Making some decisions under the duress of a compulsory shutdown with the fear of an unseen, unknown virus towering over us, is not easy. Yet I did take one decision of not letting this virus define my future.
With this simple yet substantive decision, I redeemed my life from COVID 19.
I am not going to be dramatic nor shall throw all caution to the wind; neither am I going to say the oft used dialogue of melodrama that we are to all die one day, anyway!
I plan to live my life from my not so far away past. I plan to re-calibre my abilities to what I learnt as a child. I plan to assess the magnitude of the fallout of my actions more minutely now, before I act; on anything! I plan to increase my competence with sustainability. I plan to standardize certain procedures of hygiene, self-care and cleanliness for all around my immediate vicinity, enforce the same whether they are liked or not. I plan to capacity build on new support systems for all those who may need our help beyond the new normal. I plan to benchmark, paradigm shift ideas for the atypical thought processes needed, now.
My plans are in place already as I have started to accept that nothing shall ever be the same again. I have acceded that sustaining our environment and making it help us to become self- reliant is now no more talk of fancy conferences and get-togethers but the only way. I have come to recognise that lifestyle changes for a better us aren’t anymore clichés from talks by self-styled gurus (most of whom never practise what they preach – but that’s for another Blog piece!) I admit that talk of leaving a little small ‘carbon-footprint’ will never be scoffed at by non-believers. I acknowledge that our time with arm-chair experts and stupidity doyens will exasperate us more. I subscribe to the view fully, that we need to use this time to ourselves to think of innovative ways to re-invent and re-position ourselves in our lives.
Many have already upstarted the others. Many more are sharpening their knives and dusting off the cobwebs and honing their skills at whatever they thought they were, also good at. For trying is the key word here. You never know what may work finally. And that would be the success story of the post COVID 19 times.
Thus, the life and times, I knew off are already gone. They began to go as news of this virus started to bring us to our knees. They have been going away since we are in a lock-down. I thus have no expectations from my current state of despair because it is only playing its part well.
It’s up to me and us to get out of it and snap ourselves into newer, adaptable but long-standing erstwhile methodology & approach.
Where people used what they wanted, and greed wasn’t so accepted.
Where nations produced a large amount of what their populations wanted without bringing in ‘lifestyles’ which weren’t a way of life.
Where students studied with their teachers without too many fancy accompaniments except knowledge and experience and passion.
Where being simple was a characteristic of values & upbringing and flaunting money was considered crass.
I hope that the rich and famous would have realised in the last 21 days something which money, education (so called), fame, prestige, the ‘who’s who lists, power and politics hasn’t been able to teach them in their lifetimes. That there’s no place to go to, to hide anymore. That money cannot buy them the best health care because none exists in face of this virus. That being at home, cooking, cleaning, baking, exercising, cutting hair, labelling, skype-ing were normal everyday activities for 90% of the world’s population and it was this 10% of them who had cornered the luxury of no-work. That the ‘essential services’ are the only ‘constant’ required to make life workable, the rest is unnecessarily ‘extra’, for which many of them do not even pay for through taxes (which they generally evade). That the ‘heart’ that many have suddenly discovered beating inside their bodies should have felt something when the discrepancies of the underserved, under-privileged sections glared at them through under-staffed, poorly maintained government schools, homeless on the roads, migrant workers making their mansions, the slums as they stared out of their balconies with a drink in their hands, or broke the law impudently and then tried to manage the path of justice.
I hope endlessly, for though my list is never-ending so is my optimism.
Yet I have no expectations from many around me for once the corona is go, going, gone, I doubt we’d remember these lessons.
( Now for the uninitiated this a painting art form from an eastern state of our country: Bihar)
But my story isn’t about the painting form but the fact that my 8 year old nephew tried to do this painting as a hobby with such patience of those small minute lines on the side of the sketch. It goes on to tell me that with time on hand, the right channeling of energies can lead to great works of art and mind.
Hope everyone is listening: Channelize your energies into something which leads to positive outcomes – immediately or sometime on!
As I was told last night when it was sent to me, I agree that the face does bring an instant smile on our face – what more do we require in these scary times of COVID 19?
I plan to go back to simpler from my already simple wants in life.
Are you with me? Or rather, who’s with me on this?
Wickedlyours 