(FROM THE DESK OF MITRA PHUKAN)
Seven months and more into the pandemic, and we have learnt to survive. Yes, through panic and fear, through the deaths and diseases of near and dear ones, through economic and domestic hardships, through so much else that we never thought we would have to face, we have survived.
The most important thing we have learnt in these last months has been that humans are resilient. Who would have thought that so much change would come to us, so swiftly? Yet, we have adapted.
And so here we are, doing things we never dreamed of before. We order vegetables and groceries online from local vendors. These sellers, too, have got themselves an online presence, and home delivers their produce swiftly, often with no-contact deliveries. We work from home, online, of course. Zoom calls have done away with the necessity for travelling for conferences. We watch movies on our gadgets, we listen to a vast variety of music, available online.
Yes, we have adapted. Designers are producing very attractive masks. A sound engineer, whose business was sinking, has adapted to produce solar-powered, no-touch sanitizer dispensers.
As we wait for the vaccine, and much needed human contact, we know that this life that we are living is not the Real Thing. Yet our adaptability is certainly seeing us through till then.
Truly, as we wait for a cure or a vaccine, we realize that we may be battered, but we are unbowed.
(Mitra Phukan is a writer, translator and columnist. The views expressed are the author’s own. Headline 8 neither endorses nor is responsible for them)