HOW THE OLIVE GREEN TURNED SNOWY WHITE?

25 April: It was 22 January , I was attending an SSB interview at Kolkata. The interviewing officer asked me ,” Shreyas what is happening in China , now-a-days?” I replied ,” Sir there is Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan city of China.” At that moment , I never thought that this micro virus outbreak will turn out to be a global pandemic and will create a catastrophic situation all over the world. We humans always take nature for granted and do things according to our own will. But nature knows its cure. Nature has given a befitting reply to the current scenario of increasing global population, rise in global warming due to CO2 emissions, etc. Within a month entire world was on its knees forced to be in their homes, businesses stopped, stock markets crashed and industries ceased their manufacturing due to a nationwide lockdown. Bill Gates rightly quoted, “The corona virus pandemic pits all of humanity against the virus. The damage to health, wealth, and well-being has already been enormous. This is like a world war, except in this case, we’re all on the same side.” Whenever a country is undergoing a war like situation , the only ray of hope for its citizens is the Defense system of that country. The fellow citizens rely on their soldiers as they have complete faith that the soldiers of their country will save them from this horrible situation. But the recent war which we and people all over the world are fighting is somewhat different. The enemy is present in front of us but we are helpless . We have loaded arsenal of nuclear missiles, tanks, atom bombs , but all these weapons are obsolete in this war. It has challenged all the limits of modern scientific research. The only warriors who are at the forefront are the doctors, nurses and the medical staff. They are the soldiers who are leading today not in the olive green uniform but in the snowy white coat.

30 January 2020, first Covid-19 patient was found in Kerala . At that time no one had thought that this would compel us to refrain ourselves from meeting our friends, from organizing parties and inviting our relatives. Within few days , number of cases started increasing, first there were ten cases then 50 and then 200. The graph started increasing exponentially. Doctors and practitioners were worried, scientists of ICMR were constantly trying to find cure for this virus. A nationwide lockdown was imposed and a rapid testing of people in the country began. Prior to this testing was active at all the airports but the screening was failing due to the 14 day incubation period of the virus. Slowly the cases started increasing . Medical staff was on their toes to curb the spread of this deadly virus. Doctors were working round the clock. It was so difficult for them to wear PPE kits, wear masks for 6–7 hours every day. They were hardly able to drink water or consume food. The other day I felt sad when I saw a five year old girl meeting her mom who was a nurse in the civil hospital after almost period of 21 days. There is no doubt that the doctors all over the country are discharging their duties very well. They are risking their lives for the society. It is the part of their profession some will say, but it is rather their sacrifice for their nation ,I will say. In our military, every soldier is given a motto, Chetwode motto which they call in the army, it says,” The safety, honor and welfare of your country comes first.” No doubt this motto has been adopted by the medical warriors all over the world. Hats off to their contribution and sacrifice for the humanity. Tawa Charane nat Maatha!!( I bow before you).