This year I thought of travelling. Travelling a lot to farms and farm stays, and also planned my trips accordingly. I know most of the people have important work that was cancelled because of the lockdown. But do I really think lockdown is important? Yes, fortunately we have not seen how worst it could have been without proper precautions.
When I was supposed to travel in the 1st week of March, my family was so strict that they did not give me permission. I was so angry, vexed because then there wasn’t too much of the spread. But only later I realised, I have nothing to lose if I don’t go anywhere. Yes, I might become mad sitting at home but there are many ways to cope up with that. You might never get this time again in your lifetime and I thought I should try spending it in a quality way. I know not everyone is in a position to handle the lockdown period. There were people who were stranded without any basic amenities and were treated in a very bad way. Probably, this could have been handled in a better way by the government. But, what about the people who can afford it? Even after the lockdown, there were and are few who still gather in groups to have fun. The young might be resistant or well immune to the virus, with the lifestyle they want to lead which though not guaranteed, but can definitely be asymptomatic carriers and at the end of the day they have to go home where there might be elders who are not immune as they are.
Health workers, Police, and a lot of people out there are extending their support in this crucial time. There are things we can do from our end as well. Instead of being greedy by taking all the masks, sanitizers and other important things just for ourselves, we can leave all those to the people who are working out there selflessly. We can pay our helpers on time, eat consciously, improve our immunity by eating the right food and not just munching on packed food. This is the time where we can at least avoid all the junk which we generally eat at normal times. Learning some new skill might help you to ease anxiety, or become stronger in your expertise, spend some proper time with family, know yourself better, do whatever that makes you happy 🙂
Its so nice too see many people on Instagram keep sharing this positive news that earth is healing itself. Nature is getting better and they can see many birds from the balconies and a lot more. Every one of us is waiting for this lockdown to end, who wouldn’t love to meet their loved ones, go out get some fresh air, have a change, visit some new places. I’ve also seen many memes/posts saying that they are waiting for the lockdown to end, so they can go meet their friends, planning to go on trips. Fortunately, at least till date, India hasn’t seen the community spread and yet the cases are rising. Imagine once everyone is out after lockdown, controlling the spread would be next to impossible. And also, if we leave this virus aside, can we be gentle to nature at least now. I know now not many people around me will take public transport because of the fear they have in the current situation. But at least going forward, can we teach ourselves and our kids to use more public transport, and understand that it doesn’t look cheap if you use public transport. Also, one more thing that always runs in my mind is food. I myself was once a binge eater.I’m definitely not against any food. When I was young, we (not only our family but almost everyone I knew) used to eat non-vegetarian food once a week, might be because vegetables were cheap then or probably our elders knew how to manage our body by giving all types of nutrients from various veggies. As we know supply is proportional to demand and we all witnessed how the meat industry rose and I am not sure how many of you know the abuse behind the industry. Not just the abuse but it is one of the biggest contributors for the destruction of the planet in a number of ways. There’s one website in recent times I’ve found interesting, http://knowyourfish.org.in/ where you can enjoy your fish without actually destroying nature. There are ways where we can have everything, be it travel to food to clothes to everything without destroying nature.
Many people have already been following some small practices, which I think if everyone can try to follow, might create a huge difference. Am trying my best to follow the below points, maybe you can also try to start with one at least 🙂
- Conscious of what and how am eating
- Put laziness and comfort aside and try to use public transport as much as possible
- Carry our own water bottle, own cloth bag for shopping and a snack box
- Shopping wisely. I know it’s not easy to control our shopping patterns but sharing a dress between friends or cousins will greatly reduce the burden on the pocket and at the same time help the planet from harmful chemicals used in synthetic clothes
- Eat local and organic
- Try to make our kitchen plastic-free
These are some of the things we can start off with. Let’s try to make some effort in searching those ways and do what makes us happy. Lets respect each other, respect nature, respect everything that’s around us and not take everything for granted, be it yourself or be it others. Let’s be responsible and save mother nature, and give it in better shape to the next generations. Let’s see that we won’t make the same mistakes we have made before lockdown, instead, try and implement what we got to know during the lockdown and make the world a better place to live after lockdown 🙂
Let’s all stay together in this and fight this virus together. Stay safe, stay home (even after lockdown for some time if you can afford to or take precautionary measures if you are going out) and take care of you and people around you 🙂
P.S: The views about lockdown might change from person to person and I’m sharing my personal view and am not a fan of any politician or a specific school of thought.