July 26, 2021: There is rains on the way

July 26, 2021: There is rains on the way. There was a memorandum from the government last week promising some rain this week starting today. Amazingly, the government was correct. The rains came in the afternoon. I was elsewhere sharing my time with people in Florida and China as my bondhu munched on the infamous beguni with beet noon (impossible to explain to non-Bengalis, but it is a fritter made of thin slices of eggplant), especially on a rainy day. Time and place blended together as the rain pounded outside. I was delivered an under-performing vehicle in the morning. I was thinking of the arguments that usually follow with sub-par services. The pandemic has led to a surfeit of sanitizers that are sprayed in the rental car. It smells like a hospital in the car. But this is the product of the pandemic. A new sense of cleanliness. Everything must be washed. Several times. Some scientists somewhere seem to have suggested that the most recent variant can be transmitted by touch bringing back a sudden urgency to sanitize everything. While the pandemic has led to amazing developments in some technologies it has also increased the awareness of cleanliness. In some places it has also kindled a sense of responsibility for the “other.” Here the other is not some disposed and trampled-over social block but literally anyone. Now that masks are coming back in some places it is a reminder that it is to protect the other. The absence of the mask is a cruel statement, “I really do not care about you.” A selfish arrogance that resulted in record number of deaths in some places. Many cultures have used the mask precisely as a statement of care for the community. I mask because I have no idea what I am breathing out. What Greek version I harbor in me. Although I test frequently, and always have tested negative, I have learned to be careful. Lessons that needed to be learned. Lessons that may help in the future. Lessons that might be provisional and science may tell us something else as we learn more. Is a sudden blockage in the veins, heart damage, unexpected, a post-COVID-19 phenomenon? When can one vaccinate if one has had COVID-19? Questions that remain, questions that need answers. The doubts that we want to iron over or sweep under the carpet, whichever metaphor you prefer. As I sat on my familiar verandah after visiting with people in my class in Winston, I listened to the pouring rain and contemplated the end of the period of the Covidaze program. Supported by the community in Winston-Salem, Devdas did the last distribution of the food. There was still another request to keep one O2C ready, there was a call of A+ blood and the Angels solved it in 10 minutes. That is how efficient the system is now – think about it – 10 minutes and they identified the source from which the blood can be obtained tomorrow if needed. This took a couple of days just two months ago. Makes me proud of the three young, dedicated professionals who have promised to be on standby when the next wave passes through the city. Stand by. Wait. Prepare. That is the new life. Sanitize, distance and mask. This is not over in spite of how much we want to wish it away. But we could be prepared, ready and responsible. That is what we can hope for. It is what Bob Marley said way back, “People Get Ready.”