State of Affairs:

Everyone has a way. Can it be your way, my way or highway?

From: *Autumn leaves*

Though not a statesman out to save the world, this thought had Imaginch in a bind. If he tried to give a honest answer, he would surely be drawn into controversies. Whether his opinions mattered or not he expressed his contrary views, and never failed to use a heavy hand to hammer home the point. He did not believe in edited talks. As a result, he found himself owning a dubious record of holding a pile of unwanted currency called "mistrust". Close family members, relatives - near and distant, and friends gleefully made generous deposits. He even earned a few deposits to this account from the general public. 

He knew that no statement could remain consistent one way or the other.  He strongly believed in "Liar's Paradox" - a paradox cannot be consistently proved true or false by working from the same framework. The pity is, many do not want to touch upon this subject.  

When the inner gears and wheels started to mesh and gather momentum, he was reluctant to apply the brakes. His driving instructor had once said," At this rate, you would surely get stopped by another vehicle or tress on the road" and promptly got down from the vehicle. This chastening notwithstanding, rather than curbing the flow of his thoughts, Imaginch anticipated for a verbal clash. From some hidden corner of his mind, a feeble voice always tried to tell him “Why don't you ease up a little?" He silenced it by retorting, "I know I am wrong but let me find out by how far!”

(1) Faith in belief:

Imaginch pitied the people, who invariably invoked a variety of gods by chanting hymns and performing evil-chasing rites, to recover from ill health. On the sidelines, they also got in touch with a panel of doctors for advice, and queued up patiently at the pharmacy counters, to collect a basketful of medicines. This was one part of the affair and the second was the act of distributing their acquired wisdom, by suggesting a panel of gods and doctors, along with a list of pharmacies in the location nearer to them.  "I chanted this hymn that many times, offered prayers to this powerful god with acute hearing, and presto, my operation got successfully completed very soon. Why don't you also try this!" Like medicine sans frontiers, this particular brand of wisdom travelled through diplomatic channels, without scrutiny.

The untold part of this sage advice had the backing of a few lakhs of rupees in the bank, to fund the divine-blessed operation performed by a famous surgeon in a renowned hospital! Luckily for the listener, the advice did not shine on the highlights of the vetting procedure employed by them to select the doctor who held the scalpel and operated. Some freedom of choice to the listener!  

These self-appointed advisors never entertained Q & A sessions such as: “If you are so sure about your prayers, why at all go to a surgeon? If you are so sure about the treatment, why then these hymns and prayers? When you are not sure, why go about offering your suggestions to others, though they failed the test of reason and fly in the face of logic?”

Irked by this attitude of showing scant respect to Q & A, Imaginch confronted these medical advisors and asked them point blank, " If you had faith in your way of doing things, why don't you keep it to yourself and allow the others to choose their own ways?" Imaginch heard the gnashing sound and knew his inner voice trying to raise a cautionary flag.

Ignoring the flag, Imaginch continued to vent his feelings. If one tried to ride on two horses at the same time, the ride would end exactly like the nursery rhyme 'Humpty Dumpty'. Staunch devotion helps to ignore these facts and quietly allow the inverse square law a free run. Ease of avoiding self-analysis and stifling the voice of logic only helped these self-appointed ambassadors of health to thrive.

Probably the devotee operates on a dual channel of thinking; Devotion gets credit for any fulfilled wish and if not, then it happened due to a shortfall in the degree of devotion. This devotee has another stock explanation - only an ardent devotee is subjected to periodical hardships as a test of perseverance. When it comes to the working of real world, ardent devotees go into coma or start group chants and yagnas to envelop the world with peace and prosperity. 

This state of nirvana of such people, is like that of an ostrich, which supposedly buries its head in the sand. This is the third part which takes on logic by its horns, twists it in all dimensions +1, known to mankind. The confused logic gasps for breath, searching for a ventilator. In its death throes, logic finally understands the art of living - stand aside, not even as a spectator. 

