The race is on for the vaccine for corona / covid 19 virus … One that is not about being the fastest, strongest, smartest etc, but one about Survival..and survival they say is of the fittest. Which vaccine will fit the bill?
Sad, even if not wretched
A sad if not completely wretched sate of affairs. Sad obviously because of the hardship, deaths and worries for millions across the globe. Not completely wretched, in one’s opinion because we have seen a lot more things clearly than we would otherwise have.
We are clearer on the following: The toll that Mother Earth is taking because of us humans. The various things we assumed as genuine ‘needs’ are actually ‘wants’ created by us/ our theories crafted during modernization/ industrialization. Humans (however smart) can still be outsmarted by elements right in front our eyes, yet invisible. The list goes on….
WHO knows what happened?
Some suspect, the Corona virus disease we are seeing (the virus is part of the family that caused other infections like MERS/ SARS), is human handiwork. If so, whether release of this was by accident or instigated incident, WHO will tell. Almost like a who-dun-it mystery thriller except that WHO may be accused of pulling the wuhan, sorry wool over the world’s eyes.
Traces leading up the silk route can easily get lost in the Chinese Whispers of threats.When the bald eagle accuses the dragon of breathing down the neck, WHO can get hot under the collar. In such cases it would surely be batty to imagine one could even respire properly, far less, investigate the ‘whereabats’ of the virus and its origin. Clearly the investigation needs more ventilators.
Brahminical Behaviour – bête noire or better
While humans have more or less realized their ways and are learning their lessons, the class of Corona is continuing. Those present amongst us are sadly continuing to take leave of absence. And this may continue till such time as we develop immunity. Immunity either naturally or through the vaccine that researchers are working feverishly on.
While the vaccine is underway, there are also some good old fashioned, once seemingly loony behaviour that are becoming increasingly common place. Like the much-ridiculed-social (hygienic)-practices of some communities like the Brahmins of India. The Brahmins are inheritors of millennia of tradition. In the course of tens of thousands of years, they would have seen that unclean touch, contaminated saliva, unclean footwear brought inside the house, non-washing of hands, irregular bathing habits could cause mischief, if not misery.
In ancient times, there were no simple ways to tell, which touch to trust, which saliva is safe, which footwear need not be fumigated, which body is bathed twice/ thrice daily, etc. It would have been more prudent to exhibit practices bordering on OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) rather than fall prey to infection.
Boorish to throw the baby
The above is not to condone ill-treatment of others, if any such has happened. Humans are capable of both and evil. It is highly likely that discrimination on basis of just membership or birth in a community has happened.
But imagine a scene from today. The residents of a particular community or town were/ are not amenable to medical advice/ governmental guidelines and openly flouted social distancing and other basic hygiene norms. Would you be enthusiastically embracing them, given half a chance? Suddenly tarnishing best practices because of the trash that also got collaterally accumulated, seems akin to throwing the baby with the bathwater. But then, we are digressing.
and Pat comes the vaccine?
This piece is about the race to get the vaccine for the Covid-19 disease. The general wisdom is that it normally takes years to develop any vaccine. With the high level of intervention and the fervid pace of research, maybe in Covid’s case, the lead time may be considerably shortened. But however short the committed researchers may squeeze it, the timeline may well extend into 2021.
One strikingly interesting fact about the race is the participation of Patanjali Ayurved, one of the fastest growing FMCG companies in India. While the others in the race would be typically allopathic in nature, Patanjali is checking more than 100 medicinal plants and the 1000 phytochemicals derived therefrom.
Decode Covid – vyakhya with vaccine
Those familiar with ancient India may recollect the name Patanjali. The name is seen in a few contexts. While Panini is the original grammarian of Sanskrit, Patanajali is remembered as a brilliant commentator on Sanskrit Grammar. In another context a person or various persons named Patanjali had/ have written authoritatively on medicine or other ancient Indian medical texts like the Charaka Samhita.
It would be very remarkable if the following happens. After all that this virus has taught us, the vaccine for the corona or covid 19 virus that actually decodes the structure of Covid’s RNA grammar happens to be ayurvedic and bears the Patanjali name.
What better Anjali (tribute) to the realization below. That Sanskriti (the refined/ cultured/ dare we say modern civilization) has to co-exist with Prakruti (nature).
