COVID-19 | HUMANITY 2020 - OUR THANOS MOMENT

Covid-19 | How are you dealing with it?

A pandemic? Wrath of nature? Science gone wrong? Or just another day in the life of this enormous planet we call home. For the likes of those having the Avengers series bug in them, this episode that we are part of for the past 3 to 4 months feels more like the making of the prophecy. Life as we know it needs a restart!

Well the last statement would resonate with I feel, all. The initial few days of listening to all the news that was happening all around, it felt like a problem that is happening somewhere with someone at someplace. Slowly things started to move to the first week of March 2020 and it started to feel that the concerns of Covid-19 were reaching nearer with every passing moment.

LEARNING OF A NATION

Then there was the final call of the nation, standing still for an entire day with the Janta Curfew to have the sampling done for Covid-19 pandemic. That was the time when it seemed for sure that what we had at hand was indeed something that was here to stay for sometime. Mostly all of us knew that the day was just a sampling case and the actual marathon was possibly about to be called for, post the sampling experience.

Alas, the marathon started out exactly after the initial sampling success and failures. All the information that was coming through about Covid-19 was more than one could possibly process with full calibration. For the working lot there was a new paradigm that was about to be tried. For the retail businesses there was an oddity to look at that they had never before ever contemplated. For families it was a time that became a silver lining as it allowed many to keep pace with the happenings of each other's life stories.

CHANGES ABOUND

Well most people started to have an understanding of WFH for the first time due to Covid-19. For the more fortunate, or rather the opposite, who are unaware of the term, the possibility is high that either you are deeply affected like the many in our nation who are left with no source of revenue. Or possibly you belong to that paradigm of current time who belong to the kind who are unaffected. For the latter it's more like ‘a day in the life of’ kind of stories. For the former rest the lock-down is bringing about a new learning. I consider myself to be in the latter kind as not much is affected. My professional assignment keeps me busy for almost similar hours but yes the additional time at hand allows one to sit and self-muse!

With days passing new things are understood. Some old passions reignite. Many reasoning's get clearer which had in the past, a lot of possible haze in them. Some interesting trends started to formulate. Many things that we as people would have loved to see happen are getting evidentially visual. Let's look at some such noting's, shall we!

• The doomsday is here.

Humanity is about to repay its bad deeds. The current-yug is the kalyug that is so much read and written about. But is it! Nay to the doom-sayers.

• The randomized patriotism

This used to come about as an annual repetition, seems to be becoming the norm and the new normal. The only difference is that it's an hourly trend now.

• Pride in one’s nation

When was it that we as a nation felt pride in what our country achieved? Covid19 and it's management seems to have brought about the general sense of pride in every Indian and possible equal envy in the world around. Jury would be out soon on this.

• Public service

The sense of doing public good. Talking about it and rather not talking about it but rather doing it has also been seen as something that is a part and parcel of life.

• We share this world

The understanding that we are cohabitants of this enormous life source we call our planet is quite evident. With people finding some interesting realities that are possibly hidden to our third eye.

• Money is just a tool

The acceptance that money is needed for the essentials and is enough to be able to do good for others too. Hoarding is not something that we are made to do. But that's what different phases of human civilization brought to the forefront.

• Share with cohabitors

We might just take this learning forward. Sharing our bounty with other cohabitors makes us feel better and worthy. Be it inter-species or intra-species.

• Freedom is mine

The feeling of having the freedom to move about as one pleases is a legacy we need to respect and cherish. It also gives about the thought of replication of such a benefit to all forms of life.

• My bestie

Finding time for self. Be it exercising, be it following a passion or building a new one. Be it sharing some chat sessions with family. The bond helps us make a smaller world through physical distances might be quite far.

• Work hours and productivity

The fact that the concept of 9-12hrs work days that the industrial revolution brought onto humankind is not the ideal way of attaining productivity, possibly. Even a few productive hours to a half-a-day's work could bring about the same levels or even better, at value creation or addition.

