Oh for a simpler world?

Surrounded by a copse of age-old and majestic mango trees, Thano’s primary healthcare centre (PHC), around 50 minutes from Dehradun’s Rajpur road, feels like a tiny planet in itself, untouched by human life. We have just driven past its quaint forest rest house, a relic of the British era in the usual indifferent state of upkeep. At 10 am, the PHC is quiet, things proceeding at a usual unhurried pace and seem as far away from the madness of the pandemic as Mars or the Moon. The light, soft pitter patter and the mist all around add to the dreamy environment. Reality recedes and can even be forgotten here, if temporarily.

I find myself here on May 19 for my first vaccine shot, after I twice failed to get it at the Ramakrishna Mission’s Vivekananda Netralaya — a stone throw from my house — having chosen my timings badly as both times the quorum of 10 was missing. By the third time, it had been converted into a Covid emergency facility and the vaccination drive suspended.

Miraculously, CoWIN allows me to choose a time slot, the vaccine I want, and shows me my venue options, and I pick the one furthest away as it allows for a beautiful drive during lockdown and the lowest chance of encountering that most dreaded creature of all currently: Fellow humans. Doctors had warned me that it was advisable to wait a bit rather than plunge in for vaccination at the peak of the fire at one of the more crowded spots in the city. A friend nearby who got infected in precisely this manner a few days before convinced me the doctors had a point. So, Thano we headed to although I remained sceptical that I’d actually get vaccinated. It all seemed too good to come true!

Well, never underestimate this country and how badly or well something may be managed unless you experience it for yourself. Soon after I registered, we reached a quorum of eight but the centre needed 10 to open the vials. After around one and a half hours, I began to lose hope and patience. Locals came by bicycle or scooters (we were the only ones in a car) and with the rain remaining insistent, it was possible the two we needed would remain elusive. I resigned myself to a third failed attempt.

The resilient and endlessly pat­ient locals around me began to get a bit restless after around two hours had gone by. One of the more enterprising among them exhorted two others by mobile phone to come and complete the quorum. The duo did try but with directions not an Indian forte reached the wrong PHC. Two young boys — both in their 20s — who had accompanied their parents were happy to get the shot but that wasn’t possible as they were in the wrong age group for the PHC to cater to. The 18-45 year olds had their own mountains to climb to get the jab. If there was any logic to this, it eluded me.

Finally, a big important person arrived in an ambassador car. He quickly gleaned our predicament and decided we need to be set free. By this time, we were nine. So it meant the wastage of one dose, if that. It was possible one more person may stray into the centre within the next four hours and all 10 doses would be made good.

After I got my shot — an anti-climax after the grand build-up — I chatted with the PHC staff, which struck me as unusually humane. An old lady who appeared to be alone and a bit deaf had been treated with such gentleness that I felt tears pricking my eyes. A young staff boy had even offered to accompany her back home, an offer she stoutly refused. They said I’d been lucky to come on a dismal (how perspectives differ!) day so they didn’t have the usual hordes. I ask them to define hordes and they say with eyes wide that there had been days they’d had 50-65 people there for the shots! 50 to 65? Hordes? My mind is filled with stories from friends in the NCR and Bengaluru, the tricks people were deploying to get vaccinated, the maara maari … how perspectives differ!

There’s no shortage at their PHC, the staff assures me. Many days hardly anyone comes. Some of them express surprise that there’s a shortage countrywide. “Idhar se le lien”, one of the lady staffers says so simply, it again brings tears to my eyes (readers can gauge my state of mind!). If only it was all so simple, maybe we — mankind but our country in particular — wouldn’t be in the boat we find ourselves in. If only I could convert this nation of ours into one big Thano with a single wave of my wand. If only …