The New Normal
The New Normal
Well, let’s admit it. It’s been over 8 months now and things have definitely not been easy and though we might have adjusted ourselves to this new way of life, our desperate desire to
get those good old times back exists but simply goes unexpressed.
This essay will be written from the perspective of a student who has faced considerable turmoil within, over all these months and cannot wait to begin a ‘normal’ college life. The new form of normality however, isn’t even close to being ruled out.
This all started in March when events began getting called off. Board exams began getting postponed(initially) and the student community faced a surge of anxiety regarding their future. However, thinking that all this would be short lived, many simply went into a few days of relief from work before their quotidian tight schedule could resume. Few weren’t the days of house arrest, just the hopes of having better times back kept getting fewer rapidly.
The lockdown was declared soon after. Many across the country faced tremendous inconvenience initially as all transportation was called off suddenly. Very soon dead migrant and frontline health workers across India flooded the news, having lost their precious lives on the way back home and in the perilous battle against the new virus respectively, in the most ruthless and unfortunate manner.
Something which gets stained with blood right in the beginning, they say, can never be auspicious. And so did the fate of our beloved nation turn out to be. The infection kept proliferating with each passing day, and the number of dead people rose from a few to a few thousands. Fear of life grasped the people and before we could know, both loss of life and livelihood had hit the news. Death and malady was everywhere and those privileged enough to survive, found themselves plunged in despair and darkness. It was time to fall back on the little joys life had to offer as they were the only support that
could prevent irreparable damage due to solitude and unfathomable negativity that the senses could not avert. It is plain truth that Netflix and Amazon can never replace the friend who makes(rather, made) every moment of company seem joyous and by whose very presence all worry would vanish… Netflix or Prime can never acquire that superpower in ages.
But we did get used to all this. We did get used to online modes of study that were not only unproductive but also unhealthy. Life lost motivation but all of us have had no way out.
Suffocation has become the new normal, so has avoiding proximity at all costs, and so has spending on disinfectant sprays and sanitizers, but these are the least we can do to prevent infection. Talking over the phone with connectivity problems every two seconds has become normal, video calling and conferencing has become normal. Being stuck at home for months has put a negative impact on our health for sure but things haven’t quite subsided yet. The number of cases have dropped with much difficulty but we are not close to being out of danger. Thousands have become unemployed and know not whether to battle COVID next, or hunger, or depression. Many have given in to this despair and decided to put an end to themselves. And we could do nothing. To what extent can we swim against the flow. The bitter truth is, all of us have had to bow to this new normal.
However, I’d always like to believe that the sky is darkest before dawn. No matter how long the tunnel is, there’s got to be light at the end of it. Times are tough, but there’s no harm in keeping up hopes of better times and return of what we previously knew to be normal.
— — Shamitava Roy
