Lessons learnt!

Hello! from one survivor to the other. Congratulations on surviving through all the global crisis happening around us. Pat your back boys and girls. Well, on a personal note, year 2020 was “supposed” to be an important year for me personally and professionally. So many things were planned and lined up in each and every month. Usually, (if you know me) I am a very laid back person be it anything, but somehow on the New Year’s Eve (while bidding 2019 a goodbye and welcoming 2020 with open arms) I was full of excitement and was ready to bring massive changes in my life. Who knew everything was going to come to a standstill.

Being a person who wants to learn or is always keen on taking away something positive from any situation that I am in, I started introspecting within myself about everything going on around me in this unusual time, while being quarantined. And as my title says, I did learn a few things, rather noticed that I have been ignoring or just taking some things for granted all this while. Then I thought are we all on the same page? Is everyone going through the same process or thinking alike? To find the answer to this question. I did ask few people around me, the things that they have learnt during this lockdown, which we have experienced never before or rather did not feel were important/worthy of acknowledgement.

I wish to sum it up all here, by sharing the top 5 things that this pandemic taught me, and also want to document it for life and maybe share it with my children and grandchildren, which might work as a guide or something for them and help them in surviving I in the completely different world they are going to be born in. I am aware that I am writing this down, still being in the middle of the crisis and before coming back to the normal life. I just want to check if we all are on the same page?

1.    Healthcare system: Despite of all our scientific claims and achievements in India as well as across the globe, we all are deeply unprepared to handle a pandemic. Diseases, does not indeed, know borders. This now is more vital to understand and recognize than ever. Do you think our frontline workers are well respected and paid? No. How about a budget re-evaluation on how much are we spending on doctors, nurses, scientists and on our overall healthcare system. Compared to the rest of the fields.

2.    Freedom: This has for sure taught us the value of freedom. Freedom to move, to travel, to be with those we love, to live in dignity and security.

3.    Relationships: The global pandemic has shown us how terrible it is to waste our time and lives, embroiled in endless battles for wealth, status and power. How terrible it really is not to recognize the value of people around us, not just our family and friends, our colleagues and fellow citizens, but of complete strangers as well. Take care of people, who take care of you.

4.    Money: Two months ago, one of the ways many of us measured our emotional well-being was through our material wealth. No one needs to be reminded that the virus has disrupted the economy and most of us are poorer than we were two months ago. Since the day I have started earning, I have felt safe when I have “enough” money. And how much is “enough”? has never been clearer to me, so I have answered it with “more”. The virus has changed this concept I had early on. Yes, saving money does help you, but will you be saved from the transmission of virus, if you are rich? Our wealth lies in our health from now on. The old Hindi saying goes something like this. “Sar salamat toh pagdi pachaas”. You can do everything you want to do, only if you are physically and mentally capable of doing it.

5.    Changed lifestyle: Self-isolated in our homes, we have moved our life onto the internet. Accompanied by the thoughts that we will not let this virus beat us. While, of course there is this “stay calm and carry on” approach, I also have a nagging sense that I am zooming away from lot of things and I wonder how I am going to make room for that. Certainly COVID-19 has changed our world and our lifestyle, I can zoom all I want, but I cannot meet my 3-year-old nephew, who is too young to realize and understand what is happening and why I am not at my grandparents place this summer. I can go online to see patients but I don’t have their very real physical presence to help me understand more deeply what they are going through. No amount of FB or Instagram will return the cancelled plans with my friends and family, which provided me deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. Maybe this very emptiness provides an opening and opportunity.

To end this, I think the post COVID-19 world offers many possibilities, including a dramatically reorganized set of priorities and engagements.