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The WHO, among other authorities, has gone on record saying all “fake news” about coronavirus cures must be suppressed. The only true cure, it appears, is the Western medical establishment, with its resource-intensive hospitals, doctors and nurses, ICU beds and oxygen tanks, ventilators and intubation, N-95 masks and plastic face shields. Nothing else will do.

The modern hospital as an institution probably started in Europe during the plague of the 13^th century, when monks in Christian monasteries put aside buildings in their premises to cure the sick. They also tended herbal gardens and grew their own medicinal plants, so they were ideally placed to cure those with life-threatening diseases. Due to their austere schedules and lifestyles, limited social contact with the outside world, as well as lack of sexual and physical contact due to vows of renunciation, it is possible they did not contract infectious diseases as easily as laypeople.

According to Wikipedia, “Towards the end of the 4^th century, the ‘second medical revolution’ took place with the founding of the first Christian hospital in the eastern Byzantine Empire by Basil of Caesarea.” While ancient India, the Islamic world, Persia and others had their own hospitals—with the Islamic world specifically credited with systematizing the institution with departments, diseases, officer-in-charge, and specialists—it was the Christian notion of healing the sick which may have brought the institution to a wider population.

Hospitals were associated with various branches and sects of Christianity, all vying for power and prestige. The prestige of one’s sect depended on how well the narrative of medicinal power was projected and controlled. In keeping with the tradition of Christian dogma and persecution, those who professed disbelief were severely punished. Hospitals, cures, and associated medications all took on special mystique.

It is this history of medicine that is being played out now, in much the same manner, with people believing in the virtues of ventilators without a single critique (ventilators apparently have a low efficiency rate and can kill one-third of the elders after they are intubated, according to The New York Times). Plastic facemasks may or may not work, since the coronavirus can live for 72 hours on plastic. Even the whole idea of putting a large number of sick people together may be a failed experiment, since it is easy for those less sick to get more sick with more exposure to viral loads in a contaminated hospital environment, with people packed into a small space, breathing in huge amounts of viral spores through air-conditioners.

Ayurveda, India’s age-old traditional healing system, is promptly labeled as “fake” by this Eurocentric hegemonic model. BBC hastily put out an article to this effect, warning people that turmeric could not cure coronavirus. Prince Charles got caught up in the crosshairs, with an Ayurvedic Vaidya in Bangalore claiming, “Mr Charles is my patient.” The place put out a hasty rejoinder that Prince Charles had done nothing but take NHS advice. Turmeric, which may kill the virus faster than any known pharmaceutical in existence, has not been tested by a single scientist, despite there being evidence in plain sight with large parts of the “turmeric belt” of Asia and Africa relatively unscathed by the virus. Low contagion countries like India and many parts of Africa all cook their food in turmeric.

In addition, these countries also make low or no use of plastic food containers. Food is cooked daily, and nothing is stored for later. Despite hysteria about plastic being the one and only material that can shield people from the virus, it is pretty clear plastic is also much beloved by the virus as an elegant habitat. It survives for four hours on copper, but 72 hours on plastic.

All of this brings makes us question: Is Western medicine a giant boondoggle? The insistence that everyone must follow this model is not just ridiculous, but may also kill people since they will rush to the poorly resourced hospitals rather than stay home and minister to this with multiple herbs, concoctions and healing blends known by tradition. The beauty of Ayurveda is its decentralized model—everyone can be a healer in their own homes, with just basic kitchen cabinet ingredients as medicine.

Even Native Americans and African Americans in poor areas of the US will have to tap their own culinary and medicinal heritages, if they are to survive this pandemic without depending on what is essentially an unaffordable healthcare model.

Many Nepali workers have died in New York. They may have lived had they followed their gurus and amchis, rather than going to the hospitals which turned them away without treatment.

Governments of India, Nepal, and Bhutan must support a massive effort to produce Ayurvedic herbs which cure pulmonary and respiratory infections; and not only listen to WHO, UN or any other Eurocentric hegemonic authorities that will insist that traditional healing is “fake news” in order to sustain the illusion of European supremacy to the last breath.

