An unforseen Pandemic!

 

 It was somewhere around mid February when I first heard the word "Coronavirus" and how this is spreading at an alarming rate in Wuhan, China with a threatening mortality rate. Totally oblivious of what the future holds for the whole mankind, I had an opinion that it won't affect anyone's life in India, let alone people of other countries, just like at the time of Ebola virus or influenza epidemic, which didn't have any serious consequences.

Around march as some Corona positive cases appeared in Southern India, it became the central topic of conversation. Some were saying that we should take serious precautions to save ourselves, others were saying it is not that big a deal. Around 15th March, 2020 our quizzes got postponed and we were all sent home for a fortnight, completely unaware that we won't be seeing our friends and college for almost an year! On 24th March, 2020, A complete lock down was imposed on the entire country to reduce the spread and not overwhelm the healthcare facilities. Lock down, Quarantine, Social-distancing, wearing masks were some of the norms that became an integral part of everyone's life. No one in the world was spared as an Epidemic got converted to a full-fledged Pandemic and everyone in the world got imprisoned at their homes.

Economy got hit badly, everywhere, and millions of people lost their jobs, putting them and their families in a financial crisis and mental trauma. I even read and heard hundreds of stories where even highly educated people are asking for menial jobs to earn bread and butter for their families. The conditions were really bad, a lot of people have suffered from this deadly virus which engulfed millions of people. IT sector was luckily not severely affected as the "Work-from-home" (remote working) became the new norm.

This time has showed that even while living in an era of so-called advanced technology, the future is still so much unpredictable. No one in their dreams would have thought that a virus can cause such a huge destruction in the 21st Century. Lower and Middle class were the worse hit ones, but now everyone is trying to adhere to the new normal, trying to see a ray of light in the darkness that this virus has created. Virtual meeting, online education, online hobby classes and games are getting extensively used to keep the system running. There is lot of importance of technology to cope up with this new normal.

As a popular saying, "There is nothing totally bad or good", there were some positive aspects to the lock down as well. People got to time to relax and introspect their lives, to spend quality time with their families and close friends, cultivating new hobbies and becoming more kind towards each other. We should be grateful towards our health everyday, and for all the things that we have, which were snatched from many people in this pandemic. In other words, we are reminded to be more humane and helpful, as this is what the world needs right now!