Jyoti Mukul's 'The Great Shutdown' is a timely study of the pandemic

Sushma Ramachandran

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AT a time when Covid cases are rising but daily life has not been disrupted, it is disturbing to recall the stringent movement curbs that were imposed on the entire country in March 2020. The economy came to a standstill for about two months and even later, the return to normalcy was in fits and starts. Just as it looked as if the world was no longer topsy-turvy, the second Covid wave descended like a tsunami on the country a year later, in March 2021. The ferocity of the virus in the following months brought death and despair to lakhs of families.

It is probably the right time to analyse the validity of decisions that were taken over these two years not just by the Central and state governments, but also by key global agencies like the World Health Organisation. Veteran journalist Jyoti Mukul has done just that in a carefully crafted data-packed account of the movement restrictions that were imposed on road, air and sea travel right from the onset of the pandemic. In a book titled ‘The Great Shutdown’, she begins at the very beginning, as it were, with the confusing directives issued by the WHO in the run-up to a full-fledged pandemic.

She then goes on to provide painstaking details of the transport curbs imposed all over the country that took such a devastating toll on the migrant population. In fact, the data provided is rather overwhelming at times, but she intersperses it with first-person accounts that are even more telling. From Jyoti Kumari who drove her cycle cross-country to bring her father to safety, to the air hostess who faced hostility in her housing complex and to the migrant who simply did not believe there was such a thing as Covid, the interviews bring the period alive.

There are heartwarming stories, too, like that of the Bihari police officer based in Karnataka who helped thousands reach rural homes safely. And also the quirky story of the German who lived 55 days at the Delhi airport in an uncanny parallel to the movie ‘The Terminal’.

Mukul puts the domestic developments in the context of the global by providing data from around the world about similar movement curbs imposed in other countries. The complexity of visa issues viewed in varying ways by other countries as well as the changes wrought in international travel by the introduction of vaccines is brought out clearly. The positive role of the WHO in pointing out that linking passports and global travel to vaccination certificates was tantamount to creating a privileged class is also highlighted, in the context of poorer countries being left out in the cold.

Like any good reporter, Mukul refrains from making value judgments while presenting the data on the pandemic and transport curbs. At the end, however, the information on the shortfalls that made the second wave so devastating is presented with dismaying clarity. On the one hand, she points to the Herculean efforts made to provide oxygen to those in need, involving even the Air Force and the Navy. On the other, if infrastructure had been built up well in time, the crisis would not have arisen at all.

In fact, she unhesitatingly outlines the lacuna in government decisions pertaining to the pandemic, whether in terms of going ahead with state elections and the Mahakumbh or complacency in having overcome the first wave without serious damage. Along with the detailed data compilation, this makes ‘The Great Shutdown’ the definitive reference book for anyone wanting to know anything about the pandemic and lockdowns in this country.