Let’s imagine a situation that you are traveling in a flight. Before the take-off, the air hostess gives the standard safety instructions while you are on the board. However, you have no control over what would happen in the mid-air. We can only follow the safely instructions, help our fellow passengers and leave the rest.

The above example can be said regarding COVID 19 pandemic also. It can be axiomatic to say that there are no definite answers to the various questions being raised on the COVID 19 pandemic – how this has come; how long this will prevail; when a vaccine will be discovered; what would be life in the post-recovery period; etc. The more we delve deep on these issues, the more intricate questions will emerge.

Hence, the most appropriate way to deal with the situation is to strictly follow the instructions and look after the safety of you, your family members and try to help others who are in need of support.

Instead of crying wolf in this challenging time, we need to understand one basic principle that we cannot change a situation, we can only try to adjust our life to cope up with the situation – to give a simple example, instead of asking for favourite vegetables and groceries, we will have to manage with whatever is available with us.

While staying at home (and opting for work from home in my case), this trying period can also be converted into an opportunity for doing many things that we have been thinking of doing for quite some time. Keeping this in mind, some of the initiatives that I have taken are narrated below.

· Apart from reading newspapers online, I have been reading some books which I could not read earlier.

· Spending at least one hour each in the morning, as well as evening, in doing some exercise/yoga.

· Many valuable information/ videos are available on the Youtube to watch and you can choose your favourite topic.

· Constantly keeping in touch with all family members. Last week, we had a wonderful experience of having a zoom call with all family members (about 30 members) who are located in different parts of the globe. Needless to say, apart from knowing the update, such calls will go a long way in strengthening the family bonding.

· Spending more time with family members and viewing films which have won several awards (particularly some films which have not shown in theatres).

The above are only “indicative” and not “exhaustive”, and we can see many things as we go along. It goes without saying that we provide whatever possible help to the needy people through social organisations.

There is no doubt at all that there will be substantial changes in all walks of our life in post-recovery period, both in India and abroad. Apart from the economic slow-down, we will have to face many physiological problems like many families would be left in a lurch with their members passed away during this time. However, since we are at a loss to know as to how long the current situation will prevail, at this juncture, we will not able to do any crystal ball gazing, and imagine the gravity of the situation, though our high-brow economists are analyzing and predicting the recovery in different shapes – V, W, U, L, etc. The pendulum of power may swing to the other side. This will have cascading effects on many Indians working abroad, deciding to return to India, either voluntarily or compulsorily due to loss of job.

The Covid 19 situation also taught us another lesson. There was perception that in the Western world, all are safe and that thanks to their effective medical schemes and social security system, all age-old people would be looked after well. Also, they, being developed countries, are able to cope up with any calamity. However, we have now seen how the realty on the ground is different from perceptions.

As I conclude, I am reminded of a story. There was a banyan tree which lived for almost 400 years. During this long period, there were many storms, cyclones, torrential rains, etc. However, this tree withstood all these extreme conditions and natural calamities. One day, it was uprooted. The reason was simple – there were small insects which started eating the bark of the tree, and ultimately, one day it fell down. Similarly, some of the so-called developed countries in the world fell prey to this small virus which was not even seen by the normal eye. A related lesson – in spite of all our achievements and tall pronouncements, how fragile we are in this world!

To sum up, the Covid-19 is an unprecedented one which will have cascading effects on all walks of life. The best way to arrest the situation is to strictly abide the rules, thereby becoming a self-made soldier in this war. Thanks to the effective measures taken by the Governments – both Central and States – and backed up by the dedicated work of medical and police teams, let us all hope that we will surpass this calamity also with less damage (as compared with other countries), and that life will soon be rejuvenated to normalcy. Let our current mantra be – Stay home, Stay safe and learn more!