Even as millions of migrant workers took the long walk home, thousands of middle class Indians started baking banana bread and slowing down...
Even as millions of migrant workers took the long walk home, thousands of middle class Indians started baking banana bread and slowing down the pace of their lives. We tested our culinary skills and watched nature flourish from our balconies while occasionally clanking thalis.
We woke up to the gentle chirping of birds instead of the cacophony of car horns and revelled in our skies cleansed of PM 2.5 as we began to breathe better. The balcony became our connection with the outside world and the antics of the neighbourhood squirrels provided welcome relief. In the digital world too, nature abounded – Twitter was alive with the tweeting of actual birds instead of the vitriol of trolls and Instagram exploded with pictures of sheep walking around a ghost town.
Many say that the pandemic is linked to our broken relationship with nature. Humanity’s “promiscuous treatment of nature” needs to change or there will be more deadly pandemics such as Covid-19, warn scientists who have analysed the link between viruses, wildlife and habitat destruction. Experts have argued that bats, which host many of these viruses, are more likely to transfer to humans or animals if they live close to “human disturbed ecosystems”.
To prevent future pandemics, we must...
