Religion Of The Virus

The religion of Virus

Past 2 years have been very testing for all of us, the Pandemic, the earth-quakes, the sheer absence of humanity in remaining humans.
As a doctor working in India, I have seen the worst. No, I haven't experienced a death in my family or a friend. Infact, it isn't about those deaths anymore. I have seen the cruelty of people towards one another, fighting for O2 cylinders, fighting for beds, fighting for tiny pieces of land to bury the bodies. Its not their fault, I know. But it isn't the fault of the nurse in my department, who was beaten to death by  a patient's relatives on hearing the rumor of his death. There was a dead body lying on the ground, it wasn't the patient's, it was hers. Apparently, she was taking care of the young patient, and she did take care of him. She sacrificed herself while her patient was still there, alive, still struggling for his breath, atleast not dead. We couldn't arrange Oxygen cylinder for him, but his condition got better with time. He was discharged the day Nurse's body was going to be laid to rest. Was going to, because it couldn't be buried that day, as the burial places were full. Being a Christian, the decision to cremate her was not an easy decision to take, but her kids did not see another option. After a week of lying in the morgue, she was all set to be cremated.
As it turns out, even dead bodies have a religion. Body of Christian is not permitted in a hindu crematorium. So, the body still lies in the morgue, with three bodies over it.
I open Instagram on my phone to shake my mind out of all the chaos. There I happen to see a post. Sister Fonseca is famous now, all online news channels are talking about her murder. The video is all over the internet, healthcare workers are demanding justice on her behalf. Just when I thought there maybe a ray of hope left in humanity, I read a comment on one of those posts, infact many comments like that. These guys had found the name of the patient, Irfan it was, and all of a sudden the brutality against health-workers got restricted to the brutality of Muslims against health-workers. It's now used as a topic of debate by hindu political groups to show how cruel and illiterate, these muslims are.
Meanwhile, the Sister Fonseca still lies in morgue, hoping for the day when she'll finally find a place to rest, a piece of land which is owned by no God, NO RELIGION.