Happy 2021

 As the year 2020 draws to a closure, we look back and it's been anything but an easy journey.

What burnt all its rage as bush fires, poured down mercilessly as flash floods, swirled and swept over as violent hurricanes, swarmed in as hungry locusts, began melting the world's largest iceberg. Is there something I've not mentioned? Ah! The most unprecedented health crisis of our times, the deadly Corona. Nonetheless, we as humans have fought tooth and nail to scrape out of this disastrous year.

What has Corona and the year 2020 showed us? That the worst brings out the best in us. That humanity shall prevail despite the growing distance among fellow humans. That kindness is even more infectious than this disease itself.

Not only the rich and the wealthy, but even ordinary citizens are getting in on the act and are going out of their ways in helping the distraught, the homeless and the hungry. The unwavering optimism of humanity has swept across the globe with waves of solidarity. The stories of nurses singing for the birthdays of their patients at the ICUs, and doctors holding hands of their patients in their last hours make our hearts swell, our eyes well up with those sweet happy tears. We might be tired. But we are not at the end of the tether. We have learnt that doing good doesn't require fame or privilege.

2020 has shoved in our faces the unfairness and the vulnerability of the basic system. But today, as we walk into 2021, let us remember, we still have time to repair and heal; the power to move through our present adversaries and get to the other side, hands held.

Let us sit up and take note of this wake up call to build a world out of the shambles that it is in, into one that is sustainable and compassionate. Because we deserve it. And we owe it to the generations to come.

A very happy new year.

Thank you.

Aishwarya