Pandora opens her box again!

Pandora was a creation of Zeus. A mythological Greek character which was sent to contain the growing powers of Prometheus. Many of us know the story of Pandora, if you don’t know read it on the back cover of this magazine.

A tale of love, deception, war, and surprises, Pandora's box is a story to know. So Titan brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus had pledged their allegiance and loyalty to Zeus. Zeus asked them to create life on earth, while Epimetheus created animals Prometheus created humans. Prometheus wanted humans to have a fire for the sake of their protection but Zeus opposed saying that fire was heavenly and only meant for gods. But Prometheus ignored Zeus and gave humans fire anyway. Prometheus was punished duly, so were humans. To punish humans who accepted this gift Zeus created Pandora, modeled like beautiful goddess Aphrodite. Zeus then gifted Pandora to Epimetheus, although Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus is taken aback from Pandora's beauty married her instantly. Zeus gifted Pandora a box but told her not to open it. But being curious Pandora opened the box and all the evil things flew out of the box including greed, pain, disease, war, and death. The last thing that remained in the box was hope, the same hope to which we clinch in our difficult times.

" Pandora's Box" since then is meant for things that bring a lot of evil with them, things that are better left untouched. So, let me start with a new story-

Once upon a time, there lived a man. He had a field, a field where he used to cultivate hope. Hope for mankind. He used to harvest his field in the first month of the Roman calendar, then stored his harvest in his grand silos to prevent it from spoiling. Whenever someone in the human world gave up on his life, he was dealing with great grief, was suffering from irreparable pain and ran out of hope the farmer took some from his harvest and sent it to the human world. Hope gave humans peace and strength to get back on their feet again. But slowly things started to change. Size of the harvest eventually became smaller grief, on the other hand, it started multiplying. And then came 2020, the farmers' fields were attacked by a school of locusts, the farmer was diagnosed with a virus that had no cure and when people tried to research the cure, some monkeys ran away with his blood sample. As of now, the farmer lays on his deathbed with no hope left for himself, he is witnessing his cultivation of hope getting destroyed in front of his eyes. He may not have any hope for mankind this year. Because 2020 is projecting itself as the worst year ever.

If 2020 was a batsman he would be Shane Bond (NOTE- in case you didn't get a great sarcasm, Shane Bond was not a batsman he was a fast bowler), if 2020 was a musician he would have been Tanishk Bagchi and if it was a song it would be a Masakalli 2.0 or worse. You see India never saw a politician as bad as Rahul Gandhi and similarly, it may never see a year as bad as 2020. So here is my take on this year.

IS 2020 THE WORST YEAR??

See I had several resolutions planned for this year, so if on 31st December 2020 someone had told me that 2020 was going to be the worst year ever I would have classified him as the pessimist of the highest order. You see there is this thing about the beginning of a new decade something which motivates you to lookout for a new beginning. I fell in that hype too. But the year crept up unsuspectingly. It caught hold of any hope that I had and threw it in the dustbin of grief. But before I start about the tragedies this year let us take a look at the bad years…..I mean bad.

The Bubonic Plague wiped millions of people from this planet in the 6th, 14th, and 18th centuries.

India witnessed three catastrophic famines in 1769, 1789, and 1791 which were deadly, an estimated 30 million died of hunger.

The world wars in 1915 and 1939 which again killed millions on innocent people. Both armed men and civilians.

The holocaust between 1941-45 and the nuclear bombing of Japan.

The destructive riots in India, especially the one during independence killing close to 4 million people.

The Bengal famine in 1943 killing 3 million people.

Bhopal Gas Leak, Operation Bluestar, the killing of Indira Gandhi, and the Sikh riots all in 1984.

1991 riots in Ajodhya and serial blasts in Mumbai.

2008 recession where millions lost their jobs. 26/11 attacks also took place in the same year.

The 2002 Gujarat and Godhra riots and 2001 Bhuj earthquake plus the Tsunami.

The list is non-exhaustive, but what matters the most is the fact that we have seen bad times. but is this the worst of all.

Is this the doom of mankind?

2020 – A YEAR TO REMEMBER

Now let's try to recreate the story of 2020. Let's look at all the mishaps this year and see if this is the worst year ever.

The Australian Bush Fires 2019-20 (January 2020)

The 2019 -20 Australian bush fires season more exclusively known as the BLACK SUMMER. As of 9 March 2020, the fires burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kilometres; 72,000 square miles) destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated one billion animals have been killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction. At its peak, air quality dropped to hazardous levels. The cost of dealing with the bushfires is expected to exceed the A$4.4 billion of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, and tourism sector revenues fell below more than A$1 billion. By 7 January 2020, the smoke had moved approximately 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi) across the South Pacific Ocean to Chile and Argentina. As of 2 January 2020, NASA estimated that 306 million tonnes (337 million short tons) of CO2 had been emitted.

