A time to remember forever

The buzz word, Corona, has invaded our ordinary lives to such an extent that at times it becomes hard to recollect the days sans the Corona.

Was it just a few weeks ago that we were blissfully going about our routines, driving vehicles and travelling on the roads ? Were we indeed visiting temples, churches, gurudwaras and mosques for a one-on-one with the Almighty, or attending fun filled weddings and birthday parties?

We hear now of playgrounds, libraries, parks, military convention centres and trains being converted into quarantine shelters.

Buses are plied only to transport the distraught migrant workers who otherwise have resorted to trekking the long road to their homes, only to be greeted by disinfectant sprays like they were bugs and roaches.

The world is dancing to only one tune, the Covid's. The crowds thronging the mouth watering street food stalls of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and those of smaller towns like Hubli, have disappeared as the businesses have shut down.

The towns and cities appear ghostly with no vehicular traffic and very few pedestrians. Precious lives have been lost and the world is down on its knees trying to save the rest.

Who would have imagined that the mighty US would one day be begging for medical supplies and health support staff? The vibrant Europe is fading away due to the wrath of the mighty Covid. The third world war has started with the whole world up against a single invisible enemy.

But wait, does not every situation teach us a meaningful lesson? The Covid dark cloud has brought home the fact that life is transient and nothing is lasting, to be taken for granted. The world economy has become a boomeranged rocket.

Money, jewellery, costly outfits, mansions seem petty and worthless when a human, a social animal, is asked to practice social distancing and isolation, specially so in a culturally diverse nation like India.

Greed, jealousy, selfishness, competition, seem meaningless in the bigger scheme of things. But the lesson here is that man rises above such mundane preoccupations while faced with the extraordinary vicissitudes of nature.

People have come up with novel ideas to break the monotony of the four walls, even as the goal of every human today is to preserve his or her life as those of the dear ones.

Thanks to the untiring efforts of the heroic media professionals, even at these dire times, we get to hear and read of current affairs with Covid taking centre stage.

Our spirits are uplifted that people are pitching in with whatever help possible, to the needy and helpless, which include stray animals along with homeless humans. There is an unsung hero arising in every pocket of the pandemic hit areas.

The doctors, nurses, paramedics, the frontline health care and sanitation workers, and the police, are true warriors fighting 24x7 to save the victims and potential victims. The world is united against a single enemy, the parasite.

The scientists worldwide are the wizards who are toiling to invent indigenous medical support kits - as the IISc scientists have done - and burning the midnight oil to find a cure for the deadly molecule.

The world need not concede defeat, not at all, as it boasts of ingenious human brains, and it is a matter of time before the denouement is enacted and the virus is annihilated.

Till then each one needs to exercise patience, stay safe wherever each one is, and maintain the faith that as nothing is lasting it stands that Corona too will tire of its game and us, and bid goodbye.