Some of us don't have the good fortune to say; "goodbye, I love you, I will always miss you, please forgive me."
Some of us don't get closures. When a loved one passes away, all we have is memories, regrets and loads of guilt. Survivors' guilt.
Why am I talking of death? Hear me out. It is depressing, but necessary to say this all.
Let's deal with this article point by point. What has pushed me to this edge, what has happened? It isn't just one incident.
We all are locked in with families. We all assumed that we are these woke people who no longer believe in gender differences. Spouses both work, maids do the washing, cleaning, etc. We have cooks. We have day care or similar services, schools, colleges, Life to take care of.
One virus stops this well-turning wheel of routine. Maids and cooks are not allowed to come to our homes. Offices, schools, colleges, day care, all closed. Spouses and their children and rest of the extended family all locked in the same house. Working, cooking, cleaning, and learning from home. That's it! That is all we needed to show us a mirror of what we truly are.
Constant fights, wife's work not being respected, she being made to do all housework alone, couples realising that they never really stayed so long together and didn't know they were incompatible, realising how much they have factored-in the old gender conditioning while dividing work, chores, raising children - every single aspect of their marriage.
Frequent fights, beatings, even murders! That's what we got reduced to.
Just. One. Virus.
Communal hatred and politics.
Even if I sneeze, it is labeled as something communal or political - or both.
India has rampant corruption. Always had. Only difference was, the common people still managed to survive around it. Communal hatred and politicisation of any issue never affected common people. It didn't get inside our homes, had lunch with us, slept with us and messed up our heads so completely.
Right now, all of us are blinded by one political ideology or another. All of us are getting radicalised. We have lost touch with humanity completely. Friends are fighting each other for having opposing ideas around politics. Intellectual debates have been kicked out and a full-on slur fest has begun.
We are at each others' throats for trivial reasons. If I make a random comment on a random social media post, complete and absolute strangers will read my last name and start posting hate comments and nasty things. Because they hate my religion or my caste.
Some extremists are under the impression that I am a foreigner, just thanks to my caste. All those "friends" of mine who share these hate posts - what is going to be your perspective if I become a victim of this targeted hatred? Will you applaud in the privacy of your living rooms when they find my dead body? Another victim of communal violence, not from our community so who cares? Is that how it is going to be from now onward?
No last goodbyes!
True. Some of us wanted our loved ones to live a lot longer, but they didn't.
We wanted to at least get the chance to have a final talk. We wanted their forgiveness. We didn't have such good fortune.
Some of us live with open wounds, constantly missing them. Wishing we had just one day, just 5 more minutes. There was so much to say.
Some of us are still alive. Either this pandemic will kill us or this hatred will. Will you value us while we still live?
Or do you choose to remain so blinded by your political ideology, your selfishness, your gender conditioning, your one-sided perspective in life - that you would rather live with a survivor's guilt after we are long gone?
Are we going to think at all?
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