Hope you remember the Antonov 500 plane take off scene from the film '2012'. The Russian billionaire escapes the catastrophe with his family boarding a big plane.
The situation at present in India reminds many of that scene. Many of the Indian billionaires and the rich families are finding their hideouts from the pandemic scenario. Many have dropped virtual curtains between them and the common man. They are living in a biological bubble avoiding contact with outsiders either directly or indirectly.
Mukesh Ambani, the richest man of India has shifted from Mumbai to Jamnagar in Gujarat. His family is now living there in a massive mansion where the personal helpers and house keeping staff are also quarantined in the same place. An inside source says that all the staff members are getting tested for Covid-19 everyday irrespective of having any symptoms. All the material that comes into this mansion is also sanitized by different scientific methods, an insider says.
The second richest man Billionaire Gautam Adani is living with his son Karan Adani along with other close family members at a far away place near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Though the representatives of Adani group maintained silence on this, some sources say that this richest family is also living in a bio bubble.
On the other hand, several other billionaires and multi millionaires are finding their ways in escaping the catastrophic pandemic which is affecting almost 400,000 people every day in the country.
The high population density is another curse in this scenario where the spread is faster than expected.
Some rich men in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai are confining themselves to their vast farm houses to avoid the crowds and keep away from the pandemic airs. The selective staff who work for them at the site are living along with them and getting tested almost once in 5 days to ensure they are Covid-19 free.
It is also to be noted that some elite families have set up an ICU within their bungalows along with an Oxygen cylinder to confront the virus if affected, considering the situation at the hospitals now. The situation is so grave that a rich man who got affected with the virus tried to get admitted into a hospital by keeping Rs 10,000,000 cash in his car's trunk but couldn't get a bed anywhere. Finally he succumbed to the virus. So, under these circumstances the elite have found a way to set up an ICU in their own premises.
Some of the rich are flying to the United States booking the fight tickets by shelling out almost three to four times to that of the actual price.
The common man is struggling, fighting and succumbing to the virus. There is no dignity in death for many of the poor people across the nation. No beds in hospitals, no oxygen supply in ICUs, no place in burial grounds and no adequate wood to cremate. The people have to wait in long queues to live, to die and to get cremated.
It is true that there is no difference between the rich and the poor in facing the wrath of the pandemic. But the rich can at least find ways, but the poor have no option.