In the last six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives irrevocably in a thousand ways. The majority of things that we did seem to be but a distant memory, so much so that we have forgotten what it is like to go on road trips, or the movie theatre, or have a birthday party with friends, or travel in the local train at rush hour.

Most of us have become accustomed to the “lockdown life”: managing our routine from home, be it virtual classes, remote-working internships, or just lazing around, bored. These things no longer seem novel, although going back to office appears to be a new experience.

People no longer care about the number of cases in their country; the situation in their locality is what matters most now. Now, most countries seem to be in the recovery phase, at least in the sense that people know how to deal with preventive measures until the cure is found (if at all).

If people are talking less about the pandemic, it is because other issues have taken centre stage. Most of my friends with graduate admissions are in a dilemma about visas and online classes. People with job offers in India are anxiously waiting for their start date. However, with all these happening in our lives, every conversation we ever have seems to invariably circle back to COVID-related matters, or something worse. Even when you know that talking about those topics isn’t helping either of you.

Is there nothing good to focus on? Yes, with people falling sick all around and uncertainty on so many fronts, it is difficult to focus on the little blessings of our daily lives. But, if we get joy from watching a hamster on TikTok or comedy shows on YouTube, why can’t we make ourselves happy by finding a silver lining in everything that’s happening around us? What relief do we get by watching people in countries thousands of kilometres away, making their neighbours happy while we grumble at the sight of our neighbours going out without wearing a mask?

Probably the biggest consolation we all have is that we are in this together. Whether your problem is that your admission has been delayed, your job has been revoked, or a loved one is suffering, you are not alone. From my experience, sorrow is always lessened when you know someone else is going through the same misery. Even Facebook says the same thing (bet you never realised it when making fun of the emoji, though).

But surely, we do have enjoyable instances within our houses, however trivial they may seem. Something interesting you learnt in an online class, some new family game you came across, or a story you read can initiate conversations. In a way, this thought process is selfish, where you have to focus on your family and house when there is so much chaos outside. But you are not doing anyone any favours by creating a doleful atmosphere within your house either. I’m sure a lot of us have not spoken to our neighbours in weeks, citing “social distancing” as the reason. At the same time, we also complain about the lack of human contact. Why are we talking about problems where we eliminated the solution to start with?

So, since we are stuck in this “limbo” phase for an unknown period of time, let’s start conversing about the good things in life. Let this become a part of the “new normal” that everyone is emphasising. You don’t have to pretend you are in utopia, but if you look for it, you’ll find happiness around you; if not, create it. Unfortunately, COVID has inverted the meanings of the words “positive” and “negative”, but remember, in these tough times, try to be positive around others without testing positive. 

So, the big news: lockdown has been extended till the end of April in pretty much all parts of India. Having survived 3 weeks of the lockdown, most Indians have become accustomed to the new lifestyle while bracing for worse days ahead in terms of the rise in cases, loss of jobs and other difficulties.

People in their homes are doing all sorts of things, with different motivations. Some people are bored, not knowing what to do; every day feels the same (Groundhog Day makes a lot more sense now) and the light at the end of the tunnel never seems to appear. Others are glued to Netflix and movies and songs, catching up on a lot of missed entertainment. Others, myself included, are considering this a gem of an opportunity to do all the things we wanted to do and to make every day productive… till I saw the post below which hit me harder than it should have.

Having studied four years in a premier engineering college, I had become hard-wired to make each day productive (or, of course, to compensate for it somehow). How many course videos can I complete today? How many chapters in the book can I read? And I’m sure I’m not alone; a lot of people are going through this period in this manner. I’m sure there are people agitated enough out there who are sending mails to their bosses or professors like: “As I am suffering from leave, please give me two days work.”

While in the earlier post, I did say that we should all find things to do, I’d like to add a footnote to that saying, “It’s okay if a day or two go by where you don’t know what to do.” We are all in different levels of comfort, danger, productivity and pressure in this situation and it doesn’t make sense to be in a rat race now. These are unprecedented events for most of us and it is okay to be clueless or scared as long as you can find a way to keep going. At the end of the day, you should be happy if none of your household members is affected or sick and not grumble if you didn’t finish an assignment you were supposed to.

