No matter how one tries to make them believe something that honestly exists, people in Kashmir are too stubborn to believe it. Even if it is a fatal thing like the CoronaVirus, Kashmiris give no time to forget it in a wink. Amid the pandemic crisis when around more than two dozen infected people lose their lives to the virus every day, no appropriate discipline is followed in the region. There are no queues maintained outside standalone shops dealing with necessities. No social distance is maintained anywhere. And when the announcement for relaxation circulates, they don’t mind recalling their cynical beliefs. The pandemic is afoot and the contemptuous behavior conquers their mind. Knowing that not every infected person gets tested or undergoes a test, they want to invite crowds. Knowing the virus is breathing among us, they don’t bother to distance themselves from people (not certain about their virus infection status). The chain of this virus is supposed to be slashed somewhere so that no other person catches the infection and passes it on to others because of one. But the monomaniacs have their specific exigency to doubt the doubtless and vice versa. The virus is proven. It’s not assumed. Those who died of the infection lived among us and are no more there. Those affected with this virus used to mingle with us in the same apartment or room but are alienated now. Some are even struggling to breathe and live. If this is not sufficient for us to believe the virus, nothing else can act as proof for its existence. Distancing oneself isn’t an aggravation. Crowding at a place won’t give pleasure. In this hour of need, diversion of what it used to be in times past is better than ruining the present.
