Covid Is Nobody's Baby

The pandemic is surely surging back, and who knows what level of infection would be detected after the poll process is over. In the end, though, the common man is the worst sufferer. He is damned if he does (engage in the poll process) and damned if he doesn’t

- Sujit Bhar

WHAT happens in West Bengal these days, when elections are around the corner and it is time for rallies galore, yet the Covid pandemic threatens a massive comeback? Preventive activity for Covid takes a temporary backseat, of course. Not that the state is crazily dipping its toes in the complex gene pool of candidate vagabonds, worrying sick about the next government. Actually, the city of Kolkata is pretty quiet about this; the banners and street corner meetings are way cooler than ever before, and the intensity that was predicted has not come to pass.

At the same time, even the vegetable vendor is aware that the hospitals in the city are, again, choc-a-bloc with Covid patients and sale of masks and sanitisers are on the rise. “Kuch din ka fursat mila tha hame (we just had a few days of respite),” says Gopal Sau at the College Street vegetable market. “Hum ne socha is bar goodbye kiya yeh mahamari. Ab dekho phir aa gaya. Kya hoga kya jane (we had thought the pandemic had bid goodbye. See, it is back again. Who knows what will happen now.)”