Images circulated on the internet only after the fire became out of control, almost seven months after its inception. Authorities worldwide discussed the issue. The air levels became hazardous enough to cover cities like Sydney in a pile of smoke. A social media campaign was announced to help those stuck in these fires. Aids came from all over the world with countries like Canada sending in their fighter jets to combat the fire. Finally, the fires were extinguished in the period between Mid-February and March-end. The Australian forests burned for almost 270 days wiping off several biological species and damaging property worth 5 billion dollars.

2020 for sure is no ordinary year. For a long time the botanical life of Australia was considered the richest on this planet. But extensive urbanisation forced on the outlaws almost eliminated the rural cover of Australia. For a long time scientists were estimating that this unplanned urbanisation would backfire, and it did. But the fact of the matter remains that this came in 2020, making 2020 the symbol of change.

2020 had arrived with a bang. Australia was in flames and this was just the beginning.

All of this was going on while we were collectively fighting the most dangerous pandemic of all time – The CORONA Virus or as WHO calls it

COIVD- 19 PANDEMIC ( FEBRUAURY 2020)

There are speculations regarding its origin, but as of now, we know that it originated in Wuhan ( China).

I have covered a detailed analysis of this subject in another article, but as of today, there are close to 7 million cases worldwide with over 393K deaths.

India alone has reported close to 250K cases with close to 7K deaths.

It is the deadliest pandemic to strike mankind since the Spanish Flu.

Now the finer aspects, Financial losses, death rate , impact etc are quite detailed hence are covered in a separate article.

So when Pandora opened her box evils escaped and contained the innocent Epimetheus, 2020 is turning out to be a similar case. Look at impact that this pandemic leaves. For a long time health organizations including the WHO were running campaigns to increase awareness about personal hygiene. This pandemic marks a new era where people will be aware of personal hygiene norms and the impact It has on daily lives. This marks the beginning of a new age.

The Crippling Economy (January- continued)

-India's economy hasn't been this bad in 42 years. Pulling it back from the abyss will require more honesty than imagination.

- Indian economy took a massive hit. With the drop begging in January, the economy shrunk itself to an abysmal value by the end of this financial year.

The lockdown has added fuel to this fire of economic meltdown. Almost all running businesses have taken a hit. For the first time in history, the Indian economy fears a negative growth rate, something which could put us in the category of nations like Pakistan, Somalia, and Congo.

Just like pandora’s box, 2020 has in store series of undertrained development. Economical change marks the beginning of a new era. Well during trade liberalization a series of changes were introduced in the Indian economy. Now that we have not changed policies for a long time we are again witnessing an economic meltdown. This new era demands change in economic policies of this country. A new India needs a better economy.

Cyclones Chapter One – Amphan ( May-2020 )

Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan was a powerful and deadly tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage in Eastern India and Bangladesh in May 2020.

This cyclone just like the year 2020 was record-breaking in all sense. How to let me give you the numbers.

It was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the Ganges Delta since Sidr of the 2007 season and the first super cyclonic storm to occur in the Bay of Bengal since the 1999 Odisha cyclone.

Causing over US$13 billion of damage, Amphan is also the costliest cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, surpassing the record held by Cyclone Nargis of 2008.

2020 was done with fires and the economy, so it was time for some natural hazards. The year was turning into a nightmare.

Cyclones Chapter Two- Nisarga ( June-2020 )

India is surrounded by coasts on both eastern and western frontiers. Since 2020 had sent Amphan on the eastern coast it was only fair to send one on the western coast as well.

Packing winds of more than 100km/h, Cyclone Nisarga intensified on its approach from the hot waters of the Arabian Sea.

It began making landfall at about 13:00 local time (07:30GMT) around Alibaugh in Raigad district. The area is a favourite weekend destination for many and often touted as "the Hamptons" of Maharashtra.

Causing property destruction in India's most populous city Mumbai the Cyclone left after toying with the lives of its residents.

Locust Attack (April 2020 – continued)

One point of appreciation for 2020- it is creative in its means. I mean who would have anticipated a locust attack after 27 years!!

Swarms of locusts have invaded vast swathes of land in India since April 11th this year. They entered several districts of Rajasthan via Pakistan's Sindh province. A few days later, they entered the neighbouring State of Madhya Pradesh. Many districts in Uttar Pradesh were put on alert.

This locust attack has affected about 90,000 hectares across 20 districts in Rajasthan. Favourable rain-bearing winds aided their transport towards India. This quickly growing swarm is now threatening to amplify into an agrarian disaster.

