Updated on February 22nd, 2021
COVID 19 has the audacity to alter the way humans connect with one another in their interaction. The first casualty in the arena of customs, traditions and rituals was that of salutation – the hand shake – an activity of two persons extending and clasping each other’s hand. The show of delight and warmth was exhibited by the firmness of grasp and number of shakes. Fear of virus transmission has replaced hand shake with the social distancing enabled Namastey – a pleasantry performed in Indian culture with adjoined palms.
Change accepted and adopted.
‘Cheers’ goes well and matters most when accompanied with clinging of glasses. With ‘stay home’ as the new normal the closest friends can get is at an ‘umbrella distance’. No more ‘show off’ of display of bar paraphernalia and ‘a la carte’ spread of evening snacks. Chuckles and giggles can be heard across the bandwidth, but what about the back pattings, the hair rufflings and, above all, the ultimate in the virtue of sharing – passing the fag around. However, the bright blokes worked out a solution – a video binge session. BYOB (bring your own booze) gave way to PYOB (pour your own booze). Maximum pleasure with minimum fuss.
Change accepted and adopted.
Use of face mask is the new normal. It is as much an individual requirement as that of the people around. But do we realise what would be the single biggest casuality of this cover – over. How would cupids fall in ‘love at first sight’. Beauty may be only skin deep but the route to the heart in non invasive entry procedure has always – or say mostly, been through exchange of glance which is invariably accompanied with a complimentary exchange of a love lorn smile. So what would be the next attraction between the opposite poles – height, girth or rate of change of body motion. Remember body contours will also be covered from hair to toe by a non porous Personal Protection Kit. Wink, my dear friend wink would be the next romantic progeny.
Change accepted and adopted.
Having got a match -after pot boiling all of the above in a cauldron, now let us turn our focus on conduct of marriage in the era of lockdown. Should it be an on line marriage, a court marriage, or a truncated marriage with heavily restricted guests in attendance. My take is that all pre marriage rituals can be conducted on the go, in your own time albeit in the respective bathrooms or through Zoom App. Sangeet, Haldi, Mehndi and Sagai (in Indian marriages) would fit in this category. The final event – marriage per say, can be a mellowed down affair sans ‘Ghud chadi’ and ‘Band-Baja-Baraat’. Lavish buffet can yield to packed lunch or dinner etc. Post marriage ceremonies like ‘Joota churai’, ‘Dwar rukaai’ & ‘Kisne Mari bazi’ etc can be viewed separately in older family videos of elder brother or uncle. Betting on outcome would pronounce the results. No shamiyana no lighting no red carpet. Marriage ceremony finito. Now wait for virus to weaken and drop dead for ‘ ‘Gauna’ ceremony to take place. And who says that honey moon has to happen within a fortnight of wedding. Select a destination and book open tickets. Your wait starts now….
Change accepted and adopted.
The most happening thing to happen – in situ, is the culture of ‘work from home’. It definitely is few notches above the concept of felxi working hours. MS Excel during the week days and Surf Excel during the weekends – so to say.
But here too lots of innovations took shape – especially in the realm of dressing up. Since only the upper half is visible on screen, only this part got all the attention, care and grooming. Nice hair style, nice make up, stylish shirt/top, well manicured and painted nails, adequately moisturised hands and palms, so far so good. But for the lower half – nothing at all. Bermudas and shorts of previous Autumn sale fits the bill. Anything that’s not on show gets relegated to obscurity. Top half is office and lower half is home, or in business parlance – ‘work from home’, period.
Change accepted and adopted.
Of course, the new normal includes on line schooling too. The curriculum and the syllabi have undergone massive rejig to suit online tutoring. Teachers are spending sleepless week ends, often burning the midnight oil to roll out hi tech power point presentations for the ensuing week. All the effort seem to be working well. The only irritant being fathers showing due diligence to attend the online classes alongwith their wards – just to keep a roving eye on, well, the teachers. And while this problem is still being surmounted amicably, another embarrassing endeavour has crept in. Teachers often hear the distinctive sound of cistern being flushed in the middle of a captivating chemistry class. Parents to ensure no toilet breaks please. May be because of the ongoing HRD Ministry has mooted an idea of truncated online classes per day – for just about three hours only.
Change accepted and adopted.
To hell with Corona Virus, the adamant and incorrigible COVD 19…..
We shall overcome and return to the old normal.