Mayhem in the Markaz (Day 6 & 7 of Lock Down) - 30th and 31st March 2020

30th and 31st March - Mayhem in the Markaz

Sleep was disturbed early in the morning - not by my wife - but a cat. It was 04:00 AM in the morning, a cat had entered our kitchen. Poor cat, her search for food must had been in vain as there were no eatables out in the open on kitchen slab. After seeing off the cat, dozed off peacefully for couple of hours.

After the routine round up of news and social media updates, I began a second round of sanitizing all spots which were frequently touched by hand - door handles, window latches, taps, mobile chargers and what not. Globally, the corona crisis was worsening. The situation which appeared grim and hopeless few days back, now looked a much better situation to be in. India however looked in slightly better shape, Government had reported that the curve may had just started to flatten.

With help pouring in from all quarters of the society, relief had finally started reaching many of the poor workers caught in the double disaster of loss of livelihoods and migration. Corona was still not a threat for them, hunger was.

Last 4-5 days of lock down, the content was being written in "pen and paper". Today was the date when I started typing it all on the blog itself. It appeared to me that if there is a large gap in timeline and publication of the events, the credibility may be at risk. But it turned out to be quite a time taking process. For I was not only writing, but uploading pics, editing and uploading pics and video. Also I tried to make it one stop shop for all things corona - so provided links to all the news and stories, guidelines and advisories. With an almost 12 hours of effort, could publish first three posts today.

Late in the afternoon on 30th March, in the midst all of the typing on the blog, I took a break and had switched on TV. All the news channels were screaming the same breaking news: ~2000 people were stuck in a Markaz - Muslim religious scholar gathering organised by "Tablighi Jammat" at Nizamuddin in the national capital of India and several of them showing symptoms similar to corona virus infection, were suspected to be suffering from covid-19. The congregation came into light when positive cases in Andaman and deaths in Srinagar and Telangana were back traced to this event. Apparently the event was held few days back, during a period when Delhi had advised against a gathering of more than 50 persons and many of the few thousands, including foreigners from covid-19 hotspot countries, who had attended the event had already dispersed to various corners of the country. A similar "Jamat" event had happened a few days ago in Malaysia which turned into a covid-19 hotspot and had sent Malaysia into lock down. Another church event in South Korea had turned out to be a super spreader in February itself.

What followed the revelation of Markaz was a massive nation wide contact tracing and manhunt. The Tablighi's were not coming out clean on how they kept such a crowd together despite the lock down. In a video it was seen that the local police station had warned seniors of the jamat to vacate the markaz.

#WATCH Delhi Police release a video of its warning to senior members of Markaz, Nizamuddin to vacate Markaz & follow lockdown guidelines, on 23rd March 2020. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/2evZR6OcmB

— ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2020

While initially there was panic and a sense of despair that it all happened right under the nose of authorities in National Capital region, the government's response was measure and balanced. It appealed that it was no time for fault finding.

The government's message did not hold the matter for long from getting it colored with religious angle. What was not helping the cause either was the way Tablighi leadership was behaving. Head of the Jamat went into hiding. Audio clips emerged in which he was saying that a mosque is the best place to die and corona virus can do no harm to the followers. In another audio clip, however, he appealed everyone to stay at home to avoid wrath of god. Many attendees of the event were being found hiding in mosques across the nation. Amid the debates, requests were being made for the attendees to come forward and identify themselves lest they spread the deadly contagion, into their families, into their communities.

The blog updation and following the Nizamuddin Markaz crisis had kept me hooked onto the screens. Following my wife's advice, we decided to connect with family over video conference calls. This was so soothing to the eyes. Look at the happy faces.

Almost half of the world was under lock down and people were honing their skills at home - mostly the culinary skills - either out of choice or as a survival strategy.  We also tried our hand on a new recipe "veg egg curry". Now missing my non-veg food.