The Tale of a Democracy Headed by a wondering PM

Even though Indian government has balkanized the country into colored zones, the dense fog of Mumbai's Lockdown - solitude lay bare in every chink and keyhole of the metropolis, beguiling the effect of an ongoing catastrophe and rallying around the argument that viruses are bereft of any nationality.

The streets are blanketed by a smoke of calmness 

Photo: The Indian Express 

and defeaning silence; except, when they get punctuated by folks who had either dropped down from apartments or from nearby slums, and sallied out to buy essentials or when a separate peal of wheezing sound emanating from a  speeding automobile, tears that tranquil canopy and reverberates against the closed shutters of shops.

It seems the ghost of weather has sat in a mournful meditation on the threshold of life and death. 

Meanwhile, USA's economic and military prowess are proving inadequate to stave off the ruinous threat of the Coronavirus Pathogen, which Donald Trump has Nomenclatured as "invisible enemy", of course not forgetting to train and rain verbal artilary on Beijing. 

Hereto, the respective state Governments have enforced strict and one of the most cruelest Lockdowns in tandem with the centre, through Totalitarian Chinese Spirit, coupled with media backed creation of fear psychosis.

Police have been given a free hand in implementing Lockdowns, as social media platforms got a flurry of videos depicting police brutalities akin to the atavistic trait of hanging becoming a public spectacle in the middle ages.

In Mumbai Metropolis, lakhs of people (Students, Factory Workers, Bollywood Actors/Strugglers/Starlets, Call Centre Workers, Daily Wage Earners, Bachelors, Spinsters, Normal Office goers, etc) in Mumbai depend on motels, hotels and dabbawallas, for their daily food. 

In a totally bizarre happening, the Tughlaq like NDA government headed by Narendra Modi, in one stroke  of pen closed down, not only these food outlets but also ordered closure of Electrical equipment shops from where one can buy an electric heater or a Fan/AC.

However, amidst all these gloom and doom, I would like to share a couple of positive news:

#The Hardware and Electric equipment shops have opened in some parts of the Palghar District (Umroli, Boisar, etc).

#Amid a continuing rise in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19, the Union health ministry on Friday said people should "learn to live with the virus" while the nationwide tally of confirmed infections crossed 57,000 and the death toll neared 1,900. Which indirectly means one of the most insensitive Lockdowns in the annals of Indian History, is unlikely to get further extension beyond 17th May. 

--- Sumon Mukhopadhyay, Mumbai Metropolis.