I have something important (I believe) to tell, something which we all are aware of but somehow, again and again, ungratefully and conveniently prefer to ignore. But, before that let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a village called Itihaspura, a historical place, settled at the bank of a tiny yet ferocious river called Taaj (Crown). It was a beautiful place with plenty of greenery, life abundant with chirping of birds and cries of animals. There were one hundred and ninety five houses in the village. The farthest from the bank of river, towards the west, was the house of self proclaimed village head, a double stored house- the White One. The village had a strong social structure with migratory population adding to this diversity. The people of the village, who were born privileged, never realized the good luck they were blessed with.

However, the beautiful village was endangered by the river, infamous for its violent temper. Many years ago, the elders used to tell, the floods in the river were very common, which destroyed the agriculture and lives of people. This continued until their grandfathers, during their ruling years, decided to build a stone walled barrier all along the length of the river. The barrier served its purpose very well; the floods were reduced in frequency and intensity, many lives were saved. The village people were very grateful to the decorated barrier in the initial years. Later after many years, when the incidences of flood decreased consistently, they became, a little, less grateful. The wall was neglected resulting in weakened structures and pores; the grandchildren didn’t believe in spending a lot on the maintenance of a wall which was not deemed relevant in the present times. They ignored the water which had begun to seep in through the pores.

One day a part of the wall went down crumbling on to a few people who stood underneath the wall; they all were crushed to death. The wall was cursed and blamed for the death of the innocent people, easily forgotten were the hundreds of lives it had saved. The boisterous head of the village announced that it was wastage of money to spend on this killer wall. So they stopped the funding and boycotted the wall.

They didn’t realize that the wall over the years had become a living entity which yearned for the love and support of his people. As the curses and neglect grew, the wall became weaker and weaker.

One fine day when the water level in Taaj grew, without any further warnings, the wall collapsed- all of it. It was a dark gloomy night, darker than usual. Taaj laughed, a murderous laughter, and revengefully washed away the remaining wall. Then she proceeded to wash away the people and the village, laughing aloud her bone chilling cruel confident laughter. This time the fervor was more vengeful; she carried with her the fury of all these years.

Without the savior wall, it was a battle the villagers could never win.

Itihaspura, thus became a historic place- forever.

Now, coming to my point: Please do not socially boycott or ignore the needs of medical professionals and their families and everyone who are involved in fighting the pandemic disease, COVID-19. The news of, even a few, violence and social boycotting due to fear of them being carrier of Corona virus demoralizes not just the person involved but the whole community. Its true that some of them might have got the disease but just remember how they got it. They got infected because they were still working in the hospitals and outside with limited resources, attending patients like me and you, not just Corona cases, knowing very well that they might get affected. All they need is our support and compassion. They too have families. They are not doing it for any personal benefits or medals; some of the paramedic staff are working for as low as 10000 rupees a month. The very moment when help was most needed the funding to WHO remains suspended; a scapegoat to hide the inefficiencies of the ruling class.

Please don’t curse the wall to the extent that it may collapse without any further warning because then it will become a direct battle between us and the Corona.

Without the savior wall, it is a battle we could never win.