Adarsh Speaks

       When the first corona case came to Bangalore around the 2^nd week of March, the safest reaction my family decided to take was to send me off to Mysore.  Within a week of me being in Mysore, a nation-wide lockdown was implemented on March 25th resulting in the rest of my family coming to Mysore. I remember watching the live coverage of our PM Narendra Modi addressing the nation and imposing a complete lockdown for 21 days.

  People were starting to get scared from what the entire world had witnessed in Italy and Spain and began to understand the importance of lockdown as a precaution. We were hopeful that India as well as other nations would not do the same mistake and would contain the pandemic.

      During such times, I always like to ponder different perspectives from different people who may be in different scenarios and then start to define my own perspective in regard to myself. I could sympathise with people who were stuck far from home who had to live by themselves in an empty rented apartment or people who were stuck with others they might not like. At the same time I looked on the positive perspectives that families would now be able to spend more time together and those that really require a break finally would have gotten what they desperately needed.

Looking at these various angles made my situation seem much better and in a way very lucky. For me personally I was already used to being most of the time at home, but alone most of the day. This pandemic situation created the scenario where I continued being at home, but now not alone and I am with my entire family.  So in a way it was a win-win situation for me, included added bonuses like my own room, different and even sometimes exotic home cooked meals, a tropical lush garden with nice views, and the many dogs we had. It was a paradise lockdown for me.

  Of course, the longer the lockdown extended, the more and more eager I am to go out for socialising and for the lockdown to end with everything coming back to a different normal.

Many dining-table-discussions took place almost everyday resulting in yummy food on the table and “food for thought” topics, which are mentioned below:

1. The number of people dying from corona virus is quite less affecting mostly the elder and immunity sensitive people. At the same time the number of deaths due to road accidents, stress related deaths, and murder is much less. Hence it is fair to say that due to the pandemic lockdown there have been fewer deaths overall compared to a time when the corona pandemic wasn’t there. In other words, the pandemic is killing fewer people compared to deaths by other causes. 
   
2. More and more people are becoming educated about the importance of hygiene, staying away when someone has a cold, and understanding how germs spread. The proof seems to be that families that have followed the lockdown protocol have been seen to be the healthiest they have ever been.  Our own family is an example. Many ailments including minor issues have decreased or become none for each member of the family. Many issues of my own stopped, the major one being cough. For more than a month I haven’t used the cough assist machine. 
   
   Illiterate or uneducated people are using masks, hand sanitisers, and staying away from others who have a cold. They actually have been able to teach others about the spread of germs/viruses. In the same way, educated people who overlooked hygiene are now giving importance to take strict preventive measures against colds and the spreading of a cold.
   
3. The world is adapting to lockdown scenarios from social apps where simple games can be played live online while speaking to your group of friends like housparty, bunch, ludo, etc., to starting creative things at home, online classes, to more home delivery services, to work-at-home scenarios, to even starting virtual tours in famous world museums. People are learning, evolving, and adapting.
   
4. The pandemic has been a boon for the environment. There is significant less air and noise pollution from factories and vehicles, less industrial pollution to water bodies, and less carbon dioxide being produced. The proof is the increase of birds in our garden and cities, rivers and lakes becoming clearer, rebirth of dried up rivers, increase in wildlife, and more aquatic life. Even the number of animals being slaughtered for meat is less since people are scared to eat non-vegetarian food. Due to the lockdown, less animals are hunted, less sea animals fished for, and less livestock to raise and kill. There are enough reports and statistics showing the return of schools of fish and other wildlife.

These are all just observations I made. I am not trying to find a right or wrong answer, just merely stating some observations which one can ponder on.