April 28, 2020, by
Pearl Dey
The year
2020 has been a memorable one and not for something good. This year has made us all witness history in the making. The
Coronavirus came about relatively quiet, leaving chaos in its wake. A
“Pandemic” they called it, for it conquered every human-inhabited country imaginable. Originating in
Wuhan, China, the
COVID 19 changed our daily lives so drastically that we are still trying to adjust to it.
House arrest!
In a matter of days, we humans went from being free birds to being prisoners in our own homes. Suddenly, video-communication applications became our go-to, and “
work from home” became everyone’s reality. They say that everything happens for a reason. While the
widespread of the Virus has had
dangerous outcomes, all
across the globe, it has also singlehandedly given everyone a lesson of a lifetime. It has forced families to spend time together, taught youngsters to be more self-dependent, and taught everyone to make do with what they have without wanting more. It has put a damper on our fast-paced lives that never even left us room to breathe. But soon enough, we realized that life could not stop, just because we were stuck at home.
Work had to go on in every sector, for the sake of
economy, education, and in order to
heal the world as well.
Classes online?
For
students, everyday
college and school classes were now called “
Online Classes”. Earlier their routine every day was to wake up, freshen up, have breakfast, and travel to the institute, in hopes of making it on time for the first-period class. But now, that routine seems to be ages away. Travelling is no longer a necessity now. For when it’s time for class, all we have to do is log in to our virtual learning platforms, plug in our earphones and go about learning. “Screen-sharing” from our teachers, has now become our blackboard, PDFs and Word documents have taken the place of our notebooks and pens, and last but not the least, the
internet has become our only means for communication. While the
change may have been a big one, it has readied us for extremes. While this way of learning, might have been different from traditional chalk and board learning, it is rather innovative and fun when we think of it. Students appear to be participating now more actively because doing everything from the comfort of our homes has a certain appeal to everyone. Not having to go to college has also given us more time to work on ourselves and our education. Students now have more time than ever on their hands, to learn new things apart from their curriculum and still have time to spare after that.
“You don’t gotta go to work…”
The 9 to 5 office workers, now log into their Zoom meetings every morning, wearing only the upper half of their formal attire, for that is the only part visible. Hilarious really, when you look at it. On the plus side, working members of the family now get more time to spend with the family. As they say, there is a good and bad side to almost everything.
Today’s youth is the leader of tomorrow.
A
new life has been imposed onto us and at least the
youth of today can say that they are holding up exceptionally well. This is the time for tech-savvy youngsters to take the lead in the world. Them being so comfortable with
technology has helped tremendously in this switch from real life to virtual. Not only are they helping themselves but also their parents, who are having to work from home but are not as familiar with technology as they are.
Video calling saves the day!
Platforms like Skype, Zoom, Google Duo, and other such video communication platforms have become some sort of saviors in this time of
COVID 19. They have made
learning so easy and accessible. Teachers are still able to look at us and interact with us students, only with the minor exception of a
screen separating us. Sometimes though, it’s too effective as friends can no longer gossip secretly and the troublemakers can no longer cause mischief in class. Now the alternative of teachers saying “class, keep quiet!” has become “Please
mute your speakers”. For better or for worse, the relief is that work is getting done and learning hasn’t stopped. Learning is
breaking all barriers today. Schools and colleges have remained operational even in these
dark times.
The show must go on.
Work in almost every sector is operational as much as possible, in an attempt to keep the economy afloat. A state of panic is spread across all the working class evidently. Be it about pay-cuts or not being able to meet targets in this situation. But grown-ups being champions at hiding their stress, paste smiles on their faces for the sake of their families. Real-life never has been easy, much less now.
“We are the champions, my friend… we’ll keep on fighting till the end!”
The world may have taken a major hit, but its inhabitants shall not abandon ship. Depression and hopelessness have spread into the hearts of many, but we must remain strong and not give up on our work. In these times of uncertainty, some are being pessimists while some being optimists. Pessimists would think that we should just stop with our works because what’s the use when everything will end anyway. But optimists know in their hearts that every cloud has a silver lining. In these times of darkness, we must all be optimistic and keep going on about our lives. For, when this all ends, then we may hope to come out of it as better versions of ourselves. The claws of the COVID-19 pandemic may have sunk into every country across the world, but the world must rest assured because humankind is not one to give up so easily.