Have you ever thought about how boring history lessons could be for your children? Well, congratulations! There are new lessons our children will learn about – The Corona Era. Even AC and BC might get a re-touch – After Corona and Before Corona. Who knows.
To start with, it does not feel real. When I watched “Contagion” a couple of years back, it was scary. But never thought this could be in real life – actually happening to mankind. I mean a Bat and Pig together and making some virus in some wet market of Wuhan and then you touch someone and you get infected and you die. Really? In the process, there will be days when you would not even know you are infected and you infect everybody around because you merely did a handshake with them. Oh!!! UNREAL.
But hey, look at us. It is here. On our face and we cannot even fathom, what kind of days await us – world economy, depression rates, suicide rates, healthcare system, jobs, and the list just goes on.
The situation in the world is so bad right now that it has started becoming funny (no offense, guys!). At some point, I was also imagining God sitting on some big ass sofa with his drink (ok fine, tea!) watching the channel called “Mankind” on his big fat home theater and smiling away to glory. I also heard him say to us with a smirk, “I still have the power, bro”.
The spiritual pondering that I am doing these days, I feel the universe just granted us our wishes. So many years and almost on a daily basis, each one of us has wished if we had more than 24 hours in a day so that we could do this “one” thing. In between work and home and social circle, we have been missing out so much but then refusing to give up. We eagerly wait for the weekend to come by and before we blink our eyes, comes the Monday blues. So here, you can now do nothing, but slow down.
Mankind is slowing down. In fact, the race is no longer about who comes first. It is about who’s the slowest.
We have been by far abusing nature so badly. Most of the time knowingly. When was the last time you saw your city without cars and people pushing and pulling out of a local train but still not reaching anywhere on time? When did you last wake up with birds chirping and not the neighbor’s car honking? No kidding, but Delhi would also start feeling like a hill station in a few days. No?
Closer to reality is the whole Corporate Life that most of us are contributing to. A compulsory work-from-home! Many, and trust me, many including me did not think that work from home is really an effective way of work. For the first few days of being quarantined, the leadership teams of many companies have been putting their brain around how to actually make this work. Reality is, it is rather becoming an effective way of working.
Would we consider making this whole Work-From-Home a way of corporate life even after all this ends? Opportunities and means getting created when you can let a team member take a break. Right?
Our Prime Minister took up to the stage and said 5 PM everyone claps in their balcony to pay tribute to health workers. The whole nation came together. And it was a sight to witness; some of us took this to be a festival in itself (we Indians, I tell you!). To note is the power he showed right. Could he not have used the same power and same mike to stop the nation when there were people(Goons?) on the road with guns and lathis in the name of religion? The answer could be a politically justified one, while I am still trying to wrap my brain around it.
At this time, when everything is a lockdown, there are few things that are not . Your mind. Your hope to get past this. The time which is passing with you not having to do anything. Like the scientist are saying, this virus will come and hit us all and some of us might also give in to the virus. It is inevitable and no one can change that (probably even if you stay at home).
So, people, you have no choice. But. Be grateful that you have the NOW. Why don’t we all take a moment and Carpe Diem! It will be worth it.