It is clear as this pandemic unfolds that the savage in the heart of human culture may be modern civilization, not the painted tribes of the Amazons who always knew how to cure themselves with berries and roots. The irrational people are the ones who will not listen to evidence, who will continue to do their shamanistic dances in their plastic PPE, murmuring superstitious voodoo chants about non-existent vaccines.   

On the first day of Nepal lockdown, I rushed to get some books for the long furlough that lay ahead. All stores I visited were closed. The only other option was to reread some books I liked. I picked up Robert D. Kaplan’s The Revenge of Geography. I had already read it twice, the second time around two years ago. Yet I found it as intriguing and entertaining the third time.

The premise of the book is simple enough. Rebutting the assertion of The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman that the world is getting ‘flatter’ thanks to the dispersal of technology and ease of travel, Kaplan argues that the salience of geography remains strong as ever. Yes, the world is more interconnected today than it ever was; yet it is far from a ‘global village’. Instead, the virtual shrinkage of geography has resulted in a more claustrophobic world, making conflicts more likely. It would thus be foolish to write off the salience of geography and culture.

The importance of the map is easily manifest for Nepal, jammed as it is between India and China. Its flat border with India makes the import of Indian culture easy while the barrier of the highest mountains in the world places a severe limit on how close it can get to China. No amount of advancement in technology or ease of travel can erase this hard fact.

Nepal has relations with countries around the world. Yet, when in 2015 it drafted its constitution, the national life was brought to a standstill because a single country had opposed the new national charter. Nepal subsequently tried to diversify its trade options. But India will continue to dictate its foreign trade considering the costlier option of trading via China. Again, Nepal cannot easily overcome its geography.

Yet Kaplan is not deterministic. He convincingly argues in the book that even though geography cannot be overlooked, individual actors can help mitigate the limitations it imposes. India today would have been a different place without Mahatma Gandhi, just like the world map would have been different without Adolph Hitler. During the blockade, KP Oli stood firm against the blackmailing of the regional hegemon and eventually forced New Delhi to relax the blockade.

Early in the 20^th century, Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher secured Nepal’s independent status. Had he not appeased the British and agreed to send Nepalis to fight on their behalf in the First World War, the 1923 treaty recognizing Nepal’s sovereignty would not have been sighed. In that case, Nepal would today have been a part of India, a fate that befell former princely states in British India.

Long before that, Nepal’s founding father Prithvi Narayan Shah advised a careful balance between India and China. He understood that Nepal’s precarious geography did not allow the country to make a decisive tilt towards any of its two giant neighbors. Yet Shah also didn’t stop his expansion drive in the fear of its neighbors.

The importance of geography is undeniable. But so is the role of individual actors. Often, more than the constraints imposed by geography it is the fatalism of its rulers that dooms a country.

As the constant stream of Covid-19 news is getting increasingly overwhelming and stressful, parents who find their kids at home because of the closed schools have two important tasks: communicating about the virus with their children, and engaging them productively at home.

Children are hearing about the coronavirus cases from media and people around them as much as the adults are, and they see parents in distress and confusion about dealing with this unprecedented situation. Because of this, children may find their heads full of questions related to the virus and the outbreak. And with no one else in their immediate surrounding, they frequently turn to their parents to clear up these queries. In a situation like this one, it is important for the parents to answer their questions and address their worries.

The Harvard Health blog suggests that parents should provide just enough information about the virus, should model calmness, and limit news exposure on the coronavirus. Parents should take care to answer the questions children have, but not give too much information as it may add to their anxiety. Children can imagine elaborately and it is important to keep the information they receive clear, concise, and presented in a way they understand.

Several websites and blogs offer help in communicating with children, according to age groups. Some of the most important suggestions include:

• When a person sneezes or coughs, the virus can come out of their body into the air and enter other people’s body. So it is necessary to maintain a distance of six feet with people other than your family members.
• You should sneeze or cough into your handkerchief, tissue, or into your elbow. If everyone does this, then the virus from sick people cannot get into other person’s body.
• It is important to sanitize your hands or wash them with soap and water regularly to stop the virus from entering your body. You can sing ‘Sayaun thunga phoolka haami’ or ‘Happy Birthday to you’ (or any of your favorite song for at least 20 seconds) while washing hands with soap and water.
• Don’t worry! Virus cannot enter your body if you practice good health behaviors (discussed above) and so it cannot harm you.

