COVID-19

Part 1



CORONA VIRUS, it is a hot global news at the moment. It is everywhere. Newspaper, TV, social media and every possible media outlets are flooded with corona virus news. The fear of virus have contributed in dwindling share market , resulting in melting global economy. Experts say that the world is heading towards recession. Deaths, infected, possible outbreaks, potential risks and this and that. Looks as if things are spiralling out of control. It is especially because of the media hype. Let us think, is it worth all the hype?

While I am writing this article, there are 1,815,87  confirmed cases out of which 78,957 recovered and are back to normal life as before the virus and there are 7,139 reported deaths. While the actual figures might be higher, these confirmed case reflect something significant, its spreading quite fast.

People are scared. Stockpiling for possible lockdown has cause shelves in supermarkets to go empty. The  'survival of the fittest" mode is on. People with weak immune system and the old people of age 70+ are losing the fight against the virus. Weak people are not even able to get daily required groceries from the market. Anyone experiencing casual fever or having a sore throat or even a runny nose are fearing of corona virus infection. Mental health of every individual is getting affected. Individual with perfect physical fitness are experiencing a fragile mental state.

So, let us get into the real issue. Should these news get this much of a hype? Are these hype creating more negative influence among people than preparedness and are all the news circulating around creating anything more than fear?

Fear is important as the fear pushes people to follow preventive measures against the virus. However, it is also creating a chaos. Its the duty of the leaders to assure its public of safety. If they are unable to do it then it means that they fail to do their part as a leader. Controlling panic ultimately results in smooth functioning government and a sound economy.

The growing social media influence have been affecting people and their lifestyle. Fake news should be suppressed and those contributing in spread of these news should face some kind of penalty which will help in demotivating the spread.

It is us who are spreading the virus and its us who can stop this spread. So, let us work together to control this spread.

COVID-19 shall be defeated.

Piggybank

PIGGYBANK

I had not noticed that my father was already back from work. I was in my room, on the floor, doing homework. It was maths and maths made me hungry. Leaving pencil and copy on the floor, I ran into the kitchen.

Our kitchen was small. On a corner of the kitchen there was the water filter where sometimes my dad kept fruits. The basket there was empty, seemed like he had not brought fruits in weeks. On my left was the dining table where things like water bottles, glass and some daily medications were kept. My father had some regular medications.  At its side there was the gas cylinder which was connected with a gas burner. It was on a slab and under it were drawers and where ready to eat items like biscuits, chips and more things were stored. In desperation I pulled all drawers and checked all the spaces where we kept food. Alas, there was nothing to eat. My desire to eat was only growing.

Since there was nothing at home at that moment, I wanted to go out and buy something. But at that time, I did not have any money. The only time when I used to have a big amount was during Dashain. I still remember, in Dashain that year, I had a total sum of 150 rupees. All money used to go into the piggybank. I could get some money from the piggybank, but it was on top of my fathers’ wardrobe. Getting the money out was not a trouble but reaching it, Was. The wardrobe was really tall, taller than me and taller than me standing on a chair.

I was trying to stretch myself to reach the top of the wardrobe where my piggy bank was.

I tried increasing my height by putting a stool on the chair where I was standing before.  My piggybank had a small opening on its back and from there I could pull out some money using a compass. It was not the first time I was doing this, so I was confident in doing it again. But for that I had to have a hold on the piggybank.

At that moment, I was almost standing on my toe and my upper body was stretched at its fullest. The tip of my finger could feel the smooth ceramic of the piggybank and I was trying hard to get a grip of it. My hands were already sweaty, and drips of sweat had already started tickling my face.

What are you doing?  A bold voice behind my back said.