While many Delhi cops may be resorting to stringent actions to make the people stay indoors during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, some of them like police inspector Suhaib Farooqui has preferred to take to singing to inspire, reassure and educate people on combating the deadly pathogen which has killed nearly 450 people in India.
Farooqui , the Station House Officer of New Delhi’s South Avenue Police Station who enjoys turning his thoughts to poetry during his private time, has penned an evocative poetry titled, ‘Hai waqt yeh inquilab, Corona se Jung hai’ to carry on the anti-Corona campaign. The song, a peppy number that one could easily listen to many times, is not only sweet to the ears but also carries useful advisory on following the safety precautions.
The poetry which is composed into a song by Mumbai-based music director Sudhakar Sneh advises people on how to behave during lockdown; it asks them to wear a mask, stay at home and only step out in the most urgent cases. Further, it stresses that everyone —from rich to poor, villagers to city dwellers — have to act resolutely to combat the pandemic.
While Farooqui, who regularly attends poetry sessions and recites his creations, is not new to public attention, the admiration he is drawing this time is unprecedented. It is drawing a large number of visitors from the day it was posted on the Social Media accounts of Farooqui’s and New Delhi Police. Many are downloading it and sharing it with their friends and families.
The initiative by the Delhi Police has become popular given the Indian appetite for good music. Police forces in other states too are dipping into their human resource pool to harness the best of their strategic, physical and creative skills to reach out to the masses to enforce strict public safety standards to combat the disease.
In Kolkata, a video of officers from Gariahat Police Station singing their own version of a popular Bangla song to cheer up locked down residents has earned considerable praise whereas Andhra Pradesh police have come up with a “corona song” to spread awareness about the dreaded virus.