Today morning amidst the coronavirus scare I woke up to watch the video of enthusiastic people in the city of New York waving and clapping to the ambulances passing by on the street. While the other day, I saw another video of Italy where people were singing, dancing and celebrating birthdays from their balconies. There are videos all over social media from different parts of the world especially from American and European countries in which spirit of community can be seen vividly in their gestures towards each other.

Being impacted by the virus scare and the alarming rising numbers in India, when we are quarantined like the rest of the world in such a startling situation, people here still have the forbearance to wait quintessentially for the beloved Prime Minister to take to the media and give out instruction to come to the balconies at one particular time on one particular day and light a candle or clap hands. Without meaning to criticize his gesture towards the nation to bring people closer, I cannot help but wonder that why is it that we as a nation need a call from Narendra Modi to give out direction like a teacher telling nursery kids what to do. Practically speaking, people being in the situation of quarantine have enough time every day of the week to come to their balconies and engage in activities to encourage solidarity. People can light candles every day of the week, birthdays and anniversaries can be celebrated from the spaces of balconies, people can dance and listen to music together and I am sure that people can circle the wagon without some authoritative figure telling them to do so.

One of the international media house reported that at exactly 7 p.m. on Friday evening, thousands of New Yorkers in quarantine stood on their porches and near their windows to applaud first responders and health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

This powerful act of solidarity, which lasted several minutes, came about after a call on social media to #clapbecausewecare.

To look closely, what people of America needed was just a social media hashtag to come out of their houses and applaud for their medical workers and nothing more. Despite having Donald Trump as their head and the nuances created by his presidency, people of United States of America along with other few other countries have used novel and unorthodox routines to show support for each other just by the use of social media or even without it.

There are posts going viral on the internet showing people in cities like Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Florence, Portugal, and US engaging with each other through the medium of art. In one awe-inspiring video, a fitness instructor in Italy was seen taking class in the community space where people followed his dance steps from their balconies. In another stirring video, people in Europe were seen writing and exchanging heart felt letters with their neighbors. There is another one where people in one of the European cities are playing ball with their neighbors.

On the other hand, in India people are forwarding WhatsApp messages to play online games which is reclusive of creating an emotional and mental bond between people. Moreover, participating certificates are also offered for all as if we need such certificates in this time of crisis when people are committing suicides because of the depressing feeling of isolation as one of the repercussions of the disease. It is only when Mr. Narendra Modi calls out to the nation that we stand together to light candles and clap our hands together. On other days, as the scenario shows we hardly care about each other’s emotion and mental well-being, unless, like puppets we are asked to follow the directives of the government and the idolised prime minister.

To clear out again, the problem does not lie in coming out when the leader calls for but the problem definitely lies in coming out ONLY when the prime minister calls out.

India is the largest democracy and over emphasizing on leadership by one entity is socially and politically hampering for the future of our country. Merely listening and following what is told to us and not using our own creative minds might seem negligible presently but could lead us to the way of crisis and turmoil. We need to watch out for the bigger picture here and the reality shouldn’t be missed.