Ripples

 

Ripples from the Pandemic

This Sunday afternoon in Mumbai was different, as the crowds came out as if to celebrate the departure of COVID-19 pandemic from their lives. My wife and kids had already gone to Nashik on Friday itself and therefore I was more than happy to invite my dear friend inspector Patil for company over beer and the kind of snacks my wife would frown upon.

“Of course, businesses and trade got hit by the pandemic,” Patil was saying, “except hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.” We all knew these things from the media. But I wanted Patil to tell me about things under the radar, so to say. He nodded and said his work became less in some ways and in other ways the work increased. “Crimes like burglaries came down drastically,” he said and took a large gulp of beer. “My constable Shinde was telling me the other day that his neighbour borrowed money from him to avoid starving as income dried out. Shinde thought this was a noble act because Shinde’s ‘income’ too had dropped. There were no petty shops and roadside hawkers for ‘vasool’.”

“Do you know why constable Shinde’s neighbour had no income at all?”, Patil asked, grinning. “He was a talented pickpocket operating in city buses. What the poor fellow was to do if there were no passengers and worse still no buses, eh?” Patil laughed, amused at the ripples caused by the pandemic. I then asked Patil about his work during the pandemic. “You’d find it hard to believe,” he said, “but I had a new type of work thrust on me. Hospitals and clinics would phone me and I had to go and talk to relatives of those who died from the virus.”

Some people didn’t want the COVID virus as the cause of death in the death certificate.  “They had problems,” Patil continued, “if they wanted to take the dead body to their town or village outside Mumbai.” They insisted that the doctor write any other thing as the cause of death.

“I had to be the arbiter in another type of situation too,” Patil said, his e**yes twinkling. “It was the opposite kind. Death certificate shouldn’t show the real cause, such as heart attack, and instead should mention the virus as the cause.”

Seeing my surprise, he burst out laughing.  “Some people were convinced the government would dole out compensation money to relatives of COVID-19 victims sooner or later and wanted to game the system.”

He said now that life had returned to normalcy the demands from the politicians at the top of “food chain” as he jokingly called it, had become shrill and forceful. Everyone from the humble constable upwards was asked to double the amounts and halve the time, to make up for the lost years. Time to become even more greedy, time to turn a blind eye to the unreasonable demands on the poor. Those in the “food chain” who did not agree could move aside. Suddenly Patil put the beer mug on the table and stood up.

“Time to make a move. If you happen to visit my village near Solapur, look me up and we’ll resume our beer fest.” Seeing the question in my eyes, he said quietly, “You see, I opted to move aside.”

THE END

By Hemanth Kumar