The world today is united today, more than ever, by a fight against an invisible enemy – Corona. It was not anticipated as a pandemic to be precise. No country is immune to this disaster looming large on the humankind today. The affected countries, the civil society organisations and governments and citizens are collectively taking up this challenge with a streak of positivity, highlighting shades of humanitarianism in the wake of crisis.
Still, it seems that the whole rush towards materialist humdrum have seen a halt. Rewind to three months back, the world was rushing. People never had the time to invest in their family or health. But this lockdown has tested the bond of love in families. Irrespective of the social status, religion or caste, this lockdown has made us realise the bond of love. There has been an exodus of the people back to their homes. People are wanting to stay at home, wage a war against virus being with their families in their homes. Internet and media is flooded with positive images of family time, cooking healthy food, yoga, playing with the children and pets and home exercise so on and so forth. Quarantine time is seeing various vistas of love. We can always enjoy things which we always take for granted.
When the bond of love is strong, that family, society or community can tackle any situation better. Not just human beings but animals too are part of this love bond. Earlier, people spent a lot of money and invested a lot of their energy to experience this “bond of love” within their family, society or community, but it never worked. We are now finding the time, the energy and the motivation to work towards this bond.
I can personally vouch for the “bond of love” between the animals has developed too, or may be I just got the time to see it and think about it closely. I have been feeding stray dogs from last 20 years. Earlier, when I fed a dog, other dog would pounce upon it and there would be a fight for the food. The battle would continue as long as I wouldn’t feed the other dogs. But recently, in a helping drive, I fed a stray dog and notices something else. This time, when the particular dog was fed, no other dogs were disturbing it. They let the other dog eat in peace because they too realise it was a tough time and time of scarcity. In fact, the dogs waited for their turns to be fed, which came after a good one minute. The same thing happened with the monkeys when I fed them. It was amusing for me, for this was unique yet inclusive in all the animals.
This tells us a bittersweet fact that, even if this world is going through widespread havoc, we as social animals have learnt the bond of love or at least getting to enjoy it. We are all going back to our own- native, place, family, home. There are times where inaction becomes more significant than action. This is a time like that. It reminds me of “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda. This is the time to sit back, look at our lives, reflect, strategize the trajectory of what we want our life to be, and above all, realize the fragile nature of our existence and enjoy the wonderful bond of love.
Get Social