COVID-19 - the brighter side
#38 - The day when all this ends will come. Until then, let's hang tight.
Hey everyone,
We are living in uncertain times. I’m at a point where turning the news on is frustrating now. I don’t want to consume the same news about the COVID-19 crisis anymore.
That said, I am going to share some news showing the positive side of the crisis.
The other side of COVID-19
The air is cleaner
In China, emissions fell 25% at the start of the year, as people were instructed to stay at home. With empty streets and aggressive social distancing measures, it is expected that we could see an effect on air quality globally too. Though the effects are largely temporary, it is still a good lesson for all of us that change can happen.
In the future, I am sure that the decrease in pollution happening currently is going to be cited in several research papers and environmental plans.
Internet has handled the excess load
A lot of us have seamlessly made the transition to working from homes. All we needed were good computers, phones, and a stable internet connection. When the lockdown started across several parts of the world, it was feared that the internet might not be able to handle the load.
It has.
While there are signs of strain, with traffic increasing by about a quarter in every US city, large-scale internet outages are unheard of. The peak traffic time has shifted from the evenings to the day, but that is not something the internet cannot handle.
With more businesses moving online, the internet is going to expand even further, which means the virtual world is going to command a lot more power than the real world. For anyone who is starting a store, starting an online store first is as easy as ever.
Remote work
For a lot of tech companies, one question of whether remote work would ever be as good as an in-office setting has been answered. Since the crisis started, a lot of companies are fully-remote, with almost all of their businesses getting conducted online. Online tools have advanced to an extent where work gets done from homes, without the need to be in an office.
Sometimes, I fear that once the pandemic ends, I won’t want to go back to an office. We’ll see what happens…
Remote work tools are all-the-more powerful today. If you work for a small business that is looking to move its offerings digital, several companies, like Shopify, are offering heavy discounts for small businesses to move their business online.
I’m sure there is a lot of other positive news. If you know of any, please share them and I’ll highlight them in the coming weeks.
I wrote down a Hindi poem last week summarizing the day when we go back to normal. I don’t know when that day will come, but it surely will.
कोरोना मुक्ति दिन
शहर फिर से खिल उठेंगे,
स्कूलों के ताले फिर से टूटेंगे,
सड़कों पे अनगिनत ठेले लगेंगे,
सोचो, क्या दिन होगा वो।
ट्रेन की धड़क धड़क वापस गूजेंगी,
होटलों में वापस भीड़ होगी,
मौसा-मौसी से मुलाक़ात होगी,
ऐसा होगा कोरोना मुक्ति दिन।
सारी मानवता जब एकजुट होग़ी,
स्वास्थय कर्मचारियों को सलाम करेगी,
वैज्ञानिकों के ऊपर जब फिल्में बनेंगी,
ठीक ऐसा होगा कोरोना मुक्ति दिन।
बस एक ही उम्मीद करता हूँ...
प्रकृति की जो सफाई इन कुछ दिनों में हुई है,
जानवरों को खुले घूमने की जो आज़ादी मिली है,
पेड़ों को जो ताज़ा सांसें लेने का मौका मिला है
कहीं वापस खो न जाएँ,
तेज़ रफ़्तार वाली ज़िन्दगी में,
कहीं पीछे ना रह जाए।
- हेमंत र जोशी
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Thanks for reading :)
Hemant