No one is truly prepared for a pandemic. Humanity has advanced so much that at this point we expect to conquer all, and eventually we will. But nature is such that, we cannot plan for all outcomes.
Covid19 is the greatest example of that. There is no set cycle for an occurrence of a pandemic. Sometimes the gap is 3 years and sometimes it’s even 56 years. We cannot even predict how long it will last; the Black Plague lasted from 1346–1353. So, it’s not a matter of if but when the next pandemic will occur.
When Covid19 began, most thought it was China’s problem, they will deal with it. Even I didn’t expect it to arrive all the way here.
There I was, wrapping up the last of my days work when one of my colleagues came running in, waving around her phone wildly, “Look! Look! Three travellers were reported positive!”. Everyone gasped in shock. It lasted for five minutes, and everyone returned to their task. We thought it would be controlled quickly. It wasn’t.
Humans are touch happy creatures. It is to be expected. In a day we touch so many things, from our phones early in the mornings – social media check is a must – to random objects for no reason. So, it was no big shock that the virus spread through various objects.
Paranoia was noticeable immediately, no one wanted to shake hands. Morning greeting consisted of stiff nods and uneasy smiles. And God forbid if someone coughed!
I never ran out of hand sanitizers so quickly. My classrooms door handle was guaranteed to catch fire if you held a candle to it. The school was disinfected so much that it carried a distinct hospital like scent.
I recall a woman furiously wiping her fruits and vegetables with sanitizer before purchasing them. I guiltily stared down at my own unwiped groceries.
Even though we took up so many measures, it was too late. The numbers continued to increase alarmingly. Hence came the lockdown. This was where the feeling of helplessness set in.
We never know how much we need the noise of people until its missing. I am an introvert, I never require excessive company in order to function, yet I missed it.
I missed the malls, I missed the bookstores, but most of all I missed my classroom.
Staring outside the window, and seeing the empty streets? It looked like the opening to The Walking Dead. I could understand why we had to do it, but it was still saddening.
The oddest part was when people started coming up with the most absurd cures for Covid19. Some believed clanging together utensils in groups would keep it at bay, why? Could Covid19 be repelled by noise pollution? Some drank bleach of all things. I guess it is understandable that fear drives you to frustration and lends hand to desperate measures.
The worst happened when my grandfathers had passed away and we had to fly during the pandemic. This was before they decided to close air travel. We reached there safely but were unable to return for nearly a year.
My family was lucky in that we had supportive people around us. It was easy to give into depression when you are unable to find your way home to your family and friends. But the right support helped keep us afloat.
Since everything was online, I was able to work remotely. This kept my mind off of a lot of things. My marriage was arranged during this time, I was supposed to be married – more on this later – but due to certain reasons I had to break it off. So, it was a bit of dark time for me. It’s truly surprising how even during the worst of times, selfishness manages to crawl out of people. Covid19 taught me that lesson in spades.
I had the opportunity to see the worst in the best of people during this time. It’s the isolation I feel. When people spend most of their time with themselves and are unable to go anywhere, they only have their thoughts to deal with and then they choose to lash out.
An idle mind is a devil’s workshop they say, and it proved true during the lockdown. I took up writing as a hobby. It started as a simple need to arrange my thoughts and it only grew from there.
Covid didn’t just show the worst of humanity though. It showed so much good too. There were so many who came forward to help and just be there if we needed one another. This is why humanity continues to thrive, its relentless need to keep afloat.
The easiest way to get past this is to take it one step at a time. We can choose to be frustrated at all the repeated lockdowns and go nowhere or just keep going one step at a time. We cannot change what happens around us, but we can change the way we deal with it.
