Why ‘action’ is the new buzz word!

Every time we saw or heard of something great, we wished it would be done in our country. Or would be done in a similar way in our country. I have found myself wishing thus, several times for many things.

It was at Changi airport once, when the traveller in front of me let out a shriek because she was the ‘millionth’ passenger – poor me of course! But I have passed through our airports a million times I am sure but never has our country done anything like that ever. It could also be for domestic passengers, for agreed we aren’t an international hub like Changi.

But its not about what we are but about valid, tangible ‘actions’ – a word which itself is explanatory. “The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim”. Wow! (and that’s from Google baba)

In the midst of COVID 19 disrupting our lives in in-explainable ways and exposing the larger public un-awareness about basic things or routines along with the newer breed of insensitive ‘covidiot’ – still on Microsoft word’s list of spelling errors, though shan’t take too long to find its way to our legit word banks – we should realize that the word: ACTION takes on a whole new meaning and importance.

We have a central government taking ‘action’.

We have a state one too, taking lots of ‘action’.

We have individuals and organisations either educating people, spreading awareness, helping in taking care of the sick, maintaining essential services – all taking ‘action’.

We then have the ‘gyan-batu’( = spreading knowledge) types who are generating lots of info on the social media platforms – filtering it is up to us – but taking ‘action’.

We have the celebrities worldwide spreading awareness and telling the world how this virus has grounded us but there’s a silver lining there as well, – they are taking ‘action’.

We have others updating us about the virus which they have caught already and are going into quarantine, also how it is in isolation and what one can do to keep one busy & happy & positive – definitely taking ‘action’.

We also have the horror stories from our own country of the pathetic ‘quarantine’ facilities which were jump-started because of the overwhelming nature of the pandemic and since maintaining anything isn’t in the national fabric of our collective psyche, obviously things are bad and people are preferring to hide or go AWOI (I am replacing the word ‘leave’ here with ‘information’) but yet that should be categorised as ‘action’.

We have the few jobless like me who are loving this extraordinary time because it sends out less number of guilt pangs at sitting without suitable ‘action’ but with an amazing set of ideas to help put up information which otherwise I would not have had time to configure and make – thus, taking ‘action’.

With this cute but innocuous word suddenly gaining importance, I’m hoping that taking ‘action’ will become our new mantra in this ongoing onslaught of COVID 19 and even in its aftermath.

Action against apathy.

Action against ‘chalta hai’ attitudes. (chalta hai = its ok, so what)

Action against the fast-paced life which has become devoid of any grounding to reality.

Action against a constant wish to ‘quick-fix’ everything in life from meals to relationships.

Action against a ‘filter-used/photo-shopped’ existence as opposed to valuing love and authenticity and honest and original.

Action against contrived and engineered intentions.

Action against half-hearted attempts at everything.

Action against a short-term public memory and sensationalising by bringing alive the adage: A mountain out of a molehill.

After years of a machinated and unnatural existence with false expectations from friends, wife, husband, children, work, family in an artificial environment of anomalous growth coupled with an aberrant understanding of ourselves in the midst of abnormal times with inexplicable demands on human performance – it is hardly surprising that COVID 19, which actually requires more common sense than anything else to deal with its exponential growth, has bought the world to its knees.

Like our planet, I am grounded too but I am reaffirming to those known to me something which I have always done, professed to do and shall continue to do till I am alive: Take ACTION!