Day #6: Preparing for the eventuality...

25th March 2020: Day 1 of the largest Lock down in the world according to some news reports. I have been voluntarily working from home for 8 days now taking every precaution and also keep myself informed of what’s going on through following news on an hourly basis since 12 days now. But, it had to reach a point when I realized that i needed time to briefly disconnect for my own sake. That was today.

Many friends have been forwarding a lot of volunteer efforts, advocacy groups have created notes on the most affected, people have rightfully used whatever influence they can muster to tell the government what is inadequate, even as I see the number of cases jump up faster than any day before, I also see the group and individual efforts increase in numbers. These keeps hopes alive for some and perhaps save a few live

PREPARE YOURSELF AND FAMILY FOR THE EVENTUALITY — We have to assume that all of us will have this virus pass through us unless we take the maximum precautions. Let’s be ready and prepared for the same. We need to prepare for being completely isolated and staying put to recover in a 2 week isolation and we also need to prepare to die in the worst case scenario. It is good to be prepared for both scenarios.

Contemplating on Death is an important spiritual practice. Done properly, it is a practice that keeps ours fears at bay and relieves us of unnecessary reviews of life. We often reduce life to several ‘performance reviews’ of the various roles that we end up playing — as a son / daughter, sibling, student, friend, colleague, professional, expert, lover, partner, parent, etc., However, these are always compartmental and never complete. ‘Purpose of life’ should be bigger than these compartments. It is good to reflect some time about it and also talk and prepare the family around for such an eventuality.