The Pandemic which created more experts than the virus itself

The Pandemic of 2020 started somewhere in January. Till March, it had conquered the entire planet. Media is overflowing with news of the pandemic. There are daily updates on the number of patients showing symptoms, the number who succumbed to it and the number who have recovered. Asymptomatic and Symptomatic, Wuhan, Virus, Hygiene, Sanitizer, Lockdown are the new keywords. The discussions in social circles is only around these keywords albeit with social distance.

The virus has spread out across the planet — **The spread of the pandemic**

The pandemic went viral and infected human beings all over the world. But more than that it has also infected a certain section of the society called the Intelligentsia. People confined to the four walls of the house during the lockdown are the ones to bear the aftermath. Social media has helped this select intelligentsia to amplify their views.

I have categorised the intelligentsia into various groups based on the specialist view they share with society. Let’s see what are these groups.

A word of caution: The content given below is not proven. Some parts may be true but the rest is only hearsay. So check your facts from a credible source before believing it blindly.

The Evolutionist theory on the pandemic

Experts know everything about the origin of the virus that has spread the pandemic — **The Conspiracist on the origin of the virus**

The first segment is of those people who have studied “Darwin’s theory of evolution”. They have done an extensive research on how the virus originated and know the inside out of the virus. As per them, the virus can survive for many hours outside its host i.e. the human body. It can easily transfer from one human to another (which we all know). It thrives in cold weather and can’t survive in the heat. That’s the reason countries which fall in that latitude like Wuhan, Iran, Italy, Spain have been the most affected.

They have predicted that once summer will set in India, the virus will not be able to survive the heat. Therefore our country will fare much better than the rest of the world when it comes to casualties.

The Conspiracy theorist

As per the conspiracists the coronavirus didn’t originate from the bats sold in the wild animal market of Wuhan. They doubt a secret biological lab in Wuhan called the Wuhan Institute of Virology behind the attack. It’s an institute where the virologists study different strains of the virus. The objective of this lab was to breed new virus strain which could be used as a biological weapon against countries that are a threat to China.

The experts believe that China has spread the pandemic with a purpose — **China wants to be a global leader**

One of the letters shared by this group on social media was a letter written by a senior Chinese bureaucrat. He was working on the project and revealed how the coronavirus got released. As per him one of the Chinese scientists working in the Wuhan lab was secretly hired by CIA and asked to deliver the coronavirus strain vials. During the delivery in the Wuhan market, somebody tipped the Chinese officials and the scientist was cornered by the authorities. It was during this chase that one of the vials accidentally dropped in the market. The strain got released from the vials affecting the common public.

Another section of experts believed that China wanted to get rid of the Hong Kong protests by using a biological weapon. After the USA and Europe became the hotspot of the pandemic, a new version has come out. China wanted to be the global leader and so it has planted this bio-weapon.

The Statisticians

Experts keep studying the charts and comparing it with global average — **India will have the lowest % of casualties**

Statistics is a subject which most of us had studied along with mathematics in class 10^th –12^th(except those who did majors in it). But ever since the pandemic started, 9 out of 10 people have become experts on statistics. They can read the growth rate of the virus in India during different phases like 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and compare it with countries like Italy and the USA. So much is their expertise that they can predict the number of the affected population and the % of death in our country and how it is faring versus the rest of the world.

A piece of news on social media — **A news from an expert to cheer up**

The Astrologers

Every time the PM appears on national media to address the nation, a set of astrologers appear on social media the following day explaining the relevance of the steps advised by the PM. It was Sunday evening and the air was filled with the reverberation of sound coming from clapping of hands, blowing of conches, the ringing of bells and banging of utensils. It was to express gratitude towards the medical community in this hour of need. The way our experts interpreted was that the vibrations created by 1.3 billion people will kill the virus as well as the negative energy.

PM has asked to light a diya on 5th April at 9 pm for 9 minutes — **Let’s light a diya at 9 pm**

PM Modi has shared a newly recorded message asking his fellow citizens to light a Diya or a candle at 9 pm on 5/4/20 for 9 minutes. The Astrologers have gone into the research mode and presented a new picture. You add the date and month and it totals to 9, a lucky number. The time we need to burn the diya is 9 pm and the duration is for 9 minutes.

As per them, 9 is a number representing Mars. Burning light on a day which adds to 9 (5/4) and at a time slot of 9 pm gives a double effect of Mars. It makes Mars stronger. Mars makes your immune system stronger and gives you courage as well as the will to fight. On 5^th Moon is in Leo which is a Sun sign. Burning diya at 9 pm will give strength to the moon and this will give us enough strength to fight the pandemic.

The role of RWA members in the pandemic

Every housing society has got a resident welfare association. Normally the elected members of the RWA are entrusted with some monotonous jobs like maintenance of roads and infrastructure, ensuring 24/7 electricity and water, etc. But these days the society association has suddenly seen an influx of members on the WhatsApp group.

The RWA members keeping an eye on the resident members — **The RWA members are watching**

The new, as well as the dormant members on the RWA WhatsApp group, have suddenly become very active. They keep a close eye on who all are breaking the Lakshman Rekha rule of the PM. Any resident who is seen walking, jogging or visiting the park is reported by these members on the group and suddenly there is “Gyan ki baarish” (flood of knowledge). There is no problem as far as implementing the social distancing mandate for the residents is concerned. But most of the time the suggestions go slightly overboard.

Every member acts as a well-wisher and shares a lot of ‘forward messages” which scares the shit out of the rest of the members. Sharing of forwarded messages should be avoided at all costs. The credibility of forwarded messages on social media is always doubtful. Messages should only be shared if it is in the overall interest of the group and if the source is credible like an established newspaper or a magazine.