The new normal...

We have heard normal is boring and yet here we are after more than 90 days being locked down hoping for a normal.

In all probability the new normal will not be boring but can be terrifying. What is scary is the collateral damage that this pandemic has inflicted on us. Loss of jobs, pay cuts aside, there is the loss of livelihoods of the hidden population who are invisible to the common eye. I remember the pain on the face of the iron man, (not the Marvel one) in a normal week he would be carrying a large bundle of clothes for ironing but now there are no clothes to be ironed. His smiling face could not mask the resigned acceptance of possibly hungry days ahead.

This lockdown has shown us how much of our time, energy and resources we used to spend on non-essentials and how we can survive fairly well without them. This lockdown has also taught us that communication networks and devices are essentials and in many homes, one device is just not enough. India may have more mobile phones than toilets but we now know that both are inadequate. Why toilets? In home quarantine and in isolation, an additional toilet will be such a blessing for those who can access it, so that the infection is not spread to the other members in the household.

Education and religion have both moved home. In hindsight it may be a blessing. More than the limited Zoom classes the home schooling and self study without the examinations may actually have a lasting impact on the children in my personal opinion; though the fellowship of classroom and playgrounds will be sorely missed. Religion is getting more personal, more intimate, removing the middle men and hopefully it will bring God and man closer.

Non-essential jobs will face an existential crisis, by non-essential any product or service that we have managed without in the 90 and more days are in the danger of shutting down or changing. How many would have imagined that Zoom will be the biggest competitor for an airline?

Critical jobs will flourish and grow, more importantly they need to be acknowledged, appreciated, compensated and adequately rewarded. The farmers, milkmen, delivery boys, electricity and telecom maintenance crews, sanitation workers, public utility workers, banking and financial services staff, media personnel, police and lastly the medical fraternity; these people worked when others could not, they put themselves at risk when we took it easy.  There may be more hidden workers who could have been missed in the list but if they worked at their workplace when we worked from home they qualify to be there in the list of people to be appreciated.

In time we will come to accept this disease for what it is; just a disease that can be fatal to a minuscule few. Most diseases have the same characters but COVID19 does not come with a vaccine or cure so the pandemic. It may come from acceptance, frustration or annoyance but we will overcome the fear of this virus one day even if a vaccine is yet to be found.

The normal is ahead, hopefully we will be able to recognize it and accept it because it will not be like anything we have seen before.

Are we ready?