BEIJING: My first experience of standing in a line for public medical care was when I was a baby in my mother’s arm. So it was actually she who stood in the line so that I could get the free vaccination for measles and some other diseases. I remember it even after decades because it was painful. The medical worker made two incisions on the arm and a lot of the kids started bawling in shocked protest. During the week the cuts swelled up and then subsided, leaving two white unseemly scars.
A better experience of standing in a line occurred when I became eligible to vote. Since my country, India, is a semi-federal republic, elections are held every five years, one to choose a government at the center and another one at the provincial level. If there’s an emergency, like the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, there are snap elections.
The atmosphere in the election line is different, almost festive. Neighbors go together and in the line you discover other acquaintances or make new ones. The time spent waiting passes easily as people discuss everything under the sun, from the election results to the new blockbuster film.
So when I stood in a line once again in Beijing this January, it gave me a sense of déjà vu. The district where I live was holding free nucleic acid tests to screen novel coronavirus disease cases and on being informed, I took my place dutifully in the line.
This was my third test, so I was no longer the jittery thing waiting in the same line at the same public square last year but a seasoned hand. Instead of feeling nervous, I could look around me and appreciate the improvements. The mass screenings have been a model of organization, even when they first started last year. Before the tests, diligent volunteers pasted pink notices in every residential communities, shops and organizations to let people know.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
