The First Case

Hello! As promised, we are back with some more exciting new things that we want to share with all of you, on ‘The New World Order.’

Recent times have brought nothing but sorrow and despair for most of us, so we are giving you something to look forward to with our blog posts on every alternate day. And today’s topic for the blog is regarding the first case of COVID-19 in Delhi.

The sheer joy of exams being called off turning into utter horror almost instantaneously, was an experience that we would want none of you to have. The School being shut down for fumigation because a parent from the school was the first to test positive for the virus in Delhi, everyone waiting patiently for a positive response from health officers, seeing an empty school in the news was, for me, a heart-breaking incident.

I remember clearly, how I got up on the study leave before my last exam, knowing my sister would have gone off to school in high hopes and spirits, with everyone bustling about the house doing their work, and what I saw was the complete opposite. School had given an optional working day, my sister, crumpled up in bed peacefully sleeping and mom checking her messages with a worried look on her face. I saw the paper. The headlines, ‘First Patient Tested COVID-19 Positive in Delhi on Monday.’ Then came the news of exams being called off and mom explaining the situation to me. A spine-chilling experience, one could say. The only thing that comforted me was how quickly my teachers reacted, the school shut down, fumigation started. Now one could ask me how there could be any positives in this situation. Well, how alert everyone was, how cooperative everyone was, was heartening to see. We all, as humanity, had entered a deep dark tunnel, and this incident told me that the opening wasn’t far away. The shining light would soon be blinding us again, and we soon would return to normalcy, was what this incident showed me.

And the other thing that this told me that we as a country would successfully be able to overcome this virus and win this war was the courage of the people. The courage of the people to come out and tell everyone that they were COVID-19 positive, even when they had so many examples of people who were being ostracized because they had the virus, and they did it for the safety of the people around them, and the country. Hats off to the courage and valor they have displayed.

This incident told me that the Sun had started rising after a dark, stormy night. Which is exactly what we all need to remember. After every dark night, the Sun does rise. So, let us cooperate, and soon, we will emerge stronger than ever. Stay home, Stay safe.

-Samarth Sampath and team.