Besides answering children’s questions appropriately, parents should remain calm themselves as children model them. Children also imitate adult response to issues so parents should avoid reading the news on corona when children are around to avoid anxious encounters. If a child is repeatedly asking questions about coronavirus, it might be an indication of anxiety and reassurance seeking behavior. Parents should calmly listen to their questions, no matter how many times, and could repeat the above responses in their own words. Seeking help from therapists, when available, can be helpful.

Besides keeping children safe and aware of the situation regarding corona, it is also important to engage them at home, particularly when going out is not an option. Children want to be useful and they love being involved in chores, so giving them responsibility for things they can do is a great way not just to keep them engaged but also to make them feel valued and useful. For example, parents can ask children to invite family members for food, help in preparing and serving food, doing dishes, cleaning and decorating the house, and help in gardening (e.g. carrying things, watering plants). Parents with access to internet can also locate online engagement opportunities like story-telling sessions, art sessions, music lessons, to name a few I have come across through social media.

Playing games can be a great option not only to engage children but also adults. Neuroscience research shows that when individuals, regardless of age, engage in play their bodies release ‘feel good’ hormones like endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. These hormones are linked to reduced stress and improved mood, which can help everyone cope with this pandemic better.

Spending time with children (through play or involvement in doing chores) also has long-term benefits. Research shows that when parents and children spend time together, children build self-esteem, cultivate positive behaviors, develop comfort around parents to share any problems they might be facing, and increase help seeking behavior. Spending time together also strengthens family bonds and facilitates communication.

Hence not all is grim about the current state of affairs caused by Covid-19; it can be an opportunity to take a break from the fast paced lives we lead, breath deeply, and foster family relationships; engaging with children can create ample opportunities for the same.

The author is a PhD Scholar in Social Work at Boston College, USA. He holds a Masters in Social Work with Families and Children

Silence is powerful. It saves you from lies. But more importantly, it takes you to the truth.

By silence, I mean not merely refraining from talking. It is something deeper. It is allowing your mind to settle down and freeing it from worldly noise. Words are often carriers of that noise. In silence, externally there is an absence of talk and internally there is calm of mind.

Of course we need words to live our everyday lives. We need to talk in some way. But that is only for the sake of convenience.

Reality is almost always distorted when we try to express it in words. If you say ice-cream is sweet, some truth of the ice-cream’s taste is lost already. For me it may be sweet like chocolate, for my mother it may be sweet like honey, and for a farmer in Sarlahi it may be sweet like the sugarcane he grows. For a nomadic Raute of Jajarkot, it will just be some incomprehensible sound.
The truth of ice-cream’s taste can never be fully told in words. It has to be tasted.

Likewise, every reality that we talk about can only be partially expressed in words. To understand it properly, we have to experience it in the depths of our minds. Words have no place there. The same applies to this piece of writing. It can only partially point to a tiny aspect of truth.
We can try using qualifiers. To make people understand what sweet means, we may say ‘sweet like the toffee you had yesterday’. But again there is a problem. If I had a sour mood yesterday, the ice-cream’s sweetness would be ‘unpleasant’ for me. If I was suffering from mouth ulcers and couldn't properly taste the toffee, then the ice-cream’s sweetness would be ‘dull’.

So the best way to tell the truth about the ice-cream is to let people taste it! But we still need to use words; they can at least give people some idea about reality.
Enlightened masters have always used silence to tell the truth about things deep and profound. Ramana Maharshi was famous for his silence. He answered people’s questions without speaking a word. People would just sit in front of him with a hundred questions in their brains. After a while they would get their answers. There was no utterance of words. There are many instances when people went to the Buddha with questions, and they got answers when the Buddha just meditated in silence.

At their best, words may be imperfect pointers to the truth. Isn’t it a good idea that we take them for what they are worth?