Luck — What is it all about?
To be honest, I have never really dug up the dictionary definition of this often misconstrued word luck. Here is what dictionary.com has to say about it.
Here is my take on it.
Its May 2021, India is at the peak of its worst ever nightmare. 300K lives lost (and counting), many others battling hard in hospitals, 11 million jobs cut, this pandemic is causing damage that India could have never imagined. To rub salt into the wound, the weather gods seem to be disappointed for some reason, India has experienced at least 2 cyclones and 1 earthquake during this phase. People are having to run from pillar to post, scouting for hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, mortuary vans and space in crematoriums. How many times have we heard people say “This is not the kind of send off you wish to give even to your worst enemy! ”. These are the times that we live in.
I, on the other hand, wake up a 9 AM, have a cup of tea, play with my pup, start my work, have a few meals through the day, watch people get caned by cops for stepping out during lockdown, realize how boring this is and switch to a sitcom, back seat drive the government and talk about unavailability of vaccines (because that’s what most people do these days), watch short videos on that rather shitty social media app (which by the way, just like me lacks creativity), blame the internet guy for bad internet, take zoom calls (with that bad internet. Drop and join back a few times at least) where the first 10 mins is a discussion on a random app that sends notifications for vaccines and beds, have dinner, walk my pup, lay down on bed and think of how bloody stressful my life really is and how depressed I feel. Phew !! This is my routine 6 out of 7 days. That 1 other day, I wake up at 11 AM.
That said, am I really lucky ? I don’t know if I am lucky but I know that
- I don’t have to wake up everyday, wear a PPE kit, walk into a hospital and treat patients for 20 straight hours without sleep and rest.
- I don’t have to stand on a street corner from 6AM -10 AM and hope that a customer comes and buys my product. Most days I don’t even wake up by the time these street vendors and gig workers finish their work day.
- Thank god, I don’t need to be worried about my salary because I can work from home
- I don’t need to be worried about hospital bills because, my the organization I work for has got me covered
- …
If this doesn’t make me lucky, then what will? If there is anything to learn from this pandemic, it has to be about this relentless endurance and the fighting sprit that India has shown. There are many households that have lost family members, struggled financially, lost jobs etc. The least we could do for all of them is spread cheerfulness and joy.
I strongly believe we all are lucky in some form or the other.
The world needs positivity not insecurity !