Post Pandemic

Boy did the pandemic do a number of us this past three years. This feels like the first full year where the pandemic was behind us. So much has changed, not so much physically around us, but in peoples attitude to life. I certainly can vouch for that as far as I am concerned. My perspective on life has made changes significantly from that day on March 13th 2020 when I walked out of work because we were all asked to go home and stay home till end of the week until this virus situation was handled. It took two years to return to that office.

Many an experiments on facial hair and  shaven heads later, the pandemic was behind us and we were all changed people. The most significant moment was when both my parents went into the hospital with Covid and I couldn't even travel to help them out. It was then that I realized that what we hold so tightly and worry about are not really the most important things in life. 

This year started with my visit back home and on the day of the return I got the news that my aunt was in the hospital in a coma. My memories of her are so precious because they are from a time that is full of childhood summers in a house that was a dream for me. She was the central figure in that house and I still remember her fighting on our behalf to get our uncle to take us for movies. The news was not good and she passed away a week later. Yet another person perished and I wasn't there for the final goodbye. I lament this for all the grandparents I had as well. Such is life when you leave the people you love behind and head to another country. 

This year has also been about taking small steps to rearrange myself, both mentally and physically. Growing up kids and an aging body will do that to you. The old ways just dont seem to work anymore and things that seemed important in the past doesn't seem that important anymore. When these seismic shifts happen in life, there is a need to reevaluate the way one approaches life.   

The pandemic was just an excuse. The real change in life crept up on me while I was busy living the life i thought was in front of me. Once again, I have been taught that I know little of what is to come in the days ahead, much like that fateful day when I walked out of the office thinking I would be back at my desk the following week. 

Cheers to change!

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