Essentials.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in the morning today.

No, I wasn’t in the hills or on the beach, I was actually in the most polluted cities in the world.

Just two days (24 March 2020) of human inactivity has changed the colour and the composition of the sky. I have not seen so many birds and so many stars in the Delhi sky in the last decade.

Overall, apart from humans, nature seems pretty happy nowadays.

And I am guessing that some, if not many, humans are happy also. A lot of meaningless nonsense has suddenly been removed from our lives for an indefinite period.

Yes, a lot of it remains. If you haven’t turned off your TV or are still living in Zuckerberg’s kingdoms, then you might be missing out on these small pleasures.

Essentials. That is the focus now. For governments. For companies. For everyone.

The question is why can’t it be the focus always. Why can’t we focus on ensuring the essentials for everyone.

Yes, Elon Musk can still send man to Mars and Jeff Bezos can still deliver goods through drones. But those are after-essentials. Those are okay if they don’t harm, not us, not others, not the planet or space for that matter.

Everything else can be put into question.

Is it essential? To whom? Does it harm someone (including the planet)?

We might be much better living that way. We might wake up to birds chirping in the absence of corona also.