Relearning "NORMAL"

 

“Kelly was a seaman, and his life on the water followed a strict routine, which meant observing all the safety rules that had been written in the blood of less careful men.”

–  Tom Clancy, “Without Remorse”

 

Each one of us has been bombarded with loads of information on the Corona virus in the last few months, more so in the past few weeks. We had a lockdown to protect the citizens of our country and we were able to contain the spreading. I always believe there is scope for improvement because if we think we have done everything, then we will never move forward with any new ideas and just stagnate. Looking back, I feel, we could have prevented some of the deaths if only we were careful on a personal level. In today’s world, most of the time what I see around the city is all about I, me, myself. If and only if we were in the habit of washing our hands, maintaining personal hygiene and keeping our surroundings clean we would not be feeling burdened at what we are doing.

One of the earliest lessons a child is taught is to wash hands and that is what one needed to do during this COVID-19 crisis. I recall washing my feet before entering the home for many years but life in flats takes away that habit. But we do wash up after entering the flat. My father and I were recollecting the other day about the huge cemented tubs, filled with water, placed next to the entrance of homes in villages for people to wash up and leave the clothes in one corner for the dhobi to pick up for washing.  It is that habit which is helping us stay safe today. I have been thinking, on noticing shelves of stores and the shopping carts of customers, loaded with hand washes... have we learnt to wash our hands now?

Right from the beginning of this year, I have been saying to friends and family that the virus is a blessing in disguise. I don’t know where we started ignoring the good old habits of hygiene and why. It’s not easy convincing people who are used to throwing waste and creating new garbage dumps wherever possible. When my friends and I speak to one another, we talk of how a few people living in gated communities also don’t separate wet and dry waste. As the response to the “Swachch Bharat” campaign has become lukewarm after the initial enthusiasm died down, I felt that we could make India cleaner and greener by becoming conscious of our surroundings at this time. We have messed up way too much with nature. The lockdown has started healing and rejuvenating some of the areas. Videos of wild animal sightings are being circulated. If we go back to polluting, then we would lose much more with time.

I am reminded of my experience way back in 2011. We (ladies from the Navy Wives Welfare Association) had gone to feed the people at one of the Night shelters under Delhi Govt. The people staying there were mostly drug addicts, alcoholics, some mentally unstable persons and a few migrant workers. We had no problem in getting them to sit in an orderly manner and to this day, I vividly recall that none of them wasted the food served. But what do we see at weddings and other functions?! Heaps of food piled on to the plate and wasted without any guilt. Although the uncertainty of getting groceries, vegetables and fruits, has given rise to hoarding, I am pinning my hopes on people realising the value of what is served on their plate. Probably, I feel, each time people are consuming food they can recall the migrant workers and their families consisting of little children, walking endlessly without food and water.

Maybe in the last eight years or so, I have been noticing that more people are jumping queues at every place possible. You do notice people crowding around the desk even if it is one or two people on the other side to attend to a job. Then there are some, who fall over the person in front as they are unable to reach the desk, and shout out their requirements or shove their papers. Once upon a time, this used to be the scene for buying movie tickets for the shows on the first day. Would the same people be okay with being wrongly billed because the cashier got confused with another query? Definitely not.  The person who wants to get ahead could request the persons in the queue but will not. I wish that people manning the desks/counters do not attend to people who are not in the line.  I see young men jumping lines at stores to get billed for one or two items without even asking the senior citizen who is ahead of him in the queue.

I would be very happy to see that the physical distancing that we are being made to follow at some places, is strictly followed everywhere, ALL the time. As conscious citizens we could all check people not adhering to it. We don’t need the police to do it. Lets leave them for preventing crimes and being able to spend some time with their families like we all do.

The social distancing has to be maintained in another area that I regularly see on the city roads... jay driving. Even in traffic, you will find people on bikes, driving in pairs and having conversations. At times, there are children sitting behind and the biker is completely unaware of their antics. I thought two-wheelers were meant only for two adults or at the most with a child. What baffles me is three adults and a kid riding happily!

Every country in the world, every state and district in India has followed its own system of management. I am wishing that we as individuals learn our lessons, keep not only the virus at bay but make everyone around us safe and not take our planet for granted. People often say, “life in the new normal”. I disagree. It is going back to NORMAL.