The world is witnessing and fighting its worst pandemic from past 3 months. Public is scared, policy makers are looking for desperate regulations and measures, basic service providers are doing extra time and doctors are exhausted completely. We have no other option but to lock down ourselves and the entire community. Everything around us look pessimistic, gloomy and sans hope. But wait are we humans not the species who can find silver lining in the most dreadful situations? Yes we are and there are silver linings in the Corona Virus as well.
Back to Human basics
The virus has clearly shaken us however, ensures we must appreciate the luxuries we got, abundance of products, freedom and health which we were taking as granted. We all were lost in mundane busy-ness and have no time to appreciate the most basic things. This corona virus made us realized the relevance of actually important possessions of human life- the love of family, the stories of elderly, appreciating the moments shared with our partners, the role of community and most important a time to reevaluate and reinvent ourselves. We are also reaching to our basic habits of washing hands and feet when coming from outside, changing immediately the clothes once we are back home, greeting people with the famous Indian Namaste.
Healing the Nature
The whole world is witnessing the healing process- when humans are retreating nature is returning. Institutions and entertainment places are shut, tourist spots are without people, fewer vehicles on roads – Sounds bizarre but the results are great. Pollution level across the world has come down in many metropolitan cities. The Air Quality index is below 150 in Delhi, water bodies are cleaning, dolphins are returning to the coast in Venice, swans can be seen in canals instead of Gondolas, otters are roaming freely in Singapore, Egyptian geese are on tarmac in Israel, penguins taking strolls in aquariums of Chicago, coral reef healing in Australia, deer and monkeys coming back to streets in Japan and Thailand. Nature is thriving when humans are quarantined. The indications are clear -mother earth is sending us the signal which we must understand that humans do not own earth, they co-exist here. Cohabitation is important and humans cannot put life of other living beings on earth at stake. The corona Virus made us thinks that we must preserve our natural habitats, do not overuse the resource and if we cannot do the same on our own then, nature have its own extreme means.
Corona Virus must be thanked for making us undermine every material aspect of this world and giving us a chance to build the world from inception. It could be observed around us that we are connected not only physically but yogically as well. The time has come to view the world and our existence from a newer perspective and the survival is based on the perspective we will choose.
Associate Professor Economics and International Business, IILM University
