Corona Effect
Dr A S Bhatia
It was in the year 2009 when I had a chance to watch a Persian language American drama film “The Stoning of Soraya M.” adapted from French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s 1990 book la Femme Lapide’e. In the story a journalist got stranded in the remote Iranian Village of Kuhpayeh due to a car trouble, when he is approached by a woman named Zahara with a harrowing tale to tell to the journalist about the gross injustice done to her niece, Soraya and the horrific circumstances leading to Soraya’s death by stoning. The story runs about a young girl, Soraya who is constantly harassed by her abusive husband, Ali, who beats Soraya to force her to grant him a divorce so that he can marry a 14 years old girl. At the end of the day Ali succeeded in convincing the village elders by using mischievous false propaganda that Soraya is being unfaithful to him and with the help of conspirators uses this situation to spread lies of infidelity about Soraya, so that village elders can charge her of adultery as a result Soraya will be stoned to death, as the abusive husband knows if Soraya were dead by stoning, he will not have to pay the money for child support either and can remarry the 14 years old girl. As a result of spread of false propaganda and rumours and abetted by venal and corrupt village authorities, the Soraya Manutchehri’s husband Ghorban -Ali ultimately succeeded in accusing his wife of adultery and the innocent Soraya was convicted, buried up to her waist, and stoned to Death. Soraya lost her life to the rumours, false propaganda, conspiracy and the involvement of corrupt village authorities.
It was in the mid of peak of second wave of Corona pandemic in the month of April 2021 , when I received a SOS distress call from one of Nursing student from a remote hilly village. It was about one in the noon and as usual I was sitting in my office doing all routine works and on seeing an unknown number ringing again and again, forced me to pick up the call. “Sir”, a very weak, shivering and frightened voice was there, “Aap Dr Bhatia bole rahe hai?” (“Is Dr Bhatia on other side?”) and what the next few minute’s conversation revealed was shocking, A nursing student had tested positive for the corona virus and as she was not having any severe symptoms, she preferred to go to her home located in the remote hilly village. And the misery of this young Girl started after two days of her stay in the house made up of mud and wood obtained from the local jungles. Her father is a poor farmer and mother is a house wife with three more sisters and one brother. Being a medical nursing student studying in Jammu , she was well aware of her responsibilities in this pandemic, so she declared bravely in the village that she is corona positive , inspite of being repeatedly forced by her mother not to tell the locals about it , she did it! As soon as the news of her being infected with virus spread in the village, all villagers diverted their route. There were two shops selling Karyana and other household things, both the shops debarred the family and no transaction was made with the family. They were even directed by the elders of the village not to go to the village pond for water, and very interestingly some villagers themselves stopped coming to the village well and preferred to bring water from a distant Bawli ( a natural water spring) at the footsteps of the hill.
“Is Ghar Mai Virus Hai” (“There is virus in this house!”) the children with muddy faces and some with running nose, wrapped in half pants and torn dirty shirts kept on shouting while pushing the rubber tyre with a stick and running away from the haunted house! One after another nearby villages came to know about the presence of virus in that particular house. The nursing student could not get the medical supervision from the consultants at district head quarter which was about thirty miles away from her village as no owner of the old private vehicles plied on that dilapidated hilly road and were willing to allow her or any member of her family to board the vehicle. Even they tried to persuade the owners to give the entire jeep on rent for one day but even that was denied! The entire family was looked upon as if they had committed some unforgivable sin! There was propaganda against the nursing student that she deliberately had brought the virus from Jammu to do damage to the village community as unfortunately the nursing student belonged to a minority community of that village. In the area rumours and conspiracy theories were being spread from mouth to mouth and it was becoming very difficult to understand how the people of the area will behave or react to the looming threat. Negative rumours are dangerous and can mobilize crowds and to unite rebellious masses. The corona virus was going to take another ugly turn in this remote village. It reminded me once again the story of stoning of Soraya! Our Soraya, (name changed), the nursing student , was helpless, shattered and afraid. The attitude of the villagers was entirely different to what was being taught to her in her nursing training. The behavior of the elders of this hilly village (name withheld) was none different from the behavior of the elders of the remote Iranian village of Kuhpayeh.
The people of the area were behaving as if she had committed some sin, our student felt like the Soraya M, being buried upto waist, feeling isolated, suffocated, helpless and being stoned morally and socially by the ill informed illiterate villagers.
This whole telephonic conversation sent a wave of cold shiver down my spine. During our fight against corona , this episode emphasized the important aspect to educate the villagers in the remote tribal areas about the pandemic and to find a better and more effective means of spreading the truth. We need to strengthen our strategy to fight against the propaganda and rumours. It was the result of misinformation that resulted in a local corporator to instigate the people and prevented the funeral of a person suspected to have died of corona during the first wave in the Jogigate, the funeral ground at Jammu. Again it were the rumours and propaganda that led to stoning of a ambulance carrying the dead body of a prominent neurosurgeon in the south part of India. The rumours that vaccination drive is aimed at achieving the target of depopulation and mass sterilization led to chasing and thrashing of vaccination teams in various parts of our country. It happened not only in India, but in many parts of the world that forced the world health organization to introduce a term, ‘Infodemic” (misinformation about pandemic) for the pandemics.
The authorities and non government organizations need to focus on this aspect of the pandemic, when and where the third wave strikes. People especially living in far flung rural areas should be taught not only to wear Mask, keep distance and wash their hand, but in addition to accept the victim of the pandemic with care and love. Was our Soraya, the nursing student, wrong in disclosing her Covid positive status to a bunch of fools? or is there something missing in our efforts to educate the tribal rural population of far flung inaccessible areas. What could have been the cause, but this Nursing student did suffer a lot till some help was arranged to get her out of that village. Our Soraya was fortunate to survive the pandemic, rumours , false propaganda and the impending onslaught of the villagers unlike the Soraya M, who had to sacrifice her life due to propaganda, conspiracy, rumours and to corrupt powerful elders of the village, otherwise as Mirza Ghalib said:
Insan ki Pehchan Ilm
Se Nahi , Balke Adab
Se Hoti Hy….
Kyu Ke Ilm To “IBLEES”
Ke Pas Bhi
Bohot Tha Lekin Adab
Se Wo Mehroom Tha…
(The author is Controller Examination J&K Paramedical / Nursing Council Jammu and Professor and Head Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College, Jammu.)
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