Will We Go Back To Normal After The Lock Down… Or Ever?

The lockdown may be over soon and our lives may seem to go back to normal. But will they really be normal? Will we ever forget the effects of the pandemic?

Is it the tenth day of the lockdown or the eleventh? By now, I’ve lost count of the days. I don’t know what day of the week it is, either, since no one is going out and there is no newspaper. And neither am I counting the days to when my life returns to normalcy. 

Can we be normal again? Wait. Can anything be normal?

We will share the same jokes, won’t we?

I know that this tiny mutant virus will go away and soon. But can we forget the lessons it taught us? There are somethings that will definitely being normal. As much as I detest them, I prefer the celeb airport look, rather than their ‘doing the house work’ looks. Do they really think women who actually work in their houses look like that? 

After the lockdown, women will go back to sharing random jokes about their husbands or men, in general. They won’t post those of the men doing household chores. I really don’t understand why we feel grateful when men do something at home. Do we post videos of women at work and say, ‘Wow! Look at her, she is working, despite being a woman!’

It is a point worth pondering when your son believes that only women cook and do the household work. It’s simply because we have been feeding them- in our behaviour, jokes, videos and even in movies! 

The other annoying thing are the celebrity videos where they are doing ‘fun’ activities with their kids. With everyone at home, without any maids, will any any mother in a regular household really have the time to do art with their kids? Yes, the kids need to be engaged but these unrealistic videos need to stop. 

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We will be normal but will it feel normal?

After the lockdown, all of us will go back to doing what we are good at, instead of being ‘doctors’ and passing on information about COVID-19 on social media. Yes, we will go back to normalcy, but nothing will be normal. 

So many lives lost, mostly because of the virus, and some due to the consequences. We may go out of the house, but the scars will still be there. And we won’t take anything and everything for granted. 

My heart also goes out to the daily wage workers. They have lost everything. I really hope all our contributions reach them. And they can either go back to their homes or find a place to live for the time. 

Since we heard about the coronavirus, I am sure all of us, in India, hoped and prayed that it doesn’t cross our borders. All of us know that with the density of our population, it would be difficult to control the spread. Yet the government rose to the challenge and is doing everything they can. All we have to do is stay at home and help in whatever way we can, while at home. 

This too shall pass. And everything may get back to what it was but not how it was.

A version of this was earlier published here.

Picture credits: Pexels

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