Yearender: Covid-19 In 2021 Made People Imagine The Apocalypse

A man donning white Kurta that had stains of lentils and torn at many places was staring at Imarti (a sweet made of deep-frying vigna mungo flour batter), his favorite sweet.

He wore no slippers, wasn바카라�t carrying anything, only ardor for Imarti at that time. His name was Ginjariya, an old beggar in my village who would roam around everywhere for food. He didn바카라�t take money, only food. This was the time when I went to attend a wedding where he also came and asked me to serve him Imarti.

 바카라�Moye je acchi lagte, do dede (I like it, give me two)바카라� he said to me. Reading comedian Varun Grover바카라�s story Karejwa about an apocalypse that he wrote for Bakarmax바카라�s comic last year reminded me of that episode with Ginjariya.

Pintoo, the lead character, had a last wish before the cataclysmic event hit earth. He wants to eat a hot melt-in-mouth sweet 바카라� Karejwa. This story though had no palpable similarities with Ginjariya바카라�s, but one commonality 바카라�a last wish바카라�.

Ginjariya was very old, and this wedding was probably the last place where he could eat Imarti.

When I gave him Imarti, he had a child-like chuckle on his face, he ate it slowly to enjoy the flavor. Ginjariya and Pintoo바카라�s quest for fulfilling their last wish suggests that these pleasures like eating favorite dishes, spending time with family come down to people when death approaches. Which is called fulfilling the 바카라�last wishes바카라�.

When pandemic hit and people were confined to their homes. Many people could imagine the apocalypse like Grover did. 26- year- old, Aditi Vashistha, a PhD candidate in Delhi School of Economics, says that with the pandemic, when she was hearing news about deaths of her acquaintances, 바카라�I could see an apocalypse, for me it was like a tough long walk thinking it will pass after some time.바카라�

But she has never given a thought to what she would do, if an apocalypse approaches, 바카라�I have imagined an apocalypse through this pandemic and I thought that I will walk through it. Never thought what exactly would I do.바카라�

 Interestingly, the apocalypse is somewhat part of people바카라�s 바카라�Imaginary reality바카라� (all ideas, beliefs, that we agree to believe in), as the idea of apocalypse is part of both religious and scientific thinking. Yuval Noah Harari, writes in his book Sapiens, that 바카라�human thinking and behavior, for the first time, have started to congregate as a set of global imagined realities.바카라� This is quite visible in different ideas of apocalypse.

 In my village in Madhya Pradesh, old people have some memories of pandemics like Cholera and Spanish flu, so the idea of an apocalypse for them is like a disease outbreak would wipe out the entire village. 80-year-old Kankhaiya Kaka, who is known as Mama, told me, 바카라�Marai don바카라�t even spare animals, half of my family members were killed by it.바카라�

When I asked him what do you think of Covid, he replied with a wry smile, 바카라�it is Marai, and we have to pray to Bhot wali Maiyya (stone goddess).바카라� Everyone in my village collects money to pray to Bhot wali maiyya for the safety of the village. But Kaka believes that since later generations stop going to Bhot wali Maiyya. This has happened.바카라�

 In many parts of India people started worshiping Corona itself. An idol of Corona Devi was installed in a temple in Tamil Nadu. It even became part of wedding songs like in a wedding in my village women were singing, 바카라�Banno tere Jhumke pr corona (Bride! Corona is on your earrings).바카라�

 While for people in urban spaces the enthralling experience of the 2012 phenomenon, was one of the most interesting times when many in the world, especially millennials imagined the apocalypse. Eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic events would occur in 2012 바카라� the world will end. The media feeding frenzy around this added salt to this ridiculous story of cataclysm. Hollywood director Roland Emmerich also made a movie on the 2012 phenomenon, which made people really think about the apocalypse.

At the time when internet memes were not a thing, the theory about end- date of Mesoamerican calendar was sold globally by the media. 29- Year- old Vikas Yadav remembers that event quite vividly. The date was 21 December 2012, he was studying Chemical Engineering in IIT BHU. He was hearing stories like Earth going into the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, earth colliding with a mythical planet called Nibiru.

바카라�I remember everything clearly; I can never forget that day. I still remember clearly that, I for once questioned, will the world end, really?바카라� Yadav said.

 It was bizarre that there were people who literally believed in 2012- end of world theory. Yadav narrates a story of a man he read about in the newspaper. This person believed that the 2012- end of the world theory was real and he made a plan for it.

바카라�I read; a man believed in this theory so much that he took a ten thousand rupees loan to eat sweets. And couldn바카라�t pay it back, claiming that he thought the world would end but it didn바카라�t end.바카라� Except for a few such stories, most people remained busy in their lives.

 Same happens in Grover바카라�s Karejwa, where people couldn바카라�t avoid the addictive banality of their life. Everyone was doing their work until the last few minutes. Simultaneously, a manifestation of rift in society resulting in rioting and looting is on, until it ends and people start remembering their respective god and Pintoo too decides to fulfill his last wish.

Same happened in Covid times. People ignored the pandemic as much as possible, some are even ignoring it now as well. Theories demonizing Muslims were propagated, misinformation spread in a proportion that it became an 바카라�infodemic바카라�.

The destruction, piles of bodies at the bank of Ganga too is slowly vanishing from public memory, despite the fact as Chinmay Tumbe바카라�s book Age of Pandemic suggests that India has been the epicenter of pandemics, as pandemics (Cholera, Influenza, Plague) claimed over 40 million lives between 1817-1920. But we collectively forgot these pandemics.