Damn, this quarantine sucks big time! I pat myself on the back, on being pretty disciplined for the last few years of my godforsaken life. Barring aside a few beauties, the life of mine as an entrepreneur has been more or less f****ed (‘coz it is, no qualms!). On other counts, despite being pretty regimental and routine-following daily, the monotony of it all now seems all the more magnified to me. On usual days, I was disciplined, but then I used to head out of home for some meetings here and there or maybe stopover at Starbucks to write (God, I miss that caramel macchiato or their Americano blend). But those days seem like a distant dream now and I am stuck with Nescafe (gratitude to Nestle!) This quarantine thingy is getting to me, I think. And I think it is for most of us.
Have you ever had the chance to visit a steam power plant? If so, have you seen its boiler section - massively huge, sometimes even nine to ten stories high, standing ominously tall and wide it handles some-gargantuan-level-bar pressure in it. I used to tremble walking down the aisles and staircases adjacent to the boiler, during the time I was working as an insurance risk surveyor. The most fearsome piece of equipment I have ever seen. Ironically, these days I somehow feel like that boiler. The only difference is that the gargantuan-bar-pressure-boiler in a power plant is controlled by a few geeks sitting inside a control room remotely maneuvering the steam pressure according to some standard plant operating manual (Very naively put!) However, on the other hand, I myself feel like a boiler in which the pressure is rising uncontrollably fast and at an uncontrollable rate. Honestly, I don’t know what’s about to happen and what’s there at the end of all this and what should be done to release that excess pressure build-up inside me. But as I see the numbers rising (despite not wanting to), as I see people dying (despite trying not to follow the news), as I hear about what is being done (despite trying to isolate myself from happenings), as I hear about people losing their jobs (I pray for them every moment), and I see people lighting ‘diyas’ in order to absolve themselves of any little control they have of their lives and willingly hand it over to a supernatural power to rid us of coronavirus, I can’t help but feel saddened or feel horrified or go insane thinking about what lies ahead. The only sanity left is in that cup of black coffee!
In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki talked about financial freedom and getting out of the rat race by way of passive income. Whatever that meant! But I think now the rat race has sort of shifted – a new race has emerged, the race to finish off all the seasons of the latest show on Netflix or Prime. And that’s become the new selfie. Have you watched all the seasons of Money Heist?
“Hey bro, how’s quarantine life?”,“Did you see that the number of cases has risen to____?”, “Happy Quarantined Birthday man!” As I am writing this article, a window pops-up on my screen showing that OYO just sacked a hell load of employees in the US, another one pops-up showing that the state of Uttar Pradesh might be sealed off. Trust me, as the quality of our conversations drops with time, the shit-show becomes shittier and shittier by the day. So the only sanity actually left is - to get that cup of coffee and stay put!
Let me get one now.
The gurus of yesteryears talked about cooperation, team dynamics, teamwork, outspokenness, inter-personnel communication. I remember when I was in a job, people were rushing to do soft skill courses like Team management, Time Management, Communication skills, et al. They were the norm. Companies were investing by the millions in such stuff. Huh! The aftermath of all this will leave these guys thinking, “What the hell just happened?” as if a rug just got pulled from right under their feet because the definitions of all these are going to turn on its head. The way things were done or how they got done earlier is going to change altogether. The rules of the game are going to change. Even the way you breathe is going to! You are being pushed to the corner right now, so don’t resist it. Embrace it. As they say - the night is darkest before dawn, but then aren’t you being cute as a little-poo-poo-pinky-bunny? Now, I don’t mean to be morbidly depressive (or depressingly morbid) but hell yeah! maybe I am.
The first good part of this shitstorm is – No one knows what the new rules of the game are or will be.
The people or the so-called stalwarts who are telling you to ‘Do this’ or ‘Do that...’ know shit. And that brings in a relieving-kinda-level-playing-field with it ‘coz you and I individually now have the capacity to rethink and redefine the new rules. Bring it on!
Guys like me, who used to break it in the gym, need to rethink the rules of bodybuilding - the fate of the word ‘bodybuilding’ hangs in limbo (sad!). All those six-pack-ab-ers, hold your horses! Guys who traditionally ran business, the way they did – need to rethink. Guys who vowed for bricks-and-mortar way of running a business, if you are not going to rethink now, it’s going to be a hell of a ride later. Fitness and health industry is going through a re-jig as we speak, and that shall continue – fitness will happen online now. Beat that! Mr. Modi said “21 days lockdown or 21 years back”, I think already we are at 2008 levels as I write this article and there are still few days left for this official moratorium in India to end (lest it gets extended, and we get pushed even further back).
The second good part of this shitstorm is - since we are awesome at ‘jugaad’, we will find out creative ways to circumnavigate this for our own interests. It's a matter of time.
Tony Robbins talked about the UNCERTAINTY as being one of the six basic human needs somewhat on the lines of ‘variety being the spice of life’. But with this, variety will be tossed out of the window. Since you will be confined within the four walls, monotony will be a new need. Rigidity is out. Flexibility is the name of the game. Extroverts are out. Reclusiveness is the trait to imbibe. Pubs are out. Drinks on Google Hangouts are in. Soccer & Cricket will be out. Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto will be in. Bakkar-doing will be out. Silence will become platinum. New forms of entertainment will emerge. Instant gratification is out. Delayed gratification will be in. Community engagements will happen online. Motivation will happen not in huge-Tony-Robbins-like-10000+-gathering-arenas, but on social media ‘LIVE’ sessions. Luxury will be out. Essential only will be in. Brocolli, baby corn will be out. Potato and tomatoes will be in. Salmon & Sardines will be out, chicken will be in, who knows about that too but I'm on a rampage and so here is the third good part.
The third good part of this shitstorm is - you will be pushed back to the basics and forced to start all over, start afresh.
This will be our CORO-MORPHOSIS, as I call it. In the end, all that will be left will be you and your freaking camera. We are on the cusp of a great evolutionary change since the Scientific Revolution.
“And if history has proven anything, it is that evolution always wins.”
– Faora, Man of Steel.
Okay, in all honesty at the beginning of this article, I felt irritatingly frustrated (or vice versa), but now that I have vented out to you, I feel better (sorry for passing that to you, if I have) it’s time to say adios.
Stay safe and try to stay sane.
