06.04.2020

Mumbai, India

As I write this today, the Prime Minister of the UK has been moved to intensive care for his treatment for coronavirus while in India, a suspected positive case of corona committed suicide and another person who was denied an ICU bed until she died and tested positive. There’s no other reason why I and many people like me in this country are rooting for more and more tests to happen actively. Because without the tests, quarantine would neither help us nor the economy. 

“We can revive the economy, not the dead” - sounds good only on paper. We need actionable solutions more than misdirected statements right now. 

Since we have funds upwards of $1300 million now thanks to all the donations and funds being raised every day, we need to start putting them to good use immediately. Maybe start with testing the migrant workers and the people around them who have symptoms since they’ve been on the roads and between towns recently?

I don’t know, I don’t know what’s the real or the right answer. What I do know, however, is that there’s no wrong answer right now, maybe amidst all these thoughts and brainstorming in our heads, one day we’ll write a tweet that will actually make sense to the government and the doctors. 

Just like you, I have so many thoughts and questions in my head and I’m desperate for the answers. But until then, we’ve got to look forward to things getting better and one thing we can do from our end is, voice out our opinions loudly on social media, among friends and family to spread correct and sensible information like wildfire. 

Whether it’s a long road or a short detour, is something our actions in the coming days will decide. 

It’s very rightly said and should be practiced globally now - that you don’t have to make a mistake to learn from it, sometimes, we can learn from others’ mistakes to save us the misery. Just last week when the whole of London was still roaming around on the streets like there was nothing wrong in the world, India was in its second week of lockdown. But now, the United States of America must learn a thing or two from the experiences of other countries urgently. 

At this point, to give the devil his due, I feel lucky that we’re stuck in India instead of any other place in the world. 

Truly, home is where the heart is. But more than that, this lockdown was and is crucial. So, even though it may get extended further than April 14th, not exposing myself and my family to the virus outside has a calming effect in my head right now. And I wish each and every one of you can start finding respite in the little things like this every day. 

Each one of us is going through a unique transformation in our lives, you may not be noticing it right now but it’s happening. In the past week of calls, social media live sessions, various WhatsApp chats that have suddenly become active in our lives, and work meetings over Zoom, one thing is amply clear to me - we are all feeling things we’ve never felt before. Some positive, some negative. 

But the fact is, we’re all feeling it, sometimes intensely so. 

I don’t know when things will go back to normal or if we’ll have a new normal by the time we come out of this loop - but one thing I do know is, you and I are in this together. And we’ll get through this as better human beings. 

This time. Live it, cherish it, feel it, you never know - you might start loving it. 

See you tomorrow! 

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