fbpx
  • Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • Opinions
  • Features
  • Letters
  • Videos
  • Editorials
  • Columns
Prof-Ram-Shankar

The effect of the Pandemic on normal life

May 20, 2020
Kamla Persad Bissessar

IDC CONGRATULATES HON. KAMLA PERSAD BISSESSAR ON TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTIONS VICTORY

May 4, 2025
Dool Hanomansingh

Pakistan has always been a puppet nation

May 3, 2025
Dool Hanomansingh

Never too late for Dinesh to redeem himself!

May 3, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Guyana must seek USA Protection against Venezuela Threat

May 2, 2025
Albert Baldeo

ADRIANNA YOUNGE’S DEATH MANDATES COMPETENT INVESTIGATION & PROSECUTION

May 2, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Condemn Violent Protests in Guyana & Ethnic Attacks: President Ali Praised for agreeing to family’s demands

May 2, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

In Support of Guyana President in Condemning India Terror Attack

May 2, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Brief Profile of Dr. Vishnu Bisram of Guyana

May 2, 2025
UNC Sweeps to Power in Trinidad and Tobago Elections

UNC Sweeps to Power in Trinidad and Tobago Elections

May 1, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Not all rights are expressly stated in a constitution

April 27, 2025
INDO-CARIBBEAN FEDERATION TRIBUTE TO AUNTY EVELYN MORGAN.

INDO-CARIBBEAN FEDERATION TRIBUTE TO AUNTY EVELYN MORGAN.

April 27, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Up for grabs as Nine Marginal seats to decide Government in Trinidad & Tobago

April 27, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Condition
Saturday, May 10, 2025
  • Login
Indo Caribbean Diaspora News
  • Home
  • Columns
    Kamla Persad Bissessar

    IDC CONGRATULATES HON. KAMLA PERSAD BISSESSAR ON TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTIONS VICTORY

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Guyana must seek USA Protection against Venezuela Threat

    Albert Baldeo

    ADRIANNA YOUNGE’S DEATH MANDATES COMPETENT INVESTIGATION & PROSECUTION

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Condemn Violent Protests in Guyana & Ethnic Attacks: President Ali Praised for agreeing to family’s demands

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    In Support of Guyana President in Condemning India Terror Attack

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Brief Profile of Dr. Vishnu Bisram of Guyana

    UNC Sweeps to Power in Trinidad and Tobago Elections

    UNC Sweeps to Power in Trinidad and Tobago Elections

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Not all rights are expressly stated in a constitution

    INDO-CARIBBEAN FEDERATION TRIBUTE TO AUNTY EVELYN MORGAN.

    INDO-CARIBBEAN FEDERATION TRIBUTE TO AUNTY EVELYN MORGAN.

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Up for grabs as Nine Marginal seats to decide Government in Trinidad & Tobago

  • Letters
    Guyana Rohee’s mocking of Illegal Guyanese & Green Card Holders in America

    Guyana Rohee’s mocking of Illegal Guyanese & Green Card Holders in America

    Charles Sugrim

    Authenticating Dr Bisram’s Poll in Guyana

    Gary Griffith

    United We Stand, Divided We Fall

    Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

    Democrats More Dangerous to Dragon Gas than Republicans

    Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

    Who Really Lost in the Junior Sammy Matter in Trinidad?

    Jai Lall

    A challenge to become the rainbow in Leonora’s cloud

    Rabindra-Moonan

    The opposition UNC led by Kamla Persad Bissessar has gone into meltdown mode.

    Jai Lall

    Residents of Leonora, Guyana are ashamed and embarrassed

    Kamla Persad Bissessar

    Trinidad & Tobago REPUBLIC DAY MESSAGE 2024 OF LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

    Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

    Crime has reached a high level in Trinidad and Tobago

  • Community News
    Indian-Caribbeans Observe Hanuman Birth Anniversary

    Indian-Caribbeans Observe Hanuman Birth Anniversary

    Ram Navami 2023 Observed

    Indo Caribbean Americans Observed 2025 Ram Naumi or Navami

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Gowtam Maharaj: “Phagwa is much more than gulal and abeer; it is building family love and strong communities.”