Now this locust attack after 27 years proves that this is indeed the beginning of a new era, it shows that the world is changing and hence we need to change accordingly.

Losing Legends( ongoing till now from the beginning.)

Probably the finest in the industry, the legend Irrfan Khan died on 29th April 2020 after fighting cancer for almost three years.

Obituary for Irrfan wasn't even complete when another legend, the lover boy of Bollywood Rishi Ji passed away on April 30th, 2020.

The younger of the music duo Sajid – Wajid, Wajid Khan died due to COVID-19 on 31st May 2020.

Probably the greatest basketball player of our generation Kobe Bryant with his daughter died in a plane crash on 26th January 2020.

Chinese border tensions (May-2020)

Throwing the entire world into a pandemic the communist nation of China is now trying to expand its territory.

To achieve this objective, they crossed the LAC to thrust their control on the bordering land of Ladakh.

The Chinese Prime Minister has ordered his forces to get ready for a war with India.

There were no border tensions with China for almost 53 years. I mean not a single bullet has been fired from any side since 1967. But with the beginning of 2020 these cross border tensions mean that the international political scenarios are changing.

So 2020 has even planned war for us…………

US Riots (May 2020)

While all this was going on in India the most powerful Nation of the world was facing something else.

George Floyd a black American and a former rugby player was pinned down by an officer on the charges of theft. The officer instead of following a due procedure of arrest kept him pinned under his knee. Floyd had breathing problems, eventually due to which he died.

Death of George Floyd sparked protests all over America over the issue of racial discrimination. Was Floyd killed just because he was black?

The widespread protest became violent. Protestors resorted to burning and destroying public property, police also became violent in return.

The situation is out of control and as of now, there is no solution.

The US riots have sparked a new debate around racial discrimination, something which was in cold stores since the Luther King movement. The fact that US is the most powerful country of the world makes it even worse. 2020 has surely reminded US to deal with its internal problems first before interfering in matters of other smaller nations.

This was an analysis of 2020 so far. But what lies ahead, is there an end to this story. Let's find out.

THE EBOLA OUTBREAK(JUNE 2020)

Amidst an ongoing global pandemic, the state of Congo also had to draw out its ammunition against an old and deadly enemy.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced today that a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease is occurring in Wangata health zone, Mbandaka, in Équateur province. The announcement comes as a long, difficult, and complex Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world's largest measles outbreak.

Initial information from the Ministry of Health is that six Ebola cases have so far been detected in Wangata, of which four have died and two are alive and under care. Three of these six cases have been confirmed with laboratory testing. It is likely more people will be identified with the disease as surveillance activities increase.

This is the 11th Ebola outbreak for the Democratic Republic of Congo since its inception in 1976.

WHY PANDORA WHY?

So Pandora once sent on earth by Zeus to contain the growing powers of mankind was given a jar. A jar that contained evil, evil which was intended to destroy growing mankind. Well I personally feel that 2020 is not merely start of a new decade, it is as if Pandora’s box is back to life. The reason I am continuously pestering the fact that the blitzkrieg of changes happening around us is no mere coincidence but start of a new age is that these changes were supressed for a long time. Somehow mankind was avoiding these outcomes, it was as if the magma of a volcano was waiting to come out. But the fact that all these changes happened simultaneously , as if magma of all the volcanoes on this planet spilled out together. A very unlikely scenario.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FARMER ?

I started my article with a story. An account of a farmer who cultivated hope for mankind but as of today that farmer is bedridden and his field of hope is under attack. So is 2020 the worst year ever? Probably, well it is at least the worst year of my small existence. But are we really out of hope?

NO!!!!! A BIG NO.

Because we are the farmer, humanity is the farmer of hope. Collectively as one unit, we cultivate hope, and this is how we have to deal with problems. Maybe humanity is under attack today and that's why our farmer is bedridden. But he will stand back up because humanity unlike humans is immortal-It will never die. So no matter how badly sick is the farmer he will get back up and again cultivate his field of hope. And with hope the world will stand again, India will stand again and we, me and you will stand again.

No matter how bad the situation appears to be there will always be a ray of hope somewhere down the line. We just need to keep looking. As long as we are in this together no pandemic, no riot, no cyclone not even an alien invasion can break us down. Time passes away, this is the ultimate truth of this universe. So this time too shall pass away. And then there will be a better time and a better year. So enjoy your time while you can and maintain social distancing. The locusts will fly away, then the farmer will cultivate a fresh crop of hope. Until then ……

KEEP FIGHTING.

dil nā-umīd to nahīñ nākām hī to hai

lambī hai ġham kī shaam magar shaam hī to hai