I am sitting in my balcony in the high-rise building overlooking the sea and a busy highway. The cool breeze is calming my senses. On one side, I see the calm sea merging with the horizon and on the other side are the rooftops of the human habitation. I can distinctly hear two types of voices. One is the chirping of the birds, who have learnt to make their nests in the windows, balconies and wherever they can find a secure place. The other sound is of the cars driving at a high speed. I am amazed at how the birds have adapted to this high rise building. They are not afraid of us, they come and sit on our swings, make their sounds and have made their way in this human cacophony.
My thoughts go back to the year left behind. As I had suggested in one of my previous posts, I had no plans to join others or catch a glimpse of the fireworks around. I had a cozy evening and had slept early to let the year sneak by. I survived 2020, the year that changed it all. The year of Covid, yet I will call it a year of learning…a year of warning..warning us to live and let live not just other human beings, another countries, but other species, other animals, flora, fauna, the nature and the mother earth. When will we learn to live and let live. I have seen the panic when people came thronging to hospitals for covid testing . I have allayed anxiety of many, and being a wife of intensivist, I have seen his sleepless nights and worry especially during the initial days of pandemic, when even the pathophysiology of the disease was unknown. Even though we stayed safe, we have seen many succumb to the disease.
I remember that analogy from my childhood. If you keep taking and do not fill back, you will end up with empty pot. We have used up resources, never bothering to replenish them. We have cut forests to make way for the ever expanding mass of humans, destroying the plants, animals and the microbiota. If novel coronavirus is a zoonosis, why did it jump the species? Because we humans destroyed the habitat. This year lets take this thoughtfulness forward, slow down and reflect on how can we make this planet more habitable not just for us now, but for other species and generations to come. We are the only species that alters the ecosystem. We have destroyed forests, polluted land and the water, caused overpopulation, our activities have caused global warming, acid rains and ozone depletion. Do we need any other bigger warning then this pandemic?
The pandemic has driven us to cover our faces with masks. The air is cleaner, yet we need to filter it via mask to breathe it in. We no longer see the smiles, just look in the eyes and try to catch the message. Yet, have we learnt the message or do we still need a jolt? The rat race leads us nowhere, just pushes us away from the loved ones whose life we are trying to build. Its time to slow down, its time to reflect, its time to be grateful for the new dawn and for the millions of sunsets and sunrises we have never appreciated. Its time to usher in this new year with a promise to be more thoughtful towards self and others, be more in gratitude towards the mother nature, friends, family and everyone who touches our lives. Its time to be more kind towards all.
This post is a part of #Welcome2021Blog Hop organised by Swarnali Nath who blogs at The Saffron Storyteller
Welcome 2021 Blog Hop is a writing event that started on 25th December, 2020 and will continue till 7th January, 2021 where 30 bloggers across the globe will share their thoughts on the theme ‘Learning from the day gone by to make a promise for the new.’
You can read the thoughts of these 30 bloggers Here .
The Vagabond 
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