Social distancing is the need of the hour. We have to stop hugging our friends, shaking hands with acquaintances, going to market square till the time when the things are so to say a little less crazy. Covid-19 will test us all and test us in ways that we will never expect it to test us.
It is being said that one of the primary reasons by which Covid-19 was so destructive in Italy was because like us Kashmiris Italians are also gregarious people and like to mingle with neighbours, friends and relatives for an extended period of time. Besides, the chronic fan following of football in Italy.
In Kashmir even though we are not that soccer crazy but there are other things which we relish. Like sitting on shopfronts for hours and discussing Newton, world geography, world politics, neighbourhood duels, load-shedding and marriage banquets. Besides, if someone says ration is being distributed then all of us swarm the ration distribution points least caring about the norms of social distancing being put in place.
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Our banks, ration stores, shopfronts resemble a town fair. A gaggle of people everywhere. People arguing, discussing, inching past each other in an unidentified hurry. Even though the administration has wielded the stick at a few places but still it is the people who need to understand the situation, rather the gravity of it all.
People need to maintain discipline under the current circumstances. Visiting neighbours, friends or relatives must be kept to minimum if one is not to abandon it all together. We understand is a well-knit society where individuals like to live a collective life. For the time being, however, we need to pay heed to the directives of government and stay indoors unless, God forbid, there is a serious medical emergency like situation in the family
