Shivangani Sharma
“There is in worst of fortunes the best chances for a happy change”, said Euripedes and it might rather seem offbeat as we witness the chaos and mayhem prevailing in the world, all thanks to the invisible enemy-COVID-19, or Novel Coronavirus as we call it. But if thought of carefully, I feel the words of Euripedes hold relevance in the prevailing scenario. No doubt each day starts with the horrific news of the Novel Coronavirus sweeping across the nations with its invisible yet dreadful mighty presence. Countless people being infected worldwide, thousands of them losing lives, and yet so many others who are confined within the four walls of their houses. Perhaps such testing times call for a rethinking of changing our mindset and attitudes in life. There is no denying the fact the prevailing situation is challenging and apart from physical health, behavioural health is an equally important concern.
To contain the spread of pandemic leading to further severe situation as is already being witnessed in Italy, Spain, USA, and so on, the government of India is adopting several stringent measures such as shelter in places, isolating the infected individuals, quarantining the potentially infected ones, self quarantining at home and social distancing at the personal level. Each of these measures brings forth various challenges, be it social, legal, moral or psychological. Staying confined within the four walls of the house when almost each one of us is used to fast-moving lifestyles proves rather challenging. But why not look at the break in the clouds and look at this quarantine time as an opportunity to rethink the ways we have been leading our lives. The physical activity being put at a halt, this is the time to exhaust mentally.
Getting so much time to ponder over various issues, one thing that strikes me, is whether all that we witness today is a result of man’s selfish extravagance? It might rather appear paradoxical to look at the positives in this alarming scenario but why not widen the perspective and rethink as we get ample time to do so now. As human beings are locked inside, other forms of life are getting to breathe freely. The rush of daily life, with hordes of people walking around, the honking of vehicles, clouds of smoke engulfing the sky, all of it being put to slumber, the other forms of life are walking around with a fearless gait. Perhaps nature is claiming what is rightfully hers. Italy’s coast witnessed the dolphins near the shore, owing to the lack of ship and cargo traffic, mobs of monkeys are found roaming on the streets of Thailand and Japan, varieties of wild species are walking fancy-free on the roads of Uttarakhand. Blue sky, clearer waters, birds chirping in the garden is what can be seen as a positive change wrought by the otherwise horrible invisible enemy. Not to downplay the current tragic situation, but we must try to look at the positive side of this interruption. The prevailing situation certainly lends us a chance to make a critical shift in the way we think about human life, nature, and the co-relation between them. This is the time and opportunity to discern early on the possible avenues leading to a renegotiated pact with Mother Nature. We human beings are the product of the environment in which we live and thrive. This sudden stroke from self-serving individualism to a sudden state of emergency, from denial to quarantine is perhaps the response of that invisible power. The eerie panoramas of deserted streets, the railway stations, and airports which used to be hustling with hordes of people, picturesque tourist spots left devoid of any human presence present before us an opportunity to ponder over the value of all that we take for granted.
The prevailing scenario goes in line with what Camus wrote in 1947 in The Plague, in which he talks about the plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran, “It was as though the very soil on which our houses were built was purging itself of an excess of bile, that it was letting boils and abscesses rise to the surface, which up to then had been devouring it inside”. The pandemic which has left us addled by the changes is, but a somber reminder of the fact that a disease isn’t merely a disease, a singular event, but rather an eruption of symptoms within a diseased society. A realization of the fact that man and nature must co-exist, rather than overlap each other can be the starting point for new dawn filled with the promise of collective action. Why not convert our experience of isolated selves into something substantial? Let’s just utilize this time to rethink and relive our lives in a better way while indulging in any promising activity which we failed to do during our busy schedules. It becomes important to come to terms with the relation between man’s survival and the inevitable presence of nature with collective solidarity and look at this corona chaos as an alarming bell to treat nature with more love and concern.
Meanwhile, stay indoors, stay safe.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel