Life in the Time of Corona! (Revised)

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

I thought I was done with my rebirth on a sisters’ only voyage to Vietnam, where I felt all my senses come alive once again…I felt light and untethered; full of love and life and a yearning to roam free. But dear Mother Earth, saturated with mankind’s relentless rampage, also had similar realisation about the same time. She also yearned for freedom and rebirth and so the virulent Corona was unleashed upon us locking us down in our very own concrete cages. And while we, her petulant and selfish children are forced to reckon with her rage, most of us are also gaining deep insights on life and what is really important and basic to our lives. Stripped bare off our extravaganzas, we are ‘re’-learning and growing as we shed each layer of superfluous materialistic want.

Inside our lockdowns, everything comes to a standstill, the mundane takes over and all of us line up to carry out our tasks like bots.  For me personally, initial shock and disbelief gave way to frustration and fear and soon I was dry of motivation and ideas, but eventually, it dawned on me again that rebirth is a process and it needs to happen continually regardless of the circumstance. We need to find inspiration in the routine as well as the anomalous, and most importantly, document and realise our ideas and thoughts through a medium most comfortable to us. In this regard, a few things knocked on my gates;

First, national prejudices; times like these also bring out national prejudices where we indulge in branding countries and people and impose our own pre-conceived notions of various nationalities. Let us realise one thing; “You know nothing, Jon Snow[i]!” People are people…they are the same everywhere. We have different traditions, ways of expression and culture, etc., however, beneath the skin and all the external paraphernalia, we are the same bundle of differences and uniqueness. Governments and individuals are however unpredictable; the good are good and the morons are morons everywhere regardless of time and place. I urge people to stay away from generalising, fear mongering, and passing judgments without facts.

Second, Carpe Diem[ii]! A reminder that our lives are transient in nature (and even if it is not and we continue to live for centuries); why don’t we ‘let’ all love freely and ‘responsibly’ in the time we have here. Love is something that doesn’t come easy. Blessed are those who find love and realise what they have! Let us go beyond social taboos and let consenting adults find their happiness in each other regardless of gender, caste, creed, colour, religion, etc.

Third, love thyself; Rebirth, regeneration, rejuvenation, detoxification, call it whatever you want, without love for self, nothing matters, nothing makes sense. So, indulge in some self-growth and self-learning. Read, write, cook, dance, paint, garden, talk, just indulge your fancies and hobbies.

And now, I want to thank our Indian government for prompt and decisive actions in the face of such an invasion. Many people are ready with spears to poke and criticise and find loopholes, but I believe that this time, it was our own irresponsible citizens who were irreverent to government directives and broke the quarantine and spread the malaise( individuals who were stamped for home quarantine and who went ahead and travelled in the train and attended weddings and social events).If only they had followed the directions given at the airport, perhaps we could have avoided a lengthy lockdown today. There were of course a few who can be absolved as they were genuinely unaware of the seriousness of the situation and unwittingly infected all who came in contact. A big salute to our emergency and essential services and defence forces who are carrying out their duties and drills, preparing for all eventualities.

So, people out there, please act responsible! PLEASE! Let us bring this ill to a standstill!

---

[i] "You Know Nothing, Jon Snow" is a quote attributed to the Wildling character Ygritte from George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire.

[ii] Carpe diem is a Latin aphorism, from book 1 of the Roman poet Horace's work Odes (23 BC),which literally means "pluck the day," and was used by the Roman poet Horace to express the idea that we should enjoy life while we can. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carpe%20diem