    Queens Boro President hosts 2025 Holi (Phagwah) Celebration

    Queens Boro President hosts 2025 Holi (Phagwah) Celebration

    Indian-Caribbean Americans in 2025 Phagwah (Holi) Spirit

    Indian-Caribbean Americans in 2025 Phagwah (Holi) Spirit

    Indo-Caribbeans Spellbound by the Maha Kumbh in India

    Indo-Caribbeans Spellbound by the Maha Kumbh in India

    Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers Observe Shivratri

    Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers Observe Shivratri

    Caribbean Airlines

    Caribbean Airlines Supports ECO Canada’s Day 2 Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference February 17-19, 2025 | Hanover, Jamaica

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Amarjyoth Sabha launches music class for youths

    Swami Sarvalokananda of Delhi

    Swami Sarvalokananda of Delhi, India visited Trinidad and Guyana

  • Editorials
    cliff-rajkumar

    VANISHING FOOTPRINTS

    Kamla Persad Bissessar

    Trinidad and Tobago OPPOSITION LEADER addresses TOWN HALL MEETING ON EDUCATION IN SAN FERNANDO WEST

    Jai Lall

    Guyana Leonora’s villagers are inseparable

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Indo-Caribbean to speak on India’s Soft Power in Delhi

    Jai Lall

    Empty vessels make the most noise – politics in Guyana

    Ashook-Ramsaran

    In Commemoration of the 23rd Anniversary

    Kamla Persad Bissessar

    Hope for UNC of Trinidad?

    Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

    Is there No Other Musical Instrument Indigenous to T&T?

    Guyana-map

    October 2024 Hindu Conference bring back memories of Humiliation of Indians in Guyana

    Jai Lall

    Is Kamala Harris the “Trump” card for the Democrats?

  • Opinions
    Dool Hanomansingh

    Pakistan has always been a puppet nation

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Never too late for Dinesh to redeem himself!

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Bhadase and Sat were successful in so many ways

    Dool Hanomansingh

    The UNC is a Bullet Train Today

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Why is the EU Grant for Ex-Cane Farmers Not Paid?

    Dool Hanomansingh

    PNM hates Poor Black People

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Why whites are fleeing South Africa?

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Crime and the Hindu Community

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Guyana January 2025 poll puts PPP in lead against a struggling opposition with opportunity for new parties

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Citizens must dictate how their tax dollars are spent

  • Videos
    Dool-Hanomansingh-003

    US Congress woman Tulsi Gabbard condemns the ongoing genocide of Hindus and other minorities

    Geeta-Vaahini

    Geeta Vaahini, President of the  Hindu Prachaar Kendra speaks on the social significance of Ganga Dhara Festival.

    Geeta-Vaahini

    Geeta Vaahini, President of the Hindu Prachaar Kendra speaks on the Hindu view of the environment.

    swami-brahmadeo

    Swami Brahmadeo – Hindus are top CEOs and Medics in North America and Europe

    Gowtam-Maharaj

    Gowtam Maharaj, a farmer of Barrackpore, South Trinidad, shares his challenges being a farmer.

    BAMBOO #1 Flooding – Frustrated Residents

    BAMBOO #1 Flooding – Frustrated Residents

    NATIONAL-LOTUS-THEATRE

    NATIONAL LOTUS THEATRE – Performance of Niyantran

    radica-jairam

    Story of RADICA JAIRAM from Orange Valley

    fisherman-trinidad

    Families of Orange Valley felt neglected by PNM Government

    Dr Subramanian Swamy

    Dr Subramanian Swamy – Dharma Rising London April 2015

  • Features
    ravi-ratiram

    Trinidad MP Ravi Ratiram Condemns Government’s Failures Amidst Rising Crime in Central Trinidad and Calls for Immediate Action to Protect Citizens

