I am in India. I arrived end of February and have been stuck here since the lockdown started because of COVID-19. Stuck in a beautiful space though. ESI – Environmental Sanitation Institute. A training/retreat centre in the Ishwar-dada lineage based on Gandhian philosophy, working with low-cost sanitation technology for rural villages.
It’s been a real blessing being here with the acres of space and community living. About 15 of us here, from very different backgrounds. An ‘unintentional’ community.
I haven’t been writing since being in India. I find it hard to write when I’m living with others. Writing is solitary practice for me. It feels most in the flow when alone. I also didn’t bring my laptop with me. I expected to travel around India and wanted to pack light.
I haven’t felt overly concerned about coronavirus. My greater concern has been the global lockdown imposed by governments. I feel the risk of totalitarian states taking over is a far greater risk than a pandemic. Totalitarian regimes have already killed tens of millions, even hundreds of millions.
It also seems in recent history humanity has faced more deadly viruses, but a global lockdown was not imposed like this. Then there are countries like Sweden that have not imposed a lockdown, yet their case numbers seems to flatten similar to other countries that did lock down.
The future will give a bigger picture. But the freedoms lost might never be given back by governments after the pandemic.
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