Stepping into post-pandemic festive season with caution

Spice of Life: As we go into the fag end of the year, it is not possible to restrain the festive spirit, innate optimism and anticipation of good times to come

As we bravely limp into this New World of ours, gingerly treading with caution towards attempting to once again live a normal life, massive behavioural changes and difficult adjustments stare us grimly in the face. How long will we have to live in this punishing atmosphere is anyone’s guess but what is certain is that our Earth, as we knew it, no longer exists! Its gentle and forgiving nature that we took for granted has metamorphosed into an aggressive, self-serving force, desperate for its own survival.

A devotee puts a mask on the face of a Goddess Durga idol to make aware people about the Covid-19 pandemic protocol at a community puja pandal. (PTI file photo)

The newer, mutant varieties of coronavirus and the threat of the imminent third or fourth waves of the Covid-19 pandemic hang over our heads like the proverbial sword of Damocles. We are still not sure of the way forward and most of us are in a daze or roaming about like headless chickens, mouthing prophesies, quoting newspaper articles or hearsay without much clarity or coherence.

I’m still coming to terms with this radical turn of events where the first thing I notice in an old film or series on TV is the proximity of actors which alarms me, the sight of a large congregation of unmasked people makes my eyes goggle and it takes a while to orient my thoughts at the now strange sight of people sharing ice-creams, shaking hands or passing around a bottle of water. My brain does an incredulous jig at their negligence and disregard for Covid protocol before it sinks in that it will be a long time before that kind of casualness will return to our lives.

Spontaneous trips and holidays have become a distant dream because a stern voice will nudge our conscience on the futility and imprudence of putting pleasure over caution and restraint. Imagine the horror of falling prey to the virus in a strange city or town!

Even in our wildest imagination could we have ever dreamed that an innocuous piece of paper declaring ‘fully vaccinated’ would take precedence over passports, quickly become our chief identification and declare us kosher for any kind of travel?

That there will be drawing room conversations and entire evenings devoted to arguments over the efficacy, time gap, quality and brand of a vaccination that we adults have to take?

That quarantine, antigens and CPR are words that slip off even children’s tongues so easily today?

But be that as it may, we humans are a resilient, stubborn lot! Just as easily as we fear, dread and press the panic button, we also have convenient memory lapses. A casual and Devil may care attitude is slowly sinking into our collective psyches. About two years since the first infections wafted across the seas and borders of the world, we have now adopted an almost cavalier attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic and as we go into the fag end of the year, it is not possible to restrain the festive spirit, innate optimism and anticipation of good times to come. So, I hope and pray Mother Earth has forgiven us our transgressions and is gracious enough to give the human race a second chance and an opportunity to redeem ourselves. pallavisingh358@gmail.com

The writer is a Jalandhar-based freelance contributor