As India reached out to the world to help deal with its crippling second wave of COVID-19, aid began pouring in from all quarters. Countries flew in oxygen plants, concentrators and cylinders as well as remdesivir and tocilizumab to help save the patients.
Kenya, however, yesterday sent a very refreshing gift, not for the patients, but to perk up the frontline: A hot cuppa to sip on, and some chakhna to munch on as they take their much-needed breaks.
The Kenyan government sent India 12 tonnes of tea break material—six tonnes of Kenyan tea, three each of coffee and groundnuts.
"The government of the Republic of Kenya took note that some countries expressed solidarity with India by donating medical equipment, oxygen and vaccines. Kenya, however, identified the special group--frontline health caregivers. These heroes/heroines are undertaking a noble duty of serving COVID-19 patients for very long hours or even days without any break. It is for this reason that the Government of Kenya put together the package for the frontline health caregivers to take a refreshing break with a cup of Kenyan tea or coffee,'' said a note from the Kenyan government.
India has long been a health care provider for Kenya, as well as other African nations, and the Kenyan gift was an appreciation of those "years of excellent health care services provided to Kenyans."
In relations, whether they are interpersonal or international, it is not always the size or brand of the gift that matters. Often, small gestures with a personal note, and even the timing, makes all that difference. India's pandemic crisis has witnessed many such gestures.
Earlier in the week, Turkey sent a military aircraft with relief material--including five oxygen generators, 50 ventilators, 680 oxygen cylinders and 50,000 boxes of antiviral medicines. Each of the boxes carried the lines from the Sufi poet Rumi, saying "There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness."
A statement from the Turkish embassy noted that Indian leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, had collected funds to support Turkey’s Liberation War (1919-1923), and Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari from India led the medical mission to Ottoman Empire and set up field hospitals to treat wounded Ottoman soldiers during the Balkan Wars in 1912. These memories are still very much alive in the memories of Turkish people.
Given that ties between India and Turkey are not at their warmest right now, the gesture from Turkey says a lot, as it is also among the largest aid packages that the country has sent out during the pandemic.
Yesterday, Iran sent across 300 oxygen cylinders and a message quoting the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi, "Human beings are members of a whole."
The Iranian embassy in India also noted that Iran's encounter with inhumane sanctions does not impede stretching helping hands to friends. That is a loaded statement, indeed.
The UK scored brownie points by being the first country to send a planeload of aid way back in April with oxygen concentrators and ventilators. It was with receiving this consignment that India broke a 16-year-old policy of not accepting aid. In fact, Indian diplomacy is still at work "correcting" India's image and emphasises that India had sought access to the material it could purchase and hadn't spread its palms out for charity. However, receiving a gift gracefully is as much a part of relationships as giving them.
India has rebuffed offers of aid from Pakistan and China, though India purchased a lot of equipment from China, which the Chinese embassy made a neat job of making these purchases appear as grants.
