COVID, Cornflakes and College
“College,” a huge milestone in our lives. With my laptop in front of me, a notebook on my table, and a bowl of cornflakes in my hands, college has been a life-changing experience so far. Other than the fact that we can attend classes with pyjamas, nothing else seems right.
How different did we want 2020 to be? Surely not so different that a deadly virus has taken over the place by storm. No one expected this, maybe some scientists in China did, or maybe sci-fi fans wanted this to happen. Fortunately or unfortunately, none of this is as cool as Walking Dead. Instead of zombie hunting, we are trying to prevent bacteria and viruses from hunting us down.
Pessimistic thoughts tend to take over pretty easily these days and the fear of infection and death is not easy to overcome. Moreover, its pretty difficult to think that everything will be okay when millions of people are suffering across the globe. Surrounded by so many memes claiming that we are the reason for the imbalance and that COVID-19 has taken up Thanos’s job, the similarities become pretty clear.
Years ago, our ancestors moved around and tried to tame nature; our bodies have evolved from that of our forefathers, and we have become vulnerable and a lot more interdependent. Now, stuck in a situation where human contact can harm our lives, it feels as if we are experiencing what the earth feels, “harmed by human contact.”
Kellogg’s cornflakes has its largest factory in Manchester, a city where infection rates are fluctuating constantly as well as facing an increase in unemployment. The number of people starving every day is on the surge, leading the world with no sight of what might happen next.
Education and medical care have diminished at a time we need it the most. In many countries, hospitals refuse to take-in patients with any other health issues. In India, children from low-income families do not have the facilities that would aid them to join online classes. Exam schedules are messed up, students are stressed and tired.
Can we consider ourselves lucky? We have food, shelter, access to education and probably a bit more in luck compared to many others. Are we stuck in an oasis in the middle of a huge desert? One day we are going to run out of what we have. Let’s not forget that we are living in between thousands of corpses. The whole world is facing it, developed or not, irrespective of caste, gender, and age. Everyone is a victim with no exceptions.
COVID-19 is going to leave a scar behind within all of us. Physically or mentally we all are victims and even when the pandemic is over, the internal fear is going to haunt us for years to come. Going back to campus or getting a job is not going to fix this fear nor is refusing to accept the truth. The bubble of our safe haven has to burst, it’s time we accept the reality of COVID, college, and corn.
