Everything in this sceptical world always proceeds in the forward direction in its own pace. But if I leave my thoughts to decide where it wants to go, I bet, they will certainly race over back in the past. In one such instance, I do remember-

It was at the middle of the month of March, and coincidently the time too squaring off towards the midnight, amidst the silence that pronounced deep secrets which were indeed out of my understanding and were rather pulling me into deep confusion, finally broke off. A tiny light from my daily gadget tinkled, the sound which accompanied it, otherwise used to be a daily set of musical notes sounded something strange in that night and this indeed was merely enough to pull me out of that pre-existing confusion.

Finally, the secret got exposed and the news regarding the closure of colleges, schools started popping out everywhere. Such viral news, earlier treated as rumours slowly stepped into real arena in the subsequent days. But students were in confusion, either to be happy as there were unpredicted holidays or be sad as the real reason behind such action would turn worse. The intensity of people in the workplaces got reduced, even the bustling streets once, started looking like the graveyards in the night. The mammoth factories which made huge monstrous noises became silent as if all the machines have gone for long sleep to take some rest. Yes, this was all due to a huge monster wearing an invisible cloak resulting into the devastating pandemic ever-Coronavirus; didn’t spare any place on this earth, which even managed to pester the rich, to rip off the poor and throwing the already bickering system entirely out of balance. The stronghold of fear is still rising in the hearts of people as the virus shows no sign of subsiding. People’s life has turned undoubtedly upside down. Some are worried about their business, career while some of them are struggling to subside their hunger.

Yet not to be said that everyone’s hands are locked, doctors and scientists are doing their best in serving the people and in blocking the spread of this evil. Indeed, various protective measures are taken by the government, but its collective effectiveness remains still under threat. Many NGOs are coming forward to offer financial and emotional support for both, victims of this evil and its derived victims, too. In the middle of this, there is some positive news coming in like the revival of nature slowly back to its glory, the wildlife again springing back to their real self are very soothing to hear but when taken seriously remind us of how we have made our presence look totally insignificant. One could feel the presence of birds and animals moving around by the distinctive sounds that they make.

But somewhere the most common sounds which we were very well acquainted in the past, are rather amiss in this newly developed post-pandemic ecosystem. Why is it so? Where they went? Let us not put a false mask of ignorance by just becoming conservative towards the realm of the pandemic. They are our domesticated pets which we once cuddled, patted them fondly who deserve the utmost attention. It’s very disappointing to see some of the pet owners abandoning them just with a reason that they may be the carrier of the virus. I would like to ask these people, in the past weren't they conscious about the fact that it may be a possibility that they could also serve a reason for transmission of any other virus which wouldn't have been a problem for themselves, but maybe deadly for their pets. Did the pets exhibit the same behaviour with them at that time? Humans are habituated in showing their treacherousness amongst each other. But couldn't they do such a simple differentiation between a loving loyal animal and a selfish so-called intelligent human? There was a large advert of news showing how cruelly the owners of the pet shop had left their pets to die by carelessly flaunting the reason of this pandemic. They needed these pets for their living but now as this source is being blocked, they don't need them anymore. It’s very evident of the fact we had made those street dogs and many other animals to depend on us providing those bits of leftovers or fancy biscuits just to show-off as how social we are and that too only in social media! Now, who is there to look after them in this lock-down.

This is a cliffhanger question which had converted everybody’s responsibility to nobody’s responsibility. We cry in despair, we complain about our pain, but could we simply leave them to starve just because they cannot come and yell to our ears and say “Could you at least bother to rescue us from dropping dead?”

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Reference:

• www.newindianexpress.com
• www.hindustantimes.com
• https://katcentre.org.np