I was supposed to fly to Europe in four days, but instead I was sitting in my flat in Mumbai, counting the number of masks I had and wondering how to ship them out before a probable lockdown was announced.
PGP at ISB was supposed to start on April 13, and I was contemplating whether it made sense to do that amidst the doom and gloom of Covid-19. It’s comical to think that banging plates could drive away the virus – it surely drove away our collective rationality. Making memes remained fun until soon it wasn’t funny.
The newfound leisure gave way to alumni meetups over Zoom meetings, and we were thrown into the puddle of working without the need to go to the office. We were exposed to a barrage of media rumbles and webinars.
In times of distress, I remind myself of how we collectively overcame it, especially during the second wave. I still think about the random calls I used to receive about work and food because I was working on an initiative to feed people in containment zones. The late-night calls used to haunt me and make me feel utterly helpless in that context. The lockdown may have contained the virus for the time being, but it took away people’s self-respect and drove us into collective chaos, the emotional ramifications of which we are still dealing with.
Since then, every Gudi Padwa, I have wished that the virus goes away and that we come out of this chaos stronger and wiser. The last few years have left a lot of trauma on humanity, and I sincerely hope that we learn from it and act on it.
It has been three years since Junta Curfew, and today is Gudi Padwa. I hope this new year truly puts behind us the shadows of Covid-19 and the macro-economic situation and that the world comes out more resilient.
“There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
terra incognita 