What is the alternate reality in these bleak Covid times? Where the 3rd dimension, the 5th element, the parallel universe or the promised Paradise? Where oh where and please tell me if you have found it. My life, like everybody else’s is fully engaged in the battle with the unseen but too well known disease. And yet we trip up almost daily… a hand not washed, a mask not worn, a distance not maintained, a crowded gathering – simple oversights now carry the threat of capital punishment.
We draw cold comfort wherever we can. “Next year will be better”, “This too shall pass”, “Soon things will be back to normal”, “We can soon travel freely”, “ We will see our loved ones”, “We will get our jobs back”…the list is a long cry of hope and despair. Meanwhile, we cling onto the vision of a cleaner, greener Earth and use phrases like “Heal the environment” and vow to become conscientious guardians of our precious planet, even after all this is over.
Covid 19 made us mindful and grateful that we were the survivors who beat the odds and emerged with a strong credo for simple, good living. Till the better times roll we try to do the mundane chores with mindfulness – cook, clean, buy the essentials, work, workout and shun physical human interaction even though we yearn for it
God’s punishment? Hell no! There is nothing Divine about Covid 19. Nor could Hell unleash a fury this toxic. This is Human folly, pure and simple. We did this folks- it is all on us. We got into it and now we have to find a way out of it. And, from an uncaring, mindless species, a new human shall rise and like a demi-God become the best version of the human while never forgetting to treat Mother Earth with the respect she deserves…
Get a grip on reality now
We have lost ourselves for so long now
On the merry-go-round of the mundane…
No longer can we fill our days
With little distractions and little treats
Just to keep ourselves sane….
Oh no, this is Grim Reality
That we confront with no backing down
Totally focused to conquer the grind…
There are no escape hatches or burrows
Every day is that hard won battle
Between our iron will and soft mind…
Pay utmost heed to the future now
But live, love in the minute to minute minutiae
While learning to balance on that thin fine line….
There is only one way forward
The one mantra or credo to follow
Repeat every day- “I am going to be fine”
Just mean it though!
Nimmou Nilakantan
