Looks that way. Perhaps we did, perhaps not. Yes, we lived to tell the tale, some of us; but the images of bodies rotting on streets, people falling to the ground without warning, smoke from countless funeral pyres painting blue skies with shades of grey. Part of us succumbed to some of these graphic images, how could we not? I know these will haunt me for a long time to come. But the most jarring image of them all; from the subcontinent, was of a young guy on a bike, with a friend at the back, his dead mother sandwiched between them. His face bent on getting her to the funeral site, a man on a mission; too focused even for grief. I honestly think, that this image should rank among the greats. A reflection, an eternal eulogy to all those who died from Covid.

As Melbourne: arguably the world’s most locked down city, finally strides towards full freedom, its attention rightly towards vaccination (double), 80 percent and beyond; I took time to reflect.

I was happy when the news spread that all offices will be vacated, staff to work from home; when this grotesque circus started in early 2020. But, the novelty soon wore off. People were dying. We were housebound. Weeks, months, then a year; then two, perhaps more. Lockdown after lockdown, sometimes spiced with curfew. The occasional chance to actually visit the office, soon became a novelty.  Normalcy as we knew it died along with them, states and cities within countries soon became outlawed form each other. Air travel, vacations, recreation, even simple things like visiting family a few suburbs away, soon became elusive. The word freedom was in vogue; it was hilarious to hear the word thrown around in free and open western cities such as Melbourne. Australia was not alone; it was a common phenomenon worldwide.

I heard some say pandemics were rare, perhaps once in a generation. I had seen the rise and fall of several in my life: SARS, Swine Flu, Ebola and now Covid (it hasn’t fallen yet). I encountered two mind sets, those who didn’t care and those who were scared or borderline paranoid. There was nothing in the middle. I belonged to the former, perhaps naively. The repercussions were dire. Survivors spoke of horrific tales, especially the struggle to breathe. Some were scarred for life.

I’ve always been fascinated by history, starting from medieval, going back. The ‘Black Death’ of the dark ages always fascinated me. In a world without antibiotics, hospitals, anaesthetics; I could only imagine the physical and mental trauma. Parents burying their young, one after another; more deaths than births. How did they survive? Thank God, we live in an enlightened age. The vaccines came out in record time. There are conspiracy theorists, there always will be. I thought long and hard before getting the jab.  But then I remembered the obvious, Small pox, Rubella, Hepatitis, BCG; we owed our survival to vaccines. Immunisation was a given, a fact of life. A practice we were introduced to shortly after our initial entry in to the world. What’s one more, even two.

I feel much more secure for having gotten the jab. Since the worst seems to be behind us, I count the cost. The deaths, young and old, rich and poor, ‘The Global Village’ assumed a new persona under the guise of disease. Was there anything good about it? how can anyone count any blessings amid the mayhem. But I must, I did, it’s good for sanity. Sciences, especially health and technology would have suffered splurges of innovation. Humanity proved resilient once more. Above all it enhanced the warmth and purpose of family as we grew even closer. This was a doubled edged sword for some as closeness highlighted deeper fissures.

I mentioned that Covid was a leveller in a previous blog. But as I write now, I wonder? The usual suspects have paid the dearer price. The starving, homeless and displaced paid more, as always. They died in droves. Refugee camps found a new meaning to hell on earth, perhaps their only release, the permanent kind: death. The same tin-pot dictators still smile from cheek to cheek, they survived. They found time to quietly think of more innovative ways to kill and plunder their respective nations.

Covid has rubbed in the same old lesson in my face. To give more and more. But, in the meantime, I might celebrate, I might simply head over to the closest shopping centre and embrace a new world with the same ole humanity…in action.

Perhaps, my kids would one day tell their own (I hope and pray), how they survived the great pandemic of 2020 and 2021…