Will the virus leave us sober?
Will our collective memory retain this horrible time and change our collective behaviour?
Never ever in our recent memory has the thought of death permeated our collective minds so deeply. Never ever have we talked and read about the possibility of death so intently and persistently. The whole world is today debilitated by the thoughts of the coronavirus, the dreadful new germ that has caused so far over a lakh deaths worldwide.
In a way, our every living hour is filled with the virus. You turn on the TV, it's all about the invasion of the germ, how it is gaining ground on us. Lives are becoming numbers fast. You only stand out if you are really a big shot like the British prime minister or Tom Hanks. Otherwise, you are part of the tally.
The websites are all about coronavirus and suggestions about how to dodge it. How to better increase your chances of survival through this pandemic.
The virus has made us so weak and fearful that Dhaka roads, arguably the busiest of all, have become all but empty. At high noon, you get that eerie feeling of watching a horror movie as you cruise along the roads. You don't even want to drive fast for some unknown fear.
We never thought the incorrigible Dhaka dwellers could ever be confined to their homes. But now as you walk the streets, you don't even hear voices from the homes. As if the inhabitants have all been evaporated by some sinister power.
You call your friend, and it is the same topic that will fill your whole length of conversation whether you want it or not. You get bored in so many ways; by being alone at home, by being bombarded with all these news, by being talked to by friends.
And none of us can say with any certainty that we will live to see the day when people would once again sit around in the restaurants happily talking, when we would cram into buses and go to work, when we would not bother to keep that social distance, when we would have our favourite steak at that joint again.
So when life appears so uncertain and ephemeral, can we think of something else? Such as, if we really survive this pandemic, we would not take bribes again, at least for a year when the country would need the best of everyone to rebuild its economy.
That we would not harass people just because the taxpayers have installed us in our positions as public servants. That we would not over invoice and stash the money abroad in Swiss banks. That we would not poison the food we sell to the people for profit. That we would not steal public works money and then do only 30 percent of the road work.
Memories are strange. They belong to the goldfish when we get over a disaster. Maybe that is how we survive the worst of times, it is a natural survival tactic. We do not want to recall our traumatic memories.
But the collective memory of a nation is a different thing. That is why we still hunt down the killers of Bangabandhu and mete out justice. That is why war criminals are still sought out and put on trial, worldwide.
Will our collective memory retain this horrible time and change our collective behaviour?