I am a Hypocrite — Part One
It’s been some time that I have started analyzing myself very closely. From being showing off as a social extrovert where my soul is a pure introvert, I am trying to balance which for now seems to be far reached. Not that I have not written about my experiences before but this time it is not for what the world needs to be but it’s for me to make a realization of truth. I have a very deep thought of being ethical in what I do, alas I have my so-called lectures ready always for others to guide them on what one should do, and whatnot. But! Always there’s a question to myself I am doing enough to call on others action — the answer was/is always a NO. Today I feel writing about an incident/occasion of merely three days past, which broke my complete conscience and made me believe I am no human.
It was one of my very close friend’s weddings at Giridih in Jharkhand, India. Yeah, I know not a very famous place for everyone to know, but for geographical reference, it is around 300 km from Kolkata and 250 km from Ranchi. As we had to cover 300+ km from Kolkata, we started early, as early as post-midnight. As the government rule circular during the current pandemic, a wedding can only have 50 people, we were good as we only boarded with 23 people from the groom’s family, and it seemed equal and fair from both sides. We reached the place early morning; it was planned in such a way that travelers can get some rest. Knock knock!!! It’s an Indian wedding, attendees don’t rest, they celebrate. The whole day was with god’s worship and other events. But in no time the number went past 35. Yes, I am talking of attendees, and still no bride’s family. I realized the groom has his relative’s inhabitant nearby whom he did not fail to invite for his once-in-a-lifetime event. I too met a few of my very close friends and was mesmerized by the aura it brought. The wedding place was around 30 km from the hotel we were placed. Late evening, we reached the actual venue, Boom!!! More than 300 people waiting there for us. I did not panic, as it was one of the scopes I did consider, but not at this scale. It was a crowded place which I came across after a long long time. To my surprise, I did not see even one mask in the whole crowd. Despite me and my gang well dressed in kurtas and masks may be ruining the show, we were reluctant to put it. The actual story starts now.
We stepped out of the vehicle, and all the groom’s family members and other attendees were offered snacks. Everyone grabbed a packet and started eating. We talk of social distancing, and what we saw was — “distances were getting social”. The town has about 150 active cases for covid19, with no official tracking or quarantine as they say — “If I rest who is gonna run my family, who is gonna feed us”. I would not route to questioning the government and other authorities here in the article, but yes, the announcement on the news channel, government circulars, and truth seem to differ. It was a bit messy place, with people running around, bands and orchestra professionals playing to the loudest they can. The hoard of people generally walks and dances to the wedding place for a short distance, with music, people, liquor all around to celebrate the auspicious day. The numbers had gone beyond 500 till now, and it was tough to identify and find the known ones. We reached the destination, and the brides and groom family started hugging and congratulating each other, few offered blessings too. Did I mention, all these people were without masks including me. Suddenly, a police car came near us, and I was quite confident that they are going to sue us, but it went the opposite. They congratulated a few of the stakeholders and passed by without making the smallest fuss. It seemed that everything is so normal that we all are unaware of the global situation and have just come out of Wave 2 and a strict lockdown. The whole night I experienced a similar situation and quite adapted to it.
Now, I am with lots of questions for myself:
- Am I even basic ethical?
- Do I even care about rules?
- Did I appreciate the whole scenario, that I forgot everything and joined the party?
- Should I have abandoned the wedding?
- Should I have complained about non-compliance?
- Should I have done at least something to prevent it?
- Am I leading a fake life?
I really do not have an answer to any one of them yet. I had a choice than to opt-out or to stand against it, but I chose to be the one in the crowd. I have always made myself believe that I would not follow a wrong path even if the stakes are high or all humans think otherwise. But what I did was nothing less than an utter shame. I am happy for my friends’ new journey in his life, but I am disgusted with the thought that I helped, supported the cause, which could have risked the entire village. It would have been a disaster. I still don’t call us lucky as symptoms do take some time to show their existence. Was I not sane then, or even sound-minded? Did I take those lives for granted? Is human life of no value to me? Questions keep increasing to which my response tends to move to a negative one, else I would have not done this. There were too many IFs for my THENs. I would not justify myself, as I was not overwhelmed. All I can say of me is I am also a Hypocrite.
