Anupama Nair
“It was the best of the times; it was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness,
It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness,
It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair”
These are very prophetic words written more than a century ago, but never have they seemed true. Twenty-Twenty was one such year when a “mere” virus held the world in its grasp. Even in 2021 it still does not seem to free the world from its grasp. After the first phase killed millions, now the second phase is on the same path.
Is it a curse that from 1720, the world has been witnessing such killer pandemics every hundred years? The Great Plague (1720-1723), killed 100 thousand people worldwide. The Cholera Pandemic (1820-1824) killed millions in Asia. In 1920 after the First World War, the Spanish Flu killed nearly 17 million people. Come circa 2021, the Corona Virus has killed many millions and the list goes on and on.
Nostradamus the great French physician and astrologist, became quite famous in recent times with his prediction of Corona. He stated “There will be a twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night, on a country with 7 hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust (death), to destroy and ruin the world. It will be the end of the world economy as you know it.”
This prediction was proved right. Nostradamus had predicted 2021, also as a year of suffering from droughts and floods. It seemed to come true, as many parts of the world were ravaged by floods, this year. Heat waves and drought killed many thousands in Europe and America. As far as Corona was concerned, the cases are increasing day by day. The Third Wave can attack us at any time.
SARS-CoV2 or Corona Virus as we know originated in bats in the Middle East. It transmitted into humans in Wuhan’s open wet meat markets. Gradually the virus spread to the whole world killing millions in its wake, destroying lives and livelihoods. It is surprising to hear that this virus was discovered in 1965 and was called B814. Corona or Covid 19 was many times more deadly than the SARS infection of 2002-2003. Viruses are always changing, and a new variant, or strain, of a virus, is born. It is said a variant usually doesn’t affect how the virus works, but sometimes they make it act in different ways.
(to be continued…)