Seizing the chance, Imaginch wanted to quote to them these wise words - "When the water level raises, fishes will eat ants; when the level drops low, ants will feast on fishes.” He only could recall these philosophical lines but could not remember the author or the context. Imaginch detested the words 'no comments' as it is a great gateway to evade responding.  He always said what he thought and disliked leaving a telltale sign - obvious answer unsaid or hinting at deniability.

(2) Legacy of a pandemic: The Covid conundrum:

There are three types of people. Those who perform duties even when in physical discomfort. Those who drop everything at the mere hint of physical discomfort. The third type takes the cake and walks away with it , without paying for it - those who don't do anything.  

Pandemic of unimaginable proportion took its octopus-like grip on the population. It made the governments of the day to scramble and scurry for cover, and to vacillate on 'to vaccinate or not to do? 

The manufacturing sector took a heavy beating. Software giants opted to hide their human resource in the safe environment of their residences, though it is not business as usual, but had working hands on the keyboards. 

Like everything in life, nothing is given under 'free lunch category'. Though this stay-at-home-and-work culture was alien to this crop of professionals, they adopted gladly, counting the positives that this pandemic has thrown their way. They started liking the freedom, aloofness from the workspace chatter and mobility to plan vacations at will - redefining work from home to include work from anywhere! 

As they grew to like this comfort-in-residence, a resistance virus started to afflict and tune their minds to continue in the same fashion, invoking Newton's Law of Gravitation. But this did not prevent them from questioning inadequate/lack of train services, banking facilities, postal facilities and so on and so forth. Now, the Software conglomerates started to hunt for fixes to cure the malady. The case of head-hunter becoming headcounter.  They used another of Newton's third Law of Gravitation.

The CEO'S & CFO'S aged by leaps and bounds to keep the flags flying, while their soldiers wandered around dressed in shorts and T-shirts, happily buying vegetables and fruits and loudly complaining about the workload to anyone lending an ear. Upheavals during appraisal time and heartburns looking at the pay slips led to the moonlighting syndrome. The audacious and clever ones, to keep a quiet conscience, chose the parent company itself for moonlighting! The CEO'S & CFO'S having enough worries on their plates, failed to gather intelligence or simply had no energy to read the writing on their monitors. It is true that when some tragic event occurs it always leaves a lingering effect.

The general population from other walks of life have shed the 'pandemic' cloak and resumed their work functions, bringing down the curtains on the 'pandemic' drama. Yet, this miniscule section feels very reluctant to do so. 

Pre-pandemic, the CEO'S & CFO'S were wielding the figurative 'stick' prior to the pandemic. Now, in their harassed avatar, have started to go around with baskets of figurative 'carrots' to somehow lure the unwilling and home-zone comforted soldiers to take up their allotted front-line positions, once again. In addition, the CEO'S & CFO'S continue to endure nightmares featuring market share, profit margins and attrition, against the backdrop of shrinking opportunities.

The pandemic not only tested the peoples' resolve to fight but also left them with a new scale to measure it with - social distance to keep company with the already existing 'poverty line', and 'population density'. It made a killing on the stock market and took a strangle hold on businesses, leaving them gasping for breath. The afflicted persons' lungs and national economies fought for oxygen and a bed in ICU or ICCU to survive.

Epidemic or pandemic, nothing deters the 'pundits' who have the knack of waiting in the wings to dole out print and electronic wisdom with the sole aim of shining negative reflections. The count of lives saved did not square up with their equations nor the lives lost due to not opting for protection against the Covid virus enter into their counting. They latched on to the 'side effects' theory to flog the dead horse. Feeling strongly against such attitude, Imaginch lashed out(literally) by pointing out a human life is invaluable. Honour the living, honour the demised and least of all give hope to the survivors wit h or without side effects. 

Waking up, his inner voice sounded a bit annoyed and said, "Reserve this for a lecture, even there how many would listen to you, is my doubt!"