Sourav SinhaThe Life After COVID-19

14April

The Life After COVID-19

Three things happened today:

The honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown by another 19 days.
On the occasion of Poila Boisakh (Bengali New Year Day) a short movie in Bengali was released, Jhhar Themey Jabe Ekdin (Underlying the theme of “Stay at Home” & “Social Distancing, conceptualised by The Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt. Mamata Banerjee).
I Spoke to one of my cousins after a long time who stays in Mumbai.

During my discussion with my cousin today about the current state of affairs specially in Mumbai, a few things stuck me and so thought of writing that out. Both of us spoke about it briefly and I will try and explain it in detail here:
One day when the lockdown is eased and little by little people go back to their daily routined life, what will be the new routine as far as socialising is concerned?

When one goes to office, will we go straight to our workspace or do we sanitise ourselves first?
When we visit a relative’s home, will we be given a glass of water first or a sanitiser to clean our hands first?
When a new recruit joins office will he be asked to submit a doctor’s certificate of his Rapid Anti Body test to prove that he is COVID-19 negative?
Will we ever shake hands again with colleagues and business associates?
Will we ever again hug and embrace our near and dear ones?

Once the world settles down to this new normal, our lives will change forever as we embrace these new changes. There will be multiple other things that would happen in the short term after lockdown eases and a few of them are:

Airlines will fly with no middle seats (or middle seats vacant).
Just like security check there will be scanning of passengers before anyone enters the airport. This will happen at railway stations as well.
Road travel via private cars will increase because people would try to keep themselves out of the above hassles (Including heightened flight prices).
Webinars and Video Conferences will replace the seminars and conferences.
Online classroom teaching will become a must have feature in all schools.
Star studded movies will release over digital platforms.
Tournaments won’t be played in jam packed stadiums.

Who knows we might end up having parliament sessions through Video Conference Tools and elections might be digitally conducted.
Most people around us have taken the lockdown seriously and all knows that flattening the curve is the only way, we can win this war against Coronavirus. But, there is a world beyond us and India is having a huge poor population. How do we address their problems? There are multiple places in India where 10 families share one bathroom. How do they implement social distancing and good hygiene? There are lakhs of people in India who doesn’t have a home to stay, so how do they “stay at home”? This vulnerable section of the society needs to be spoken to and the basic necessities of these people have to be taken care off.
There will be a lot of new technological interventions that will come up in the near future. Healthtech, EduTech and FinTech are the three spaces where I am expecting a lot of innovation in the next few months. Life will be very exciting for those who see this challenging period as an opportunity and use this period of lockdown to plan his next move.
Having said that, I believe the Government needs to come up with a solid economic booster for the downtrodden and the middle class. It can’t be “One Size Fits All”. I am sure, our country is blessed with great economists and we will find a solution to come out of this huge mess! We are a young country and we will come out of this crisis stronger.
Lets keep motivating each other, every day and we shall overcome!
Stay Safe! Subho Nababarsho!