And another year passes by …
Every year, I write a letter to the community on it’s anniversary date May 24. The date marks a corroboration of a uniform spirit among people that have come together time and again to support each other and grow, all while learning Google Cloud technologies. It gives me affirmation to stay committed to this initiative and keep contributing in howsoever little ways I can.
Every year, with this letter, I also talk about numbers. I talk about the number of events, the number of social media engagements that have increased over the previous years, the number of people who benefitted from our collective efforts and the likes. Of course, I could still talk about how 200000 people attended our virtual events across Devfest India and Google Cloud Community Days India and how we probably smashed through all the records but honestly, I don’t feel talking about those.
You may have observed how we’ve been dormant throughout the previous year. When you see how this year has gone by, there are different stats globally affecting lives. People lost their loved ones. Some lost their jobs and livelihood. Some are still recovering from long term effects of the disease. These are difficult times to be in. I want to talk about happy moments and how great things have been at certain levels or if you expect better from me as an organizer, please accept my apologies, as it’s not very different here and the mental toll has been unbearable. You may have also noticed that quite unusually there are absolutely no graphics in this post. Amen Tyagi, co-organizer and our lead designer along with his family is also suffering as you read here. All in all, it’s nearly impossible to talk about better things in life when life itself is at stake.
Last year, when I was writing this letter, things weren’t as frightful. People were affected but they were also recovering and the environment wasn’t as scary. Lately, the anxiety has been suffocating and with so much fear in the air, it’s hard to get by. But here we are, you see this time the power of community extends beyond our belongingness as developers and delves more as humans. GDG New Delhi made a website(indiabeatscovid.in) to provide verified leads for beds, plasma, oxygen etc. Pawan Kumar extended that website to an app and made it even more accessible. For the first time, we also had a session on mental health in collaboration with Therapize for the community to help cope with stress and anxiety. Maybe I can also talk about how events through last year have had a thundering impact when communities across the country came together and pooled their resources to help people continue their learning over specific weekends.
Largely, I want to point that even in dire circumstances, time and again, the human spirits have fallen down and then risen again like a phoenix. People have come together time and again to support each other and keep moving.
I’ll try to close on a positive note and this is possibly the best I can do in this moment by stating that even though we’ve been distanced apart for over a year, like the human spirits, the community will also keep moving and keep striving and we’ll continue to stick by each other. You know you can continue to look up to us when you need help, support or just someone to lend an ear.
Best,
Pranay
