My friend A was telling me about the dread he experiences each time he sees a call coming from India. It is starting to take a toll on his mental health. His wife has lost several family members already, he has been lucky so far. We are both expats but living in different countries. The feeling of being alone in the local population where the subject has moved on from daily death tolls, is a shared experience. I have not had one person at work or among my circle of acquaintances ask me how my family in India is faring.
They all do know that such family exists and reside there. In a precarious time like this where I start and end my day with a call to my parents to make sure they are okay, the lack of concern from people I Spend all day with can start to grate on what is left of my nerves. All of us who have loved ones in India are putting on a brave front and carrying on like nothing is happening. That is so far from reality. I know in my case, I don't want to spend any time at all on small-talk with anyone. The socialization seems wasteful, pointless and contrived.
A's company is moving a lot of its back office work to Philippines from India - good business continuity planning. But no one has enquired about his state of mind coping with bad news from home every other hour. He for his part is staying strong and doing his job as always.
I was listening to a BBC reporter interviewing a doctor from Bangalore on my way back from the grocery store the other day. The reporter's demeanor was one of pity and condescension when it came to the debate on vaccine patents. He suggested India would never be able to figure out how to manufacture the vaccine even if the patents were lifted. The insinuation was that it would take the developed world to hand-hold the unskilled, good for nothing Indians until they could work out how to make it. Maybe I was having an emotional response that is not objective or warranted. I allow room for that.
The good doctor played along and did not protest - maybe hoping that his entreaties for help on BBC would go further that taking offense at the ill-advised remarks of some random reporter. But I felt indescribably sad hearing this exchange - that the country I was born it, full of flaws and aberrations but still mine. Some of the brightest more talented people I know are from that country doing amazing work in very diverse fields. To suggest that our people could not figure it out was humiliating to say the least. Made me wonder when if ever we will stop being treated like we were the white man's burden.
