It has been three days since music composer and businessman Daniel Weber flagged off his Instagram Live series, talking about the stories of hope emerging from the current situation in the country. For his third session of Stories Of Hope, Daniel invited filmmaker-writer Vikram Bhatt as a guest to discuss ways and means for people to stay positive in this hour of crisis. Vikram’s daughter Krishna also joined the chat.
In the course of the conversation, Vikram touched upon the harm that Whatsapp forwards can cause and how social media has proven to be extremely powerful and quick in connecting resources with people during the second wave.
“At some point, we have to start making ourselves accountable for what we’re going through. The pandemic in its second wave is worse because it has penetrated into the villages. The numbers barely reflect the ground realities. We have to blame ourselves for this. The way out of this is to follow SOPs, and follow science to the T. There are whatsapp groups and millions of forwards which talk about remedies and preventive measures. Please don’t resort to hearsay. There’s a lot of misinformation. The thing that makes me happy in this grim scenario is the way people are helping one another through social media. Strangers are reaching out to each other through social media. Oxygen langars, food providers, volunteers helping ends meet…This is the real India. We saw a glimpse of that when Mumbai experienced a deluge in July 2005. This spirit of humanity and science will beat this virus,” said Vikram in the course of his chat with Daniel, who had opened with conversation thanking Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli for their efforts for the relief work and applauding the tireless efforts of the frontline workers. Relief providers active on social media like Relief Riders, Hitendra Kappopara, Shivya Pathania, Piyush Jain, and Ganesh Awasthi were commended for their unique support to citizens in this time of crisis.
Daniel said, “There’s a reason I started this daily chat in which we talk about stories of hope. It’s important to discuss the good that citizens are doing for each other without even knowing one another’s names. It took a pandemic for people to realise that their strength lies in standing united as a force. The stories of how people have gone out of their way to help one another and act bravely in these times are essential to keep hope alive.”