Life in Lock down

Covid - 19  or Corona Virus has changed our lives. It has truly. It hit us suddenly before we realized and we saw it was coming but never understood what it was  till it burst into our lives. Sitting at home and writing about life in this horrendous time is an effort  to remember this time , if future allows us to look back .

Firstly the disease itself. The disease out broke in  Wuhan  in Nov '19, in nearby China and we thought it wont hurt us anyway. It didn't occur to us that it will be easily borne through carriers as they travel to and fro. The purpose of this blog is not to blame anyone but the fact remains had we closed our international route earlier the menace would have been much lesser - then again you never knew so many people traveled to China and back.

Whatever be the cause of this deadly virus , there is no doubt that world will never be the same after we return to normalcy. Each generation is witness to a catastrophe , we lived through this one . The Flu Pandemic (1918), the Spanish Flu (1918) each left its indelible mark on this world with its innumerable deaths and millions of affected and each time our planet bounced back. Each time world economy took a hit and then it again rebounded . This time its a bit different . True that in the last 40-50 years except HIV we hardly had any threat from any seemingly unknown menace and when we knew how we could prevent HIV it has become a least threat now . The very fact that Corona has no antidote and vaccine itself goes to suggest that unless we protect our self we will probably pay the ultimate price with this deadly disease. Till date to this blog being written , we dont have any solution to COVID - 19 except lock down which effectively is a slow down of the out break. 

To  note down the long lasting effects 

firstly - the pattern of work will change . With increasing digitization daily we were already facing challenges of human contribution  to office and growth of industries and sectors, this lock-down clearly showed that no longer we were required to go to office at 8.30 am and work late hours till 8.30 pm and beyond . The word " WORK FROM HOME " or WFH which  didn't exist in our dictionaries before is now with not an exception , a common parlance . Even when the scars of COVID 19 will be a distant scar in our lives , work from home will remain. WFH has clearly shown that even the robust of organizations can easily do away without a chunk of its work force and still can deliver at the same pace or even faster. As lockdown will slowly be eased , social distancing will stay for 6-8 months at the least and more and more companies will use WFH to counter two things primarily a) less or no spread of this deadly virus  and b) to reduce overhead in office by deploying a large work force at home . By keeping a majority at home and getting work out of them , almost all organisations will ensure less cost with more productivity and congestion at work place - a double whammy !! work from home will remain a big inclusion in our lives - a surprising but may be needed takeaway from the lockdown ..

secondly - and this is the social side of the lockdown - people have been forced to live in isolation for almost five weeks now , and they have had to do away without the normal luxury of movie halls, malls, shops, congested places , eating out in congested eateries etc. Till now what seemed almost improbable is now the new order - eating the normal daal chawal at home instead of the expensive food at some of the costliest restaurants, watching hotstar and netflix instead of crowding the posh multiplex and spending a fortune on popcorn and other stuff,  wearing the same old clothes instead of thronging at branded shops every week end and wasting money ,this virus has taught us a lot of life's basics - we can do without many things which we thought impossible a few days back.  We may still go to the poshest clubs hotels and bars to spend money and throw away all for that single drink , go to movie halls and spend  inordinately stupidly again , visit brands to keep up our false vanity of showing off , but the very fact that this endemic has taken a massive beating on our economy, most prudent spends will be the essential ones for we do not know how long our jobs survive and how long our savings will do justice to our stupidity . People have realized job loss and pay cuts that we have heard about are no longer bad dreams but a reality that might knock your door any moment !! 

Thirdly and most importantly - this forced exile has taken us back to days prior to modernization when thankfully there were no modern amenities like Cable /Tata Sky , I Phone  and multiplexes . Not so long ago we never had Armani, Gucchi , Michael Kores , Lunch at Leela , movie at Orbit and still we were happy and life moved on perfectly .  Staying in this exile we have come to terms with what we call " ME" time which was non existent in our lives and we found we can easily live without a visit to a costly mall , or a multiplex, or a branded one , or shopping and wasting on frivolous things. We have answered a very basic and important question while in lockdown - can we live without eating out, watching movies , buying expensive stuff  etc . - YES WE CAN and can do it very well. The self discovery and the life that we are (forced) to lead now clearly tells us we can jolly well do without life's vagaries and lead a simple and frugal life . That to me is the biggest realization of the lockdown - life can be simple without complexity and can be led well as well. 
What from here on ? - The future is uncertain as we head to the final week of the lockdown (?) or is it the final week - till such time the vaccine is invented, life will be uncertain and people will live by the edge and the changes that have happened will be a permanent fixture in our lives . Even when the economy rebounds and again we will plan to be all hunky dory , we will never be the same rather our lives' will never be the same . Simple living , simple thinking , no excess spends, no mall, no branded shops, no hotels, no movie halls -  at the cost of service , hotel ,food & entertainment industry we will lead a simple life without complexity and the yearning for more . Greed & lust will be replaced by simplicity and basics . That for me is the essence of a imposed exile at home as the world rises to a new world order post Corona . We will match cards next year !!