Actor Arshad Warsi, holed up inside his house with his family in the current crisis, agrees that it’s the essential service providers including the police and medical personnels, who have emerged as the real superheroes.
However, he was “shocked” when the news about medical personnel being attacked first started doing the rounds. And then he took to Twitter as well, to voice his disdain against it. “Just like previous pandemics, I am sure we will find the cure for Corona, what we need to do is find a cure for stupidity, it is out of control in our country,” he wrote.
The actor calls this state of affairs very unfortunate. “I had tweeted about it, and got a flak for it. But yes, the fact is that we’ve never valued these people. We only value them in a crisis, which is really sad. I was shocked when the news broke out about doctors running for their lives, with people running behind them. I don’t understand the logic. There’s a person trying to save you from drowning by stretching their hand,” he says.
Adding how herd mentality comes into play in such times, the 52-year-old says we should let the people in-charge do the required things.
He explains, “I’d not justify it, but yes there’s a factor one has to think about, the frustration when you are in that zone with no job, nothing to look forward to in life, your time is just wasted. An empty mind is the devil’s workshop — these are all empty minds with nothing to do in life. They can’t find ways to entertain themselves, and you just need one spark, one wrong person, and a whole lot of them will follow it.”
Warsi further adds that people should be calm and use their brains a bit more. “It’s such a beautiful machine that we have,” he quips, and adds, “All you need to do is stay at home, and let police and everyone do their jobs… every stupid person thinks he knows more than the doctors, who are doing their jobs. I wish it wasn’t like that, but this is how it is.”
The Covid-19 crisis has slowed down the world. And the ongoing nationwide lockdown has now entered its fourth phase starting today. Warsi sees it as a “tragedy” with its own set of plus and minuses.
“It was a much-needed break, the world and atmosphere needed. We’ve got that, thank God. The sky is clearer, birds are there, everything is so much better. Those are positive natural phenomenon. Something like this was needed, it is Nature’s call more than anything else,” he says.
Given that everyone is stuck in their houses for so long now, he says it was an overdue break. “Apart from that, yes, it’s a tragedy. One can really overcome anything with a good immune system and healthy habits, they have taken care of all viruses that have come and gone. We have survived a lot, we can survive this also. It’s just a matter of time, a bit of precaution and sensibility,” concludes the actor, whose web series, Asur, release amid lockdown.
