Migrants walking miles and miles to reach home, with a simple hope to live life with dignity
Person dies waiting for treatment, even as the desperate family struggles to get a bed in hospital
Thousands and thousands of people losing their jobs
Daily wage earners not knowing where the next meal will come from
Stray dogs starving, with no one to feed and all the small roadside eateries closed
Cows starving to death, happened in my next door SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority) housing.. I got this message just as I finished dinner. That evening, food was tasty and I had over-eaten… When I got this message, asking for contribution to feed the remaining cows, guilt pangs hit me sharp! Here I was gorging food, while just a few 100 meters away, another living being died of starvation.
We read or hear news like this again and again. These days, all we get to read is the miseries around us.
At times I wonder what has caused more damage and pain, Corona or the Lockdown?
I am not getting into the debate of should we or should we not have gone for lockdown, guess there are no easy answers to this question
I refer to the grief and pain all around and its impact on us.
When surrounding by such news, it is impossible not to feel it. Top it with social isolation and anxiety about our own health and that of loved ones.
It’s no surprise that more and more people are talking about feeling anxious, worried, sad and frustrated.
How do we stay sane and afloat in times like this?
Here are few things I have been doing:
1. Do my bit – remember the story of starfish…a man throwing starfish washed on to the shore, back into the sea, one by one, tirelessly. Agreed he couldn’t save all the starfish…but he could make a difference to those few starfish! My contribution might give one good meal to someone, one soul will sleep with his or her belly full, save one stray dog from starvation…
2. Gratitude for what I have rather than looking at what I don’t have today. I realize I have so many things in abundance and feel blessed!
3. Look for positives – its might not seem easy at times like this, however it is possible. Look around, the air is cleaner, the sea looks so very blue, the Gulmohar trees near our apartment have started to bloom, in few days the neighbourhood will turn flaming orange, received an unexpected call from an old friend after decades…. small things, but they are enough to cheer me up.
4. Finally, belief that this too shall pass – I have gone through bigger storms in my personal life (I am sure each one of us have), the world has seen bigger problems, pandemics like Spanish Flu in times when even antibiotics were not discovered.
Times like this will surely leave its footprints, hopefully we will learn from this experience and do things differently when the tide turns. Till then, each one of us have to find our own unique ways to stay afloat.
Perspectives 