The temporary year

By the looks of it, 2020 has been a temporary year
We have all got adjusted to this temporary sense of being
While we were so fastidious of the kaamwali baai about not missing her work even on sundays, now we are adjusted to cleaning the house every Sunday... temporarily
While we were so strict of getting up early in the morning and rushing to office and worried of even missing a day, we are now adjusted to not going to office in time or even for a day or two.... temporarily
While we were worried of children missing classes on festive days or because a teacher is absent, we are now satisfied with only three or four online classes in a day... temporarily
While we were so strict of our diet, not missing the Wednesday nonveg day, we are now adjusted to not taking the risk of buying chicken regularly... temporarily
How long is our temporary year going to last, we don't know
We thought maybe because of the zero record earlier on, life would be back to normal by now, but now its extended... temporarily
The world has gone topsy turvy and so has our own life
It's difficult to predict the future or even plan for the future, maybe we can, but we are afraid to
We are dragging on and hoping the temporary phase passes away and we are back to our "normal " selves
I check my November and December diaries of last year and read all the plans I made for this year and I smile at my naivete
Those wonderful projects that I planned all involved people and those plans were made hoping for a more wonderful contribution to my Department and those plans are all shelved because I can get no people together any time soon... temporarily
Some plans, I have gone ahead with and these plans look weak and incomplete and I hope some day I can fill it with the life of people
I worry about many who have lost their jobs including my close relatives in the tourism industry
And because the media is not highlighting those, those are no problems at all so far as us employed people are concerned
And the media is not highlighting those because the media themselves have joined in sacking people right and left and if they highlight unemployment they are exposing their own underbelly
Close relatives in the media, both husband and wife have lost their jobs though they were working in different magazines
Yet we are not worried about it because it is not a matter identified as a problem by the media
Instead we are more worried for Amitabh than for anyone else
We are more worried about rising fuel prices and consider that an issue though our vehicles are not used as much as before and we are actually spending less on fuel now
I don't know how businesses like real estate petty contractors are coping, but they are quiet and not complaining, but I can feel the pain in those unsaid words
Friends that I know of are trying to diversify selling masks and sanitizer and trying to sell vegetables
Real estate has been in a slump,vehicles are not selling and our extravagant spending has become nullified
We are living on the essentials and surviving has become the buzzword... temporarily

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