diseases. Imagine, had our team of experts heading the efforts towards curbing the onslaught of Covid-19 known this, by now we could have liberated ourselves of this deadly monster of a virus, through simply resorting to the wisdom of  this ancient knowledge. 

 So, on the eve of India's independence day, let all patriotic  Indians express their love for Mother India by blowing on conch shells. Let the unemployed youth find a new mission. Let the sound of  this newfound victory resound across the Red Fort! 

And myself, what shall I do when that happens?

I think I might as well go in the earplug business.  

 

 Happy Independence Day to all my compatriots. Following is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, which comes to my mind oft and again. I am certain that  many of you would know it by heart. Yet, I feel today's  occasion calls on us to reflect over it.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.