• Work satisfaction

Realizing that having a job or work, though may give lesser money, but a choice of working hours - both quantity wise and the slots, would still render great satisfaction and security. Certain people will find it difficult going back to the 9-5 schedules. And more so being part of the rat race!

• True identities

Understanding the realness of people around. Whether social, personal or professional levels - this is a time where a lot of us would have seen and understood the real personality of those one tries to embody. Certain shocks and certain awes are in the offing.

FINDING YOUR MATCH

Certain cases in point that each person you would have interacted with or observed during this time of Covid-19 that is at hand can be classified into a few sets that come to my mind. There could be more or some could be overlapping. However at the time of segmenting these types I could list the following down:

1. I need to do good. I need to be contributing - The insanely contributors
2. All is well. This keeps happening. Money is more important than being paranoid. We need to save the economy, our known way of life - The insanely capitalists
3. I am an island. Safe and secure in my surroundings (bubble). I can override any calamity that I am about to face. The insanely nomads
4. I know everything. When this virus happened. How it was caused. How it can be controlled. I know the way forward. I am sarvochch svaamee - The baba’s and the sadhvi’s that are hidden in many among us
5. I need to motivate (control) my flock. If I allow them space during this time I will lose them and they will be a lost cause for me. I can change their thoughts and keep them happy - The insanely motivated
6. I can get some limelight for myself. It is a good opportunity to get heard. With so much silence it's a good time to be loud - The insane hogs among us
7. I need to use this time to self heal. To introspect. I need to use this time to be a better me - The insane self-muser

This list could go on and further. The more I think about it the more I may categorize people and personalities. Even possibly match them up against the kind they fall within. However there is a transition also that I can see. People who started from one set and moved to become a different set. All possibly because of the experiences that they had during this time of control. With the world being confined to their homes and a lot of time at hand to think or the lack of it, there are episodic instances that each among us has gone through.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNINGS

The interesting learning from the Covid-19 pandemic one can gain from all this are what are the positives that one is coming across with. The good time you have to spend with someone you love, or something you love. The nuances of life around that you get exposed to. Maybe the feeling of contentment when you cook for yourself or your loved ones and feel satisfied looking at an empty plate. Maybe spending time cleaning and culturing that helps you acknowledge how these ‘mundane’ things of life are so difficult to execute every single day of one's life. The new found appreciation that you have of yourself. And equally of everyone around you who helps you to survive and propagate.

I hope you have had the time during this phase to have had time

• for your work
• for your pets
• for your family
• for your daily chores
• for your long lost liking
• for a passion that remained buried all this long
• and of course the most important - some time for having a cup of hot coffee with your self musing

So is it a time that the great Thanos propagated - “I will shred this universe down to its last atom, and then, create a new one, teaming with life that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given”

Of a more apt one at this juncture would be “When I’m done, half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.”

WILL LIFE COME AROUND

Covid-19 is something that will be remembered. How deeply, well that's a story for another day. After all - human thought is shallow than we accept. We may soon forget what we might gain from this ‘pandemic’ the world calls it. Not specifically some would say. How can I blatantly disregard all human species! Well as a matter of biology and history it is not a fallacy, so the jury remains out on it.

Do we keep looking out for information on Covid-19 and its related news as it folds anymore. I choose to just keep some info of near about and let go of the thought of what kind of dumb stuff is happening around that we can’t control. Just focus on our near and dear ones. Just focus on the learning we have gained and stand to gain. For us it's the first experience account facing something like Covid-19. But for humankind or rather life this is how it has been. Always! Life keeps altering. It keeps moving forward.

Inspire whom you can to follow basics, if you, yourself do. Even if the human race is doomed, so be it. We have our "Thanos" moment you could say. All through history of life such inflection points have come. The only difference is we are connected this time around. Too connected one would say. Lets be less connected and focus only on what is in our individual control. Lets let go of this megalomania of being all and one. This is what life asks us to accept and believe.