Shobha Warrier has extensively covered the Sabarimala issue for Rediff.com. She is the author of His Days with Bapu: Gandhi's Personal Secretary Recalls among several books. You can e-mail the author at shobhaw@rediff.co.in
'What is happening now is the virus is trying to survive inside us, and we are also trying to survive.' 'It is actually a fight. And the advantage the virus has is it multiplies very, very fast.' 'Within a second it can make 100 copies. Our cells are not like that.'
'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.' 'He has to consult, he has to talk and he has to mobilise the best people, but having seen him function, I have no expectations from him.'
'If you look at the age group of people who died in India, the average age is 35!' 'That's why as a country we should be much more concerned.'
'Where will industry have funds when they open up?'
'There are a lot of companies that have been struggling really hard expecting to do better year after year.' 'All these people will think now, "Let me not fight any more. Let me end this".'
'It will be like this: If you use the window seat in the first row, next will be the aisle in the second row, to maintain social distancing.' 'So, two-thirds of the aircraft is not going to be used.'
'Once you resume economic activities, life will be normal.' 'The younger people will tolerate the virus very well. So, life will become normal very soon.'
'She used to call me every day to check whether I was all right. You know how mothers are!'
'We should start giving this vaccination immediately to doctors, nurses etc and also to the elderly.'
'There is indeed a link between BCG vaccination and resistance to COVID-19.'
'Families look after the elderly. And these families are facing a lot of problems now.'
'For every epidemic, it takes a peak and then it comes down.' 'Usually, infections peak in 14 days, and you give another week's time after the peak.' 'That is why the lockdown is for 21 days.'
'...Rs 137 lakh crores of people's money?' 'It is not the government's money, it is people's money.'
'One by one we are seeing these private banks taking people's money and mismanaging it.' 'In the last 30 years, 30 private banks have collapsed.' 'Nationalise all banks so that people's money is safe.'
'That way, it will be helpful for India because by April, temperatures will be in the late 30s and early 40s.' 'So, if we are able to sustain these 21 days, and go to that temperature zone, it will be a way of nature protecting us.'
'At the same time, if we are a little careless, we will run into trouble. No doubt about that.'
'Social isolation itself can create panic among people. So, stay connected.'
'If everybody with flu symptoms approach hospitals, it will create a very difficult situation for our health system.'
'RBI was focusing on public sector banks perhaps thinking that private sector banks are managed efficiently while PSU banks are not.' 'Now, RBI has to focus on private sector banks too.'
'Scindia's willingness to consort with the BJP, a party he has rightly, and eloquently, excoriated in various speeches and statements in the recent past suggest a shallowness and hollowness of convictions and principles.'
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