Now that lockdown is opening up, there are a few rules before venturing out for it’s not just sanitisation that is a concern, so is security. For don’t forget we are passing through both a medical crisis as well as an economic one. It’s both lives and livelihoods that were at stake in the Covid pandemic.
We all know the sanitisation rules — wear masks, carry sanitisers (and do not leave these in the car in the hot sun), practice social distancing and so on. But now one also needs to focus on the security aspect. We all heard about the Indigo pilot whose car was attacked in the middle of the IIT Flyover in Delhi. According to the pilot, around four or five bikes with eight to ten people wielding rods and baseball bats blocked his way. When he stopped they overpowered him, injuring him with a knife and made off with his wallet. Also, they smashed his car with the rods. There is also another case of a car being smashed in broad daylight while the owner had parked his car with his laptop in the front seat as he went to shop at a South Delhi store. Another morning walker had his chain snapped, while a neighbour recently told me that somebody tried to enter their house at 3 am.
The idea is not to alarm but to safeguard. This is the fallout of an extended lockdown that has rendered so many jobless. So when leaving the house, one has to be all that more careful. And a curfew in place makes those who provide essential services all the more vulnerable when they travel after hours, as is what happened to the above mentioned pilot.
Also, an aside, but one hopes that our police force has been withdrawn from the meet and greet duties that they were undergoing during the pandemic — I am of course referring to making them visit the kids and senior citizens on their birthdays complete with a cake and birthday songs. I am sure it’s a great morale booster for those isolated at home, but I do feel it would have been a better morale booster if the same police force (and the cakes) had been deployed to help the migrants.
But to take the security debate further, one should not forget that we still live in a post-9/11 world and so while debating new rules of staying safe (in terms of sanitisation) while travelling one has to also stay safe in terms of security. For instance, do you pat down the passenger during security check or not?
It’s not just the streets that are unsafe. I was at my dentist the other day and was shocked when he told me that most of his work during lockdown was domestic violence cases. Having your spouse knock your teeth out certainly ranks as the most painful dental experience even worse than root canal, for this is without anesthesia! And if it happens during lockdown, then it’s all the more dangerous, as there is no way out. Literally.