Sitting in our drawing room with our family scrolling through different news channels to check the progress on COVID-19 has become our new normal. With each passing day, we are eagerly waiting for the lockdown to get over so that we can step out of our home. Well, the kind of lifestyle we have been living in this 21st century, it must have been difficult for many of us to stay at home but when it comes to our health, we cannot compromise it with any other thing.
Like we say in hindi, “Jaan hai toh Jahan hai”
A few lines of the famous poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ by Pablo Neruda stands very relevant in the present scenario giving us a chance to introspect and ask ourselves: Is this a critical juncture for a new future to begin?
“And now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.”
The lockdown seems to make our nature happy. The rivers are getting cleaner. The sky is bright with blue. We are inhaling better air. Birds are not getting scared. Animals are roaming with much freedom. The ozone is getting repaired. But wait! Will this last forever? Maybe not. Once again, we will go out after the end of lockdown. Once again the factories will start dumping their waste into rivers. Once again the roads will be jammed with thousands of vehicles exhaling out toxins into the air and once again the animals will go and hide. All these would be because we humans are too selfish and forget that this is the only planet we have to live in.
Despite such pessimism, there’s some hope for being optimistic by thinking that many of us must have learnt something during this lockdown. The most significant being our health and hygiene. Many of us have started paying attention to our eating habits and maintaining our personal hygiene but we should not restrain ourselves to this being just personal. It is equally important to keep our surroundings clean.
The lockdown has certainly put a pause on our physical movement but not on our jobs. Employees have been working digitally. Education too has gone digital with classes being conducted online. This is certainly a good way forward. The future of digital era now seems to be becoming a thing of the present.
Well, amid attending online meetings and classes, have you given a thought as to why we have been positive with a hope that we will win over this pandemic? That’s certainly because we have been standing together in this fight against coronavirus. The source of this hope lies in the way we have been showing solidarity and the way our doctors, police and essential servicemen have been working relentlessly to put an end to this pandemic. Prioritising community over individual leads to prosperous humanity and we are on its way.
The lockdown has changed many of us in many ways. We have started experiencing a new lifestyle. We have started giving time to our family. Many of us have been helping our mothers in household work. We are paying more attention to the beautiful nature around us. They are devoting more time for introspection. This reflects a shift away from being materialistic. Can we hope for this to remain the same? Can we hope to be naturalistic, even after the lockdown?
Certainly yes, because where there’s hope, there’s a will to change. Let us all, therefore, hope we think a little more, love a little more and protect our planet a little more because we can go anywhere in this world but we cannot escape this world.