India is far from flattening the curve and the numbers only go up every day. We have to start preparing ourselves for tighter measures and more frugal lifestyles, at least for a temporary period, till we cross the peak of the pandemic. This is the time when doctors, the police force, the media, health workers and engineers have real power to (practically) run the nation; they have more on their hands than ever before.

This is a time when Indians need to think together to win the war, but instead, we are seeing fallouts at the community level. Certain sects of people are being alienated, people are still selfish when it comes to getting supplies from shops, and there are still people who don’t grasp the seriousness of the situation. I think it’s an Indian thing where if you are ordered not to roam around on the streets, people will go around just to see who else is doing the same thing!

The third week has exposed the underlying human prejudices and hatred more than ever before. When things were “normal”, none of these mattered but when there’s a pandemic, suddenly every country’s residents turn racist and even violent. The virus is doing enough damage by itself. The virus should not turn our friends into enemies but rather, we should all understand that the virus is the common enemy.

It has been 14 days into the Indian lockdown and slowly, people have adjusted to the new normal. They are discovering new ways to keep themselves engaged at home, learning to use resources judiciously and we’re seeing many Good Samaritans across the country. At the same time, some folks claim to be “going insane” within their houses, unable to go out, people are doing increasingly stupid things from cooking up conspiracy theories to using the pandemic to fuel their personal feuds and prejudice against communities and groups. Like any other disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out people’s extreme natures.

In the paper and news channels, you see some leaders taking extremely good measures, some of them helping out other countries and others who still seem to not understand the gravity of the situation. For every volunteer putting his life on the line, someone is violating quarantine and endangering others. For every doctor or medical professional prophesying a dark but honest future, there is another set of people who are trying to cover up the ground reality and give false hopes. The other major debate the pandemic has triggered is that of “religion versus science”, with no side dominating the other. 

A lot of you are surely eagerly counting down the days to April 15 when the lockdown will supposedly be lifted because you think it’ll give you new-found freedom. My question to you is: what’s the first thing (or first three things) you will do when the lockdown is lifted? Run on the street? Meet up with your boyfriend? Go straight to your desk in the office?

The answer to that question tells you what you’ve really missed in this period: friends? Family? Routine work-life? While you’re thinking about this, also imagine how difficult it’s going to be to do some activities that were so common earlier. Can you ever go to a movie theatre or cricket match without fear? Can we all move to a stage where we are no longer apprehensive of people who cough or sneeze? You may have missed a truckload of things but perhaps it is worth considering this lockdown period as a transition phase into a new world on the other side. 

That’s what the second week is mainly about – a transition. In this week, you’ve realised that nothing goes according to plan beyond a certain extent and that new surprises and bombshells are always around the corner. People are sharing posts, prayers and challenges online that they never would have done on a non-corona day and memes which were once funny are now becoming scary. It is that period when you are starting to get used to the situation while also eagerly waiting for the last day of the lockdown.  

You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. No plan. You know why? If you make a plan, life never works out that way. (translated)

Ki-taek, Parasite (2019)

This pandemic – by the time it crosses over completely – would have completely changed the way we live, from our household duties to our career paths. Some sectors are losing billions of dollars due to the pandemic while others are getting new projects and jobs because of it. Students worldwide are going to question the need for classrooms at all, institutes will capitalise on remote learning to take in twice or thrice as many applicants, healthcare industries are working overtime and the tourism industry has become non-existent. 

This is turning out to be the true test of people’s character, leadership and change management skills in any industry. Five years from now, I think people are going to be more interested in knowing how you managed your team in this crisis than if you are an MBA graduate from a top B-school. They are going to value the skills you used to acclimatise to the situation rather than the courses you’ve done and the skillset you claim to have. Similarly, using this time to learn a new skill – or better yet, develop or work on something to fight against the coronavirus – can possibly fill the gap in your resume of the internship opportunity you lost.

The same goes even in the domestic sphere: this is a test of how we change our lives at home and social skills appropriately. A few years ago, people were so excited when thinking about a digital future where everyone would communicate only through screens but suddenly people are upset that they haven’t spoken in person to anyone in days? People who, at one point, hated going to office are now getting irritated with WFH also. Humans are indeed “social animals” but we are also creatures who can adapt ourselves to any situation. 

