Christmas beneath the corona cloud

By Capt Elmo Jayawardena

elmojay1@gmail.com

It looks like when Silver Bells ring this year and Silent Night takes the air, Santa himself will be struggling to do his rounds with possible curfews and lockdowns. Corona has tortured the entire world in horrific measures, and is now getting ready for the final kill. The pandemic is going to ruin our festive season, as never before. It is nobody’s fault but that is how fate had decided to throw the dice. Of course, in many countries the battle against Corona raged yo-yoing between winning and losing. Most preventive actions and Covid 19 treatments were more like Russian Roulette. While the medical world was fighting against time to find a cure, the unknown menace was spreading and killing people. That has been the story of the year 2020 for most, a time of trauma and sorrow that completely engulfed the entire planet. Yet, there is hope in the horizon as vaccine solutions are making their stealthy appearances. We are now in the interim period till Pfizer or its competitors find a ‘sure-shot’ cure to put the world back to normal.

Let’s take a look at the celebration itself. Subdued Christmases are nothing new in Sri Lanka, or in the entire world, for that matter. Many of us have experienced the full blast of poverty-stricken Christmases or war-ravaged Christmases. Of course, they came in different waves, but they drowned us in wallowing pity for the sheer lack of money or the freedom to celebrate. Children were the most affected in this yuletide crossroad. Even when things were normal, the haves had flamboyance and festivity while the have-nots wrote meaningless letters to Santa Claus, asking for the moon. It is the have-nots who heard other people’s carols and crackers and watched neighborhood skyrockets screeching up to blast and flower-shower the midnight sky. This is a familiar cruelty in any kind of celebration where the have-nots are concerned.

The 2020 festivities somehow appear quite different. The change of season will be the same with the cold winds blowing to announce the coming of Christmas. I was at a shopping mall recently and noticed how empty everything was. The uniformed staff hung around the show cases waiting for customers who didn’t seem to be coming. The usual piped music had vanished; no Jingle Bells or reindeer Rudolphs to make sure Santa Claus was coming to town. Even the all too familiar red and white Christmassy caps that the salesgirls wore were missing. The haves still have, but the mood has been burnt to cinders. It sure looked crystal clear that Corona had levelled the playingfield for all to sulk and sigh in frustration. Whether you are rich or poor, there are no fancy celebrations this Christmas as was customary in the years gone by. It is a whole new ball game, totally ‘coronafied’ from the crust to the core. The only way we can counter that is by having a sharing and caring Christmas with some serious efforts to uplift those who for some reason Santa always seem to miss.

Let’s be realistic. Whatever the form of celebration we are thinking of, better make sure it is confined within the walls of our homes. That is the best way to be safe, and that is what the health authorities will advise to keep Corona at bay. Those rules may not apply to all and sundry across the country. Isn’t it a fact that ‘kissing goes by favour? I’d rather not go in that direction. Instead, let me simmer with my impotent anger where rights and wrongs of applying rules are concerned. After all, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander when the proletariat is at the receiving end.

Pre-Christmas frolicking has already been cancelled. The post-Christmas partying is uncertain. The thousands that flew in crossing continents to be with their loved ones for the December holidays are not coming. The two-week quarantine on arrival alone is a major deterrent. The flights are drastically reduced, and the airports almost empty. The once majestic jet aeroplanes that came sardine packed with holidaymakers are not in the sky. They are like mummified dinosaurs gathering dust in aviation graveyards. None will come from abroad, that is certain. No option but to go virtual to wish each other on Zoom or Facetime. People will resist the gloom by putting up their Christmas trees and playing beautiful carols. Small mercies no doubt, but better than no mercies. Kids can still be made to believe that the ‘Ho Ho Man’ will climb down the chimney or creep through a window and leave his gifts beneath the tree. I presume that is one of the few traditions that can survive the 2020 Christmas if the parent Santas can not only find their way to the shops but also have the means to buy the goods.

Let’s look at the shopping scene. Making lists and buying gifts for those in the favoured lot is a major mind-boggling exercise. As for the poor, they don’t have that problem. Never mind others they may not have money to buy anything for their own family. It is only the haves who exchange gifts during this season; one must at least be a ‘semi-have’ to join this shopping and gifting parade. The romance of Christmas has always been a privilege of the rich.

You never see have-nots sitting at Cinnamon Grand Coffee Shop and munching chicken pies or at a Pizza Hut selecting meals from menu cards. Theirs is the Christmas of the poor, just scrambling whatever they could to light up a kid’s face who is bewildered why Santa Claus never came to his home with train sets and what not. 2020 is sure going to be different. Corona has taken care of that. Haves or have-nots, the syllabus will be the same; stuck at home with no visiting or visitors, and no way out till the vaccine comes to Sri Lanka to give us a new lease in life.

Taking a peep at that wondrous week from Christmas to the New Year, prospects do look bleak even to the die-hard optimist. With physical distancing and very few gatherings, the choices will be limited or non-existent. Yes, you can hire Tasty Caterers or Perera & Sons and have a party. But who will come? Then there are traditional family get-togethers that are a custom of the Christmas season. The annual Peiris Clan Party or Fernando or Dias party that had been in existence from the days of the great grandparents. These are always meticulously organised and the host rotated with regimental precision. They are all gone with the wind in 2020. Cannot even plan as no one knows where the next cluster will surface and how quickly a lockdown or a curfew will be imposed. With all the Corona related issues facing us, it might be better to stay home and have a solitary meal listening to carols in the background and watching the ever-blinking lights of the Christmas tree.

As I write this on the 13th of December, the prognosis does not seem comfortable leading up to the New Year. The daily Corona infected counts are quite high, and they seem to be remaining high. The Health Authority’s advice is for us to stay home as much as possible to avoid life threatening contact with a Corona patient. Christmas or no Christmas, it is wise to be safe in self isolation. Maybe, that’s what we all should do.

As for the celebration, it may be a blessing to take a ‘time out’ this year and ponder what Christmas is all about? It is the birthday of Jesus Christ. We count the days for it to dawn to have a fantastic time with family and friends, to exchange gifts and wine and dine.

Then what about the Birthday Boy? Shouldn’t he too be included and gifted for his own birthday?

That is the answer for this year’s Corona misery. The ‘have-nots’ are all around us. We the blessed ‘haves’ have a golden opportunity to take our celebration to those in need, the multitude of ‘have-nots’ around us. Once the thought enters our mind the acts of kindness will spread beyond our wildest imagination. No church to attend and no way to host the grand Christmas lunch, so let’s just change the play and reach the poor. New Year’s Eve will come, and the bands will be silent, dance floors are sure to be empty. But the poor will be there, around every corner. Let us offer them a gift or fulfil a pressing need and watch the glint in their eyes and the smiles that light up their faces. That would be a wonderful celebration of Christmas. Let’s pick a street kid or two and take them to ARPICO and let them push a trolley and pick things they dream about – some chocolates, biscuits, maybe a sultana cake or a water pistol and a tennis ball. Anything is manna from heaven to such a kid.

Corona will not be able to stop the joy we will feel in sharing. That will be our 2020 Christmas.

Our collective efforts will surely make so many happy. But without a doubt, it is we who will be most rewarded. Let’s look for the Birthday Boy – He will be loitering aimlessly on the streets or lingering in a ramshackle slum. After all, it is His birthday we are celebrating.

Let’s go find Him among the poor. This will be a meaningful way to celebrate the Corona Christmas.