Well, when the year 2021 arrived, many were hopeful that things would change for the good. The government started relaxing lockdown restrictions in many states as following the protocols of wearing masks, washing hands regularly, using sanitizers, and social distancing had become a norm of life and many were religiously following the same no matter what. Cinema halls and malls were slowly opening up and seeing the couples and youngsters and families enjoying and spending their quality time on weekends.
On the other side, temples, restaurants, tourist locations, and market places were also seeing people walking and trying to embrace the new normal with their masks ON. I mean come on, life during the coronavirus pandemic is not like before the coronavirus era, still, there is life and it is not that difficult to accept change, so it was okay to go for a walk with your friend in the morning and keep chatting about how your college is nagging you with loads of assignment work during the lockdown (yes with the mask ON).
However, come March 2021 and you see news with red alerts mentioning how COVID-19 guidelines have been violated at many places and how people were behaving ignorantly as soon as they heard that vaccines have come for elderly people. People started thinking to take a vaccine shot and after a month another dose and you are free to live life like earlier. And at one end, when you hear news of celebrities and senior citizens getting vaccinated but at the other end, you hear and read all rising number of coronavirus positive cases all over the country and the government contemplating on stricter lockdown restrictions to imposed to control people’s actions and behavior. Yes, hospitals have better infrastructure and facilities now to treat coronavirus-positive patients as compared to March 2020, however, why do we have to risk our lives to a virus with our arrogant behavior?
2021 has just passed three months by and again, we are back to no festival celebration at the public places. Again, the weddings are being canceled and again we are back to limiting the physical events to 20 to 50 people in many states. Again, the schools and colleges are going to operate in 50% of staff members, and again, the trains and public transport are being contemplated to being shut for a while to control the virus. I wouldn’t say that I am very much happy with the current scenario wherein I am unable to spot a difference in the lockdown life in 2020 and 2021 because I am again staying back at home and working from home while ordering grocery and essential items online for home delivery because being a responsible person, I feel I should just WAIT AND SEE, and support the government in its measures to stop the growing spread of the virus.
