New Year’s Eve was as great as ever, with all of us excited to welcome the upcoming year with open arms. For most of us, the year started on a good note. For me it was extra special since I had landed a job at my dream company, the very first month of the year itself.

The first two months went by without any indication about what the rest of the year may carry. If we had any hint about what was to follow back then, thinking about it now, I feel I would have wanted to do several things differently. But that isn’t the way life is, is it?

The month of March started, and slowly we started hearing about this new virus named COVID-19. The number of cases reported was few, but nonetheless, it created havoc amongst people. By the mid of March, most of the companies started shutting down and employees were told to work from home (WFH). Within days, the entire state was put into strict lockdown with night curfew in place. Every mode of public transport and all the public gathering places were closed. People who were found stepping out of their homes without any valid urgency were punished by the police.

Even at that time, everyone thought it to be a temporary phase which would soon pass. But, as the lockdown period kept increasing, the gravity of the situation started getting clear. The number of COVID-19 cases started increasing drastically. People started to lose their jobs due to financial crisis, migrant worker were stranded with no money, no job and no means to go back to their homes, students were stuck in hostels and there was chaos everywhere.

With ever increasing COVID-19 cases even with all these restrictions implemented, it slowly became difficult to keep the state in complete lockdown for any longer. So gradually lockdown started to be lifted. Migrant workers and students were sent back to their homes as the first step. Soon, the lockdown was completely lifted, except for few limitations.

People say we need to learn to live with COVID-19, they say it is the new normal. But somehow, I agree to disagree with this. I refuse to accept this will be our life henceforth.

In 1918, when the world was infected with Spanish Flu, it must have seemed the way it does now. But, didn’t the world overcome it? Our lives were normal before being stuck with COVID-19, so why won’t it be after it. Today, as compared to 1918, the world has made great advances in the field of medicine, and we are bound to find a cure to this pandemic much faster than that of 1918 pandemic.

Surely, it will take time for the world to heal back to normal, but it will and we will get our normal lives back. I don’t mean we shouldn’t bother about COVID-19, but instead, we should all stick as one to overcome this pandemic sooner. We should take all the necessary precautions to be safe and keep others safe. We should keep on our fight against this pandemic for as long as it takes, and believe that our normal life lies just around the corner.

We all need to be strong and have patience. Even after this pandemic is under control, the world will take time to regain back to normalcy.

Meanwhile, what we can do is, keep helping one another in every way possible and not lose hope. There does await a bright day at the end of this dark phase. We just need to hold on tight till we get there.