Sharing my thoughts…..

 LIFE IN CORONA TIMES

The Ghedi route in Chandigarh, once abuzz with swanky cars, blaring music; had a new wayfarer the other day, a royal stag. The placid atmosphere was a secure place for him to roam freely. The other day, a leopard was sighted in the City Beautiful in the posh areas, who was later apprehended by the officials.

There are more birds to see around. The number of mynahs has suddenly gone up; even the tiny sunbirds otherwise rarely seen, are all around the place. The sparkling kingfisher is seen in small groups near the fields enjoying the fresh grains. On a pleasant evening, the children’s park normally full of children frolicking around is sans children due to social distancing, and what you see, is a big flock of mynahs land instead. They land in the park, feast on the insects and fly away. Mr. Owl who has been sole owner of his house in the eucalyptus tree for a long time has found a mate in fact two and has a choice between the two. New species of birds are seen in the sky rejoicing new found freshness in the air devoid of pollution.  Vibrant spring flowers are in full bloom and lush trees are soothing to the eye. There is unexplained freshness in the air. The air is cleaner and ozone layer is healing. Mother Nature is truly healing.

In the times of fast communication, easy travel and mall culture, micro level old-fashioned things, like sitting in a garden, enjoying a cup of coffee or playing board games with children, had become outdated. These days’ people are posting pictures of enjoying gardening, cooking, house work, fulfilling hobbies and spending quality time with the family. We are doing all this as we stuck in our houses but in the end, we are the gainers. Of course all this is for only the privileged lot, who has enough resources even in the lockdown period. Poor especially the daily wage earners are suffering as they do not have ways and means to earn their livelihood. They are walking back home to villages hoping that their tiny fields will become their source of livelihood. Are we literally going back to the basics? The people living in remote villages with sparse population, seem to be the safest in today’s scenario. The worst affected in this case are the homeless in the cities who have nothing to eat and no place to go. Lot of people and organizations are reaching out to such people but much needed to be done.

We were not taking the climate change seriously. Look what is happening to us. Due to this lockdown, life is nearly coming down to a standstill all because of a new deadly virus. People are suffering, dying and there is no cure so far. There is a colossal loss to the world economy with very little trade and limited production. Airlines to railways to road transport are badly affected due to the lockdown.

Different historic landmarks around the world these days are impeccable and picture perfect postcard images but have no visitors. How ironic is that.

Zoo, a science fiction series on Netflix comes to my mind. In the series, animals are communicating with each other and taking a revenge on humans. The science fiction seems to be partly coming true when humans are locked in our houses and animals and birds are free. We are in distress and bound in our homes while the birds are moving around freely.

Seeing the nature healing, I hope we humans learn and take care of Mother Nature and it forgives us. I pray that soon we find the cure for COVID 19 which is causing such mayhem all over the place.