The two weeks of lockdown have taught us a lot of things: our priorities can change dramatically over a week, some of us want a stronger WiFi connection while others want a stronger social connection and “long-term” planning now means what you’re going to do next week. It has also taught us that delivery men, farmers, and doctors are some of the lifelines of the country and the planet while entertainers are not. Let’s use this time to remember and thank these souls who are fighting the virus for us. Let’s stay safe and hope they are safe too. We need these people to do their job. We need them to show us hope. We need to show them we care too. 

One month ago, in an interview, I was asked, “What’s making headlines today?” Had I been asked, “What do you think will make headlines one month from now?”, there is no way I would have been able to predict the bleak reality we are in right now. In the span of a couple of weeks, the world has gone into hibernate mode, uncertain of when it’ll wake up to the day when this is all over.

India – its entire population of over 1.3 billion people – entered a 21-day lockdown phase (very likely to be extended further). Not even one week is complete, but the definition of a “normal” livelihood has drastically changed and for most people, that’s bad news. School children have the extended break they always wanted, while college and university folks are worried about their summer interns getting cancelled. Migrant workers and students studying abroad are miles away from home, while thousands of other families are spending time together like never before.

So what are people doing at home? Those who have corporate jobs are mostly working from home (WFH could now very well be the most commonly used three-letter abbreviation starting with W, overtaking “WTF”), college students are engaging in online classes – which isn’t a new thing for most people anyway – everyone is finally finding time to revive long-dead hobbies and pastimes, everyone is catching up with friends after years of no communication…

It seems like paradise when you put it like this, but reality is quite the opposite. Thanks to social media, news channels and pretty much anything and anyone you interact with, all you hear and see are facts, updates, articles and of course, rumours about COVID-19. Every phone call, every dinner table conversation and even memes are all built around the virus attack.

While I agree that it is important to be aware of what’s going on outside your house, in your state and country, the pandemic shouldn’t rule you inside your house. Checking the daily death toll should not be your morning cup of coffee and posting a pessimistic, apocalyptic message shouldn’t be your bedtime prayer. Among all the other “#stayathome” challenges and the like that you decide to take part in, why don’t you take up the challenge of having an entire conversation and not talk about the crisis?

Again, it is understandable that practically everything we do in a day depends on the situation outside – from getting the newspaper in the morning to getting groceries for the upcoming week to thinking about the security of your future job or MS admit. But you must also understand that there are only so many things in your control. Yes, it is difficult to sit through online lectures when your future admit or job is so uncertain. It is difficult to read a novel when all you can think of at the back of your head is whether you will get groceries tomorrow. You are very likely in that state where you can’t even cough without feeling guilty or touch a bread packet without instinctively wondering how many others have laid their hands on the same thing.

How you act today depends on what your priorities and worries are. Some people are okay with sacrificing lives to make the economy boom, some shopkeepers don’t give a damn about social distancing because they want to make as much money as they can to put food in their stomach, some are selfless enough to put their life on the line to save a dozen others. Whether you choose to get aggravated by the “irresponsible” acts of others or choose to do your duties responsibly is your call (remember that an innocent jog around the neighbourhood or the act of walking your dog could be panned by several others as “irresponsible”). The same goes with whether you want to enter a state of paranoia by seeing the numbers every day or whether you want to enter a state of blissful ignorance or find the sweet zone where you are cognizant of what’s happening but are calm enough to carry on with your household activities and hobbies.

I am not saying that you must completely stay away from COVID-19 news or articles or updates of all sorts. Admittedly, some of the memes and awareness messages are incredibly creative and funny, and this is much-needed relief from the grim news sessions (case in point, watch this 6-minute clip of the iconic “Do Re Mi” song from The Sound of Music modified to suit the COVID-19 crisis). At the same time, you can choose to stay away from pessimistic and racist posts and rumours.

You can also distract yourself in so many ways at home without feeling guilty for consciously dragging yourself away from the crisis for a while. Sing a song, exercise inside the house, play with your dog, learn to cook a new dish… there are enough things to keep yourself busy while still following hygiene measures and maintaining social distance. Next time you see the sports page of the newspaper covering events which aren’t most people’s priority (“Who cares if so-and-so is too old to compete in the postponed Olympics?! There’s no milk today!”) or a seemingly irrelevant article about blockchain technology, think of it as a welcome break. Use this time to do what you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t find time for. The lockdown could go on for 14 more days or a month, but take it one day at a time.