The Long and Winding Road

When I sat down to write this piece, I wondered if HIV infections - and its dreadful consequence AIDS - make for a suitable subject anymore. Hasn’t all that needed to be said already been said? Haven’t the horrendous reach of the affliction in the land we live in, the heart-wrenching human story, the pathos and the urgency of meeting the challenge already filled up all the print space – and all of our consciousness? Are we not oh-so-completely aware of statistics like over 23 percent incidence, the problem of the ‘missing generation’, the budding adolescents who embarked on the journey of life with the unwanted inheritance of disease already stamped into
their fibre, the hapless women who may not be in control of their own destiny and the dispossessed strung out in inaccessible areas unable to benefit from the growing support system and the contours of the massive combat that is underway?

It has been some time since I began to educate myself on the extent and depth of this issue that stands between progress and decline like a demon with arms crossed over its chest and defiance in his eyes. There are several questions I have been asking myself:

What is the true dimension of the problem?

Do we really have a measure of it or are statistics the convenient pegs on which the issue has fuzzily been hung?

Are we rising to the challenge or has rigor mortis of hopelessness begun to stymie our efforts?
Are we winning, losing or running hard to stay in place? How and by when can we beat back the
scourge?

I have adopted the route of observation and anecdotes to arrive at my own conclusions. This is no scholarly research – I flinch when I use the words ‘scholarly’ and ‘research’ – but a layman’s journey to understand one issue bedeviling the country I have come to love so much. As we go along, I hope to share my stories and conclusions here with fellow travellers.

Today, I want to begin with the end. What is it that, in my opinion, should lie at the heart of the matter? What is it that we, the civil society, should do to lend our shoulder to this gargantuan enterprise in which the government, the professionals and the NGOs are so deeply engaged?

It would appear to me that two picket fences separate us from the road that lies ahead. I call it a 'picket fence' because one can see the view across it and
with some effort, it can be torn down too.

One, there is the real danger of getting tired of spreading the message against the causes of the pandemic. Sometimes, sheer repetition can lead to ennui and enervation. No matter how horrendous the problem, human mind – individually and collectively – can begin to exercise
‘acceptance’ simply because there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Some call it denial. Many a society has lulled itself into beliefs that flew in the face of all rationale. This is a challenge we need to guard against with persistent determination. No matter how long and arduous the road and how elusive the success, the messengers and the warriors must not allow inertia to chip away at the heroic battle that is underway.

More heroism, not surrender, is the need of every hour till we have the issue by the scruff of the neck.

Two, we must work towards destigmatization the existence of the problem. Once the matter is seen for what it is – a disease like any other that need support not shunning – communities will begin to engage in the effort far more than has been the case. There are successful stories from elsewhere – Uganda for example – where it was the civil society that became the biggest support system for those who were affected. I am no expert (of course!) but perhaps that is where the salvation lies. It is the community that can take charge and spearhead the battle;
that will only happen when layers of stigma are peeled off and the problem is looked at in the eye – not with shame or aversion, but unblinkingly, and with love.