From Dr. Dipak Ugra former president IAP
Life After Lockdown
Emergencies do not announce themselves before happening. A Pandemic of this magnitude comes once in a century, if at all. It’s been a trying time for all of us and as human beings, we have sought to dealing with it in our own ways. For some it’s been difficult, being holed up inside with not a lot to do; whereas others have taken it as an opportunity of a life time to learn new things or develop hobbies they’ve always wished they could find time for.
Just chalking out how to function in a physically restrictive environment is a life skill in itself. Life, for a lot of us has reached a limbo or sorts. The only thing that is certain is that someday in the near future, this will end, and life will restart.
One question does arise though; what comes next?
Most will restart work, children looking forward to start going to school or college. Airports will open, travel and trade will resume. Things will slowly but steadily start heading towards normalcy.
Once that happens and “lockdown” becomes a distant memory, let’s not forget all the lessons this period has taught us. Let’s never forget that basic human compassion and tolerance towards each other is what gave us the strength to see a new dawn together. Literally and figuratively.
Personally, as a doctor I learned how to handle the most testing patients with a new level of patience. Living in what can resemble a dystopic novel can spook the best of us. A simple cold and cough become sinister when you don’t really know too much about your invisible enemy. I realized that sometimes people just need a few comforting words with Paracetamol to heal themselves.
We relearned the importance of a family unit, to thrive together. We learned about the virtues of living a disciplined life, when just waking up every morning, healthy with a roof on your head and food on your table was a privilege.
This period taught us patience, where the option of running the rat race ceased to exist and solitude and self-preservation became priority. We learned to enjoy our own company again. We bonded together as a community and helped who ever we could. We recognized our potential as caregivers, even if we could affect the lives of only those in our immediate vicinity.
Most importantly we never let go of our killer instinct, that together we will defeat this virus.
We are a country of 130 million people. Imagine if we continue to work on ourselves with all the above ammunition we’re now armed with, the heights we’ll be able to scale.
Our Government has been exceptionally good in handling this pandemic so far. Even with limited resources, timely decisions and regular revisions of advisories circulated by the authorities have paid huge dividends.
We are better placed today than most developed nations and I am certain we will continue improving. Industrialists are working to develop ventilators on war footing. Pharma companies are working round the clock and providing essential medicines.
The front runners of this battle; Doctors, nurses and all other health care workers are risking it all and working overtime to save lives. The police is working 24x7 to keep residents safe. Essential service providers, sanitation workers, delivery boys, are all taking care of our daily needs and making sure our lives don’t come to a grinding halt. The wealthy have come forward and donated handsomely to Covid19 relief funds.
As citizens of India, It is a proud moment, that today our country after taking care of our own requirement, is supplying Hydroxychloroquine (a Covid19 medicine) to 55 other countries and is also shipping out large batches of Paracetamol to first world countries like the UK. Ours is also the first country that brought our stranded citizens back from across the globe.
Special mention must be made of our Prime Minister; he has always mentioned that we, the people of India, are its biggest strength. And in times like this, its heart warming seeing the nation unite and soldier on to a healthy, happy new start.
I strongly believe that together we can make India a front-runner in the months and years to follow.
India has played its role responsibly. After Covid19 the world will look for an alternative to China when it comes to manufacturing or trade. Along with that we have a plethora of experts in other fields too. Some of the sharpest minds in medicine and IT come from our motherland.
Let’s take a pledge. I will help someone to develop a skill where I can. You can do the same. We will work an extra hour and give back a little more than we generally would. We will not hesitate to extend a helping hand to those that need it. We will stop ourselves from judging each other on the basis of colour, caste or creed. We will show kindness, to those around us and most importantly, to ourselves. We will be more focused in our approach. We will appreciate nature and all its gifts that we took for granted. We will plant more trees and reduce, re-use and recycle whenever we can.
By staying apart right now, we will together take our country to the next level, the new India. “Nothing is impossible”.