    Pandit Ramdular Singh

    Pandit Ramdular Singh on Guyana’s Dharmic Sabha

    Vassan Ramracha

    PNM bent on Africanizing Trinidad

    Baldeo_Chanderpaul-3

    West Indian cricketers must strive to emulate Shiv Chanderpaul of Guyana

    Jai Lall

    Who in Guyana will ever buy the PNC/AFC/APNU “honesty, integrity and decency” pitch again?

    cliff-rajkumar

    Non Indians Embracing Sanathan Dharma

    Mr. Rudranath Indarsingh

    INDARSINGH ON RELOCATION OF PRINCES TOWN FIRE OFFICERS

    Vassan Ramracha

    TRIBAL AFRICANS DO NOT CONDONE INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES

    Jai Lall

    Guyana President Ali and Cabinet Ministers Engaged West Coast Supporters

    Dr Jerry Jailall

    PPP Government responds quickly to changing “Negro” on Government forms, will they also add “Indian” to Arrival Day?

No Result
View All Result
Indo Caribbean Diaspora News
No Result
View All Result

The effect of the Pandemic on normal life

by Prof Ram Shankar and Dr Vishnu Bisram
May 20, 2020
in Columns
0
Prof-Ram-Shankar

Photo : Prof Ram Shankar

9
SHARES
99
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The Covid pandemic has been ruthless upending lives everywhere. The virus, resulting in a lockdown (partial or full in some places depending on the country), is frustrating for us all interrupting our normal lifestyle. The virus spreads like wildfire forcing people to avoid others including loved ones. It has shaken the roots of human thought and behavior worldwide. What was a ‘normal’ way of life, of behavior, is now replaced by ‘a new normal’ in which people are maintaining a safe distance from contact with others – social distancing it is called. Every aspect of life as we know it in which humans care for one another, has been upset by this virus. It is a new normal – social distancing and limited contact with others for fear of getting infected and succumbing to the deadly disease. 

The pandemic has inexorably underscored that humanity has become an organic whole ‘vasudhaiw kutumbakam’, the old Indian Sanskrit adage (world is one) – pinprick causes pain felt by the whole. This virus has leveled valleys and mountains of status, people, countries, and haves and the have-nots. The attitudinal swagger of the developed West is gone as the ‘punyness’ of humans gets driven into our cognition.

This virus has changed human dreams, aspirations and outlook, brought the world to its knees, and the result of just under 2 gms by weight of the virus from across the globe.When in January news filtered out of Wuhan about a new highly contagious corona virus, we felt secure comforted in T&T, India, elsewhere by its remoteness. Alas, within weeks like wild fire, this virus had entered our lives melting disconnections, replacing it with palpable fear and uncertainty. Trade, economy, emotional bonds are all affected showing we are connected globally.

Dr-Vishnu-Bisram
Photo : Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Human value systems evolved across aeons are set to change. Value systems that define perennial human emotions are changing. For example, tactile communication of love as a human value, long established as a norm, is changing given the highly contagious nature of this virus coupled with the emergence of unknown asymptomatic carriers who infect others.The emotional vacuum created by the virus is hard to fill. We have hardly even begun to understand the enormity of emotional shock resulting from the pandemic. Imagine that a funeral where mourners just drive by or troop past the bereaved family maintaining social distance or worse still, consider the plight of dear ones who cannot even accompany the coffin of a covid deceased to final resting place. Siblings can’t hug loved ones returning from far off lands and who are quarantined. And then there is the reticence and stoicism with which neighbours greet you and worse if you are infected by or a survivor of the virus. That warmth, intimate hug to make you feel loved are gone. How will one live without these tiny gestures of love and togetherness.

