A Hope and Gratitude

As the year is drawing to an end, I am sure those who have remained unscathed with the raging pandemic have a lot to thank and express the gratitude. The chiming of church bells will soon herald another Christmas albeit the zing and festivities in most parts of the world as the normal life is yet to start on the familiar trajectory.

After a long time, it will be a quiet Christmas and New Year this time. Still, there are reasons to thank so many around us who have struggled to keep the lives going in these difficult times. I am reminded of my stay in Goa when I was serving in the Navy. The place is a vast airbase with all kinds of aircraft that are deployed from here. The day would begin at the crack of dawn with the briefing of pilots who would be airborne after gathering information of the weather, and status of availability of the navigation aids. During the rains in Goa, there were frequent power outages at times resulting in partial availability of the navigation aids. A huge diesel generator would crank to life to ensure that the power was restored in the shortest time, automatically. In case, the diesel generator failed to come on, the manual operator on duty would ensure that it takes over. So after the briefing on one such morning, the Commander of air operations came to address. He asked if the team knew who was the most important man on the airbase. Everyone was taken aback when he said that it was the 'DG( Diesel Generator) Operator especially in times of power failure as the lives of many depended on him. Especially the airborne pilots, who were dependent on the functioning of multiple navigation aids till they landed safely. It was the hard truth!

In our daily lives, we sometimes tend to forget the contribution of an important link, which sometimes appears to be insignificant, yet critical to ensure our well being. This year is one when remembering the contribution of frontline workers, doctors, sweepers, cleaners, milk, ration and vegetable suppliers and their long-chain need to be thanked wholeheartedly. Although many of us have stayed at home this time, without the untiring efforts of these warriors even the daily lives would have come to a standstill.

The hope of normalcy, adoption of 'new ways of working', would change our lives and will become a new norm. The personal interactions for many have now got confined to telephonic conversations. The technology has come to rescue and 'virtual travel, 'virtual classes'  are not a 'virtual reality' but real ones now. We now await the new year with a new hope that would bring a smile and a reason for cheer

PS- Pic kind courtesy Google