An Antiviral Video ... of Courage, Faith, Compassion

In the first week of May, a few of us (civil service batchmates) got together to revive our bond during these testing times of the global corona pandemic. Many of us were already in 24*7 corona prevention and relief duty serving as police chiefs or collectors of districts and other officers who kept the system running, but still we wanted to do more - in our personal capacities too. So we hit upon a way to bond again as well spread some positivity. It was May 9, 2020. A Saturday. 

The idea was a to make a video with a universal message; a video that banked on the diversity of our nation. It is said India almost adds an Australia to its population every year. It is not only about the sheer number, but also the variety our country holds. It is simply mind boggling. We felt it was very necessary to underscore our unity amidst all diversity; highlight the need to get together during the crisis. With the beautiful linguistic diversity of our country as the base, we weaved our message. The Constitution of India, in its Eighth Schedule, recognises 22 languages as the official languages. Fortunately we had access to the speakers of all these languages from the civil service fraternity. And most of them readily agreed to be a part of our humble effort in spreading hope. 

For the generation of the 80s Mile sur mera tumhara... is evergreen. I still do not understand most part of this multi-lingual medley that came up in Doordarshan, but I love it as it has a line or two in Tamil, my mother tongue. I am sure many others feel the same way about the song; get the same inner connect with the song. But we wanted the message to be so direct, simple and hard. We did not have the luxury of time or the talent pool required to create a musical. And that brought us the idea of spreading just three words of positivity in all these languages. Positivity cannot cure virus - but it may help us fight better. During any crisis time what we need is - the courage to fight it out, the faith in our cause and compassion in our hearts to bind all of us together. 

In a matter of two days, my Whatsapp was filled with videos from the speakers of all the 22 languages. As requested, they had given the best translation of the three words 'Courage - Faith - Compassion' in their languages, in the form of video clips shot with mobiles, like personal video messages. A few of them were accommodative enough to reshoot and resend their clips with more variations in terms of the translation or with better voice clarity. It did not feel like all of us were working from different corners of the country, from places as geographically apart as Assam, Kashmir, Gujarat and Kerala. There was a speaker from Myanmar too. But more than technology, what cemented us was the deeper purpose of our efforts. Some of the speakers sent their videos in spite of their back breaking office work, which again was about containing the virus and serving the people. 

After spending the next 4-5 days in putting the pieces together and creating a story of hope out of it, on 16 May, exactly a week since we got together, we launched the video. A lot of friends supported us to the hilt in making the video get wider reach. When we began, we had a simple goal in our minds, a simple dream in our hearts - that our day is made if someone, somewhere gained hope and good vibes by watching our video. We worked together, without any lofty aspirations. But surprisingly, by the afternoon, the video had gone viral.

Source: Guideposts

By the evening, the video was in the MyGov Corona Hub FB page of the Government of India; and by the late hours of the same day, in just the same page the video had been watched more than 1.8 million times. As I type, the number stands at 2.6 million. The video had also been made a part of the Aarogya Setu app of the Government of India. The app, which has close to 115 million downloads, is at the technological forefront of the Indian government's effort to fight the virus. 

A few friends strongly felt a video could not cure the virus. They are right. But their presumptions about our goal were misplaced. The plain truth is there is no silver bullet here, we just have to keep taking baby steps together in our own possible ways. It may be as simple as feeding crows or stray dogs; it may be as artistic as creating a dance album that spreads the spirit of humanity worldover; it may be as demanding as arranging transportation and food for the stranded millions; it may be as skilled as toiling in the labs to develop a vaccine. But this was our humble way. You can find your own ways to unite, to come together by whatever means - little or big, perfect or imperfect. Let us fight together; and win together. Little drops of water actually make up the vast ocean...

https://youtu.be/pLKRLAQM-W8

#IndiaFightsCorona #courage #faith #compassion #fighttogether #wintogether