My COVID-19 Story

Tomorrow marks one month since I contracted the Covid-19 infection. The contagious virus robbed me of all my strength. Although my symptoms were mild, yet it rendered me without smell or taste for a fortnight, and this was most annoying. I had religiously been following all the rules of washing my hands regularly, wearing a mask and generally living a hermit’s life inside my house since 25^th March. Where I had contacted the virus was a mystery that even a crime buff like me couldn’t solve.

I lay in bed trying to do a slow rewind of the events prior to me testing positive for Covid-19. The contact tracing led me to a global conference which I had attended some time ago.That’s where I must have been infected with the virus! 

The conference was being held in a strange and unfamiliar place. Almost all the species of the planet were participating in this meeting.

The Red Sea Urchin and the Koi Fish had called this urgent meeting and had asked the Arctic Terns to pass the message around. The agenda was something like ‘Global Warming: It’s Effects on the Habitat and Food of all Species of Planet Earth’.

It was a noisy group and everyone was trying to be heard. Lonesome George (a giant tortoise who was about 457 years old) presided over the meeting and was having a difficult time controlling everyone. Voices resounded in anger and I could barely make out the wise Chimpanzee and the dolphin speak about destruction of forests, illegal mining of land and oil spills (they mostly avoided the word human so as not to hurt my feelings).

“Just because we cannot speak their language they make us suffer and use us for medical research. It’s absolutely unethical,” squeaked the hamster.

“We are crammed into small spaces, fattened, inseminated, castrated and then taken to be slaughtered. No dignity in life and no dignity in death!” mooed the Japanese Wagyu.

“Well, we could send another virus!” said the high pitched Flying Fox Bat who was hanging upside down in the balcony seat behind me.

“We have given them the HIV/AIDS, the Ebola, the SARS, Swine Flu and what not, but nothing stops them from treating our brothers with cruelty,” oinked the Hog.

“We need to put brakes on this madding pace of destruction. Let’s stop them in their tracts and lock them in their homes, at least for a while!” screeched the Scarlet Macaw.  

The crammed room pulsated with emotions and frustrations. And in the end it was decided that the Bat would fly to the farthest north and drop its guano (also known as ‘poop’ in common parlance) in the wet markets at Wuhan in China, and the well-developed transport system invented by humans would “crown” the deal (corona comes from the Latin word crown).

I woke up from this bizarre dream with a sore throat and running a fever.The free drinks that were being passed around by the Pangolin (the poor chap is the most trafficked species in the world) may have had the virus. I did catch a sneaky smile on his scaly face.

Here are some of the messages that were read out in the conference which I was told to spread to my fellow humans: respect the planet, be more humane towards all species, ban live markets where animals are treated with cruelty, stop wildlife trafficking, stop destroying land and water bodies, protect the environment and curb climate change.

And in the end they all sang the anthem – 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson, which I have been humming since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU