Shivani Manchanda

The end of March brought some smiles to our students when they were unexpectedly sent home for a few weeks till the threat of corona would pass away. Some hostel corridors rang with the cry “corona ki jai” as students were thrilled about the unexpected holidays: meeting parents and ghar ka khana for a few unexpected weeks. Students left hastily without vacating their rooms. The clothes were forlorn left hanging outside because it was only for a short while. Little did anybody guess the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic would last for nine months and maybe longer. The long-drawn lockdown has precipitated many stresses among all of us, the year 2020 has seen students and alumni grieve for family members, worry over loss of income and the fear of the unknown has created its own sense of anxieties and stresses. As a counsellor, I have read with dismay the student messages in my inbox about the sense of isolation from friends, the loss of opportunity as job offers and internships were rescinded or postponed indefinitely. Unfortunately, home for some students is not a safe haven that we imagine it to be. Thus long months of being at home exposed them anew to domestic violence, alcoholism etc. I invite you to imagine a bird trying to fly with a box full of junk tied to its feet. Heavier the box, shorter the flight. To me, the year 2020 has been like that with corona being tied to our feet and created a reality that nobody knew how to navigate efficiently.  The world over we got a challenge to engineer different versions of our own selves and the world we live in?