What will be ‘the new norms’ of expression of human bonds and intimacy – a question that even the most anticipatory of futurologists have not yet enquired or visualized.The value loads that humans had so assiduously attached to events and things over the years and hooked up their aspirations and dreams to, have started to melt. Cherished dream of migrating foreign lands and the associated glamour has suddenly evaporated. In the past it was from ‘local to global’. Now, the new mantra is ‘from global to local’ –become self-reliant which was once the mantra during decolonization period that itself was replaced by globalization! Goodbye to international jet setting tourneys. 

On a sombre note, that poor migrant labourer in a city now yearns for return home (wherever that is) and the intimacy of simple life. Alas, that is, if he survives the long harsh journey back home from New York, or wherever. Dreams have changed, with the aspiration ‘if I have to die let it be my own country or village’. 

The virus has hit the economic system too that has been diligently evolved by humans. In fact, this system is responsible for exacerbating the hiatus among human beings. Whether it is status ascription, material affluence or power to affect the other, the ultimate source of it all can be traced to this entrenched economic system. Is it crumbling? Well, the ‘new normal’ is certainly not going to be as of yore.

As it is, symbols of status, affluence, and power are fast depreciating and in the post Covid world likely to emerge in a totally different form and substance. Work culture has already changed from glamorous swank office spaces to work from home with seamless connectivity. Work itself is likely to get more efficient and less intrusive and bossy. 

Welcome changes, but for the less equipped without technological background, especially manual laborers and farmers, and those who are ingrained with bureaucratic underpinnings, change in work culture is likely to precipitate a catharsis. Web traffic is on the increase, with a major fallout being lesser traffic on the roads and lesser office space requirements relieving some of the pressures of urbanization. Lesser face-to-face contact would imply decision making without recourse to human contact element, thus radically altering work culture. 

With a new world today, needs and wants are not being driven by the background music of glamorous advertisements but by what humans actually need for survival. A strange scenario when economies are going into recession because humans are not consuming redundancies to grow the economy and create jobs. 

The great pandemic paradox facing T&T and the world today is ‘Whether to open the economy to save it or to extend the lockdown to save humans’. The highfalutin lifestyles of the developed world and those aping them were unsustainable. But who was listening! The pandemic and nature have been given avid consumers time to ease up and listen. Nature is self-healing and smiling. Rivers are running clean, environmental pollution almost zero, birds and other animals (especially in big cities) are visiting humans. Is it the END or a RESURRECTION? 

(*Prof Ram Shankar is HoD Pol. Sci Jabalpur University, India and Vishnu Bisram is a social scientist)

Facebook Comments Box
Tags: Covid 19Dr. Vishnu BisramProfessor Ram ShankarThe effect of the Pandemic on normal life
Share4Tweet2Share1
ADVERTISEMENT
Prof Ram Shankar and Dr Vishnu Bisram

Prof Ram Shankar and Dr Vishnu Bisram

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Dool Hanomansingh

Never too late for Dinesh to redeem himself!

May 3, 2025
Dool Hanomansingh

Pakistan has always been a puppet nation

May 3, 2025
High Commission of India in Guyana extends Indian Arrival Greetings

High Commission of India in Guyana extends Indian Arrival Greetings

May 5, 2023
Nabbie Baksh

Tribute to Guyanese Umpire Nabbie Baksh who Passes on in Queens

April 21, 2025
Kamla Persad Bissessar

IDC CONGRATULATES HON. KAMLA PERSAD BISSESSAR ON TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTIONS VICTORY

May 4, 2025
Dool Hanomansingh

Pakistan has always been a puppet nation

May 3, 2025
Dool Hanomansingh

Never too late for Dinesh to redeem himself!

May 3, 2025
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Guyana must seek USA Protection against Venezuela Threat

May 2, 2025

The most important world news and events of the day.

Get ICDN daily newsletter on your inbox.

ADVERTISEMENT
Indo Caribbean Diaspora News

© 2024 Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News. All rights Reserved

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Condition

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Columns
  • Letters
  • Community News
  • Opinions
  • Videos
  • Features
  • Editorials

© 2024 Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News. All rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In