Reading the swine flu the Shakespeare-ian way

Deaths in India usually go unreported unless they are high profile or large in number. In a country of huge numeric proportions one cannot keep up with the loss of life. Which may also be why politicians and religious leaders often say, “Only five or ten died.” Unless the loss is closer to home and of a relative or friend, most of the time the Indian public also follows similar patterns. The swine flu or the H1 N1 virus has got media coverage not because of the numbers but because of the panic it has created in the minds of the people. The panic felt within the media has then been transported on to the audience as well. It is but natural that these instances bring us closer to the life we live and the fragility it reflects.

The Christian churches in Kerala and India have for several centuries advocated having a clean soul and a clean heart. The indoctrination makes us pray for a clean soul and we even go to the extent of asking God to wipe our heart clean. In all this cleaning up we forget the lessons of personal cleanliness that we learnt in school, and the importance of washing our hands.

The swine flu precautions that one gets to read on the internet and in other forums are very clear in what they say, “Wash your hands with soap and water.” And yet we are washing our souls and forgetting the basics! Shakespeare can’t to any stretch of imagination be a favourite of the church. Especially with the gory details of treachery and death that some of his plays bring out! And yet his Macbeth brings an aspect of truth that we cannot deny. Lady Macbeth tries to wash off the blood on her hands which at times in hallucinated engagements is a feeling of guilt of the murders she has initiated. A biblical instance of this is when Pontius Pilate washes his hands off the guilt of handing Jesus over to the mob, who asked for his life.

I remember a student I had who would keep washing his hands very regularly. So much that it ticked off his fellow students and even teachers. This led to the teachers calling for a meeting to discuss his behaviour. At the end of the meeting we decided that we should not read too much into this and let the matter rest. But he has definitely risen from the ashes. Post swine flu he is the only sensible guy around. Atleast he minimizes his risk of contracting or spreading the flu! These are also times when religions have to introspect to understand the importance of our actions. The need of the hour is to be clean, inside and outside.

The flu and the online congregation

The concept of God and a higher power becomes more apparent in one’s helplessness and hopelessness. One of the reasons of human beings undertaking their quest for God is when we feel we are not in control anymore and therefore have to make a petition for help to one who is more powerful than us. In India this is not so difficult to understand. Even though money in India can get us many things including getting away from murder in certain instances, we are exposed to dangerous situations which could lead to cutting short our existence on earth. Getting mowed down by a car, being swept away in a flood, sucked into a debt trap, being rained out or rained in and succumbing to the flu. This leads to a leap in faith as this is all we have got in this insecure life that we have to live. This leap in faith is reflected in the church, temple, mosque, gurudwara and other places of worship, where crowds flock together to express their faith in God.

But the swine flu has even broken down the crowd of faith. As people are advised to be careful, the obvious is also to keep away from large groups and crowds. Is it then safe to congregate when the times are bad? We are faced with a threat of dilution by a flu which refuses to die down. Who ever said that countries need weapons of mass destruction? The proximity of people in places of worship and the exposure of priests and worship leaders to a variety of people will also be under the scanner. The flu obviously does not discriminate between leader and follower. These kind of flu’s are going to add to the faith element of people but at the same time there will be doubts on whether they can go to a place of worship to dispel their fears.

But do we isolate ourselves from each other? Can we find other ways to be there for one another and reassure ourselves that we will fight this flu and overcome it, come what may. So if we can’t come together physically, we should look at ways of coming together in the virtual world. The confidence we gain from the virtual world will lead us to come back to the real world when we ready for it. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City/Chennai/Priests-log-on-to-stay-in-touch-with-congregation/articleshow/4821104.cms) These are times when it does not matter who we are and what we look like. It just matters that we continue our faith affirmations which lead our minds to come to terms with what is happening around us. Till then it’s www.seeuonline.com