Coronavirus COVID-19 and my shattered dreams

Tik Tok, Tik Tok it is 11:59pm on December 31st, 2019; People all across the world are about to celebrate the beginning of a New Year.

It was a usual cold December with light drizzling, music (Barracuda) all around and someone playing;I have dreams, when I’m asleep, or when I’m awake, I have dreams…

We were just at the crossover of the Space Needle, Seattle, WA. I welcomed the beginning of the New Year 2020 with spectacular fireworks on the rooftop of the tower. We were eagerly waiting for a new year with scorching beams of desire in our hearts & hoping for the next year to bring more happiness, love and peace to the global community.

I had my new year’s resolution as I woke up on the 1st of 2020. Life was as usual for a few days when I first heard about the word Corona. An outbreak in China which is causing people to get sick in influenza. I didn’t pay a heed in the beginning but when it was called pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and it’s widespread in just a few days; it shook me to the core. It was merely the beginning of 2020 and it began with such a fiery head start that all the hopes and promising hearts of humanity were not only set ablaze but planted in absolute fear and sorrow.

I was on a vacation to the United States with my family and luckily we got back home before it all went in lockdown. The government called for a country wide lock down and it is like a curfew. Today, looking outside the window or taking a stroll in the neighborhood I find everything miserable and empty. The weather is not chilly or hot, it’s vacant. It has no one to say what beautiful weather it is!

The wind has no one to brush it's cold brutality up against. The night sky has no one to cast its dark shadow upon. Whereas, the trees have no one to cast their warm shadow upon. The moonlight has no one to dance to its romantic glance. The stars have no one to glisten for, for there’s no one pointing at them trying to see which one shines the brightest.

The world outside is hollow because the world inside is in panic. The world outside is screaming because the world inside is begging God for peace. The world outside is dying in lonesome because the world inside is looking for a way to live.

In these trying times, we all look for somebody to blame. Unfortunately, the culprit behind this disaster is not someone the Police can send out search parties for. The culprit is too fast and sneaky for anyone to catch and kill. The culprit as we all know is the novel COVID-19.

The Coronavirus has affected lives all across the world. Before it found its way into my country, it has affected my life by catching my attention on flooding of my social media accounts with Coronavirus memes and conspiracy theories. Back when the virus was only spreading in China and we all just felt sympathy for the Chinese and had no idea that it would spread across the whole world like it did.

By the end of February, the first case of Coronavirus was reported and confirmed in my country which was a great timing for students all across the country as schools, colleges and universities were closed and exams were called off. Before we knew it, in less than 15 days, the virus spread with such great speed that the Government had to take extreme measures and all kinds of restrictions were enforced across the whole country.

Now, we have all been restricted to Quarantine which has not affected my life much as I’ve spent pretty much my whole life in Quarantine but, I would like to have the option available if I want to go outside. Coming from middle class families, Quarantine for us means spending the whole day in bed, watching Netflix and eating as much as we can.

In a time like this, we all avoid to buy edibles from stalls and local shops that we all would normally eat with great pleasure. While we try to keep ourselves healthy by cutting down on junk food, we are also making it very difficult for certain people to earn their daily lives and provide for their families.

Everything is happening so fast. People are counting lives Corona is taking every day in China, Italy, Iran, USA, and Spain and elsewhere. It brings an internal panic and tears in my eyes. I never thought that a flu can be that much devastating that it would cost your life. I am in a constant fear of losing my loved ones because the virus is so deadly and it is killing people indiscriminately.

When my friends and I first discussed the virus, all we could think about was the fact that now our exams were to be conducted in June and it was a huge disappointment to us that there’d be a burden of studies. The partying seemed over. We were disappointed that we couldn’t meet up. We all left school thinking we’d meet during the exams but with the exams being called off we knew we wouldn’t see each other for a few months and sent dramatic ‘Missing You’ messages to each other.

That's how simple it was in the beginning. We didn’t know that this virus would shatter our dreams. Now I like to think that I am a 16 year old all set to go to college this year with my academic and personal plans. I had plans to become an Aeronautical Engineer because I love machines. I have always had great admiration for Aircrafts and Spacecraft. But, now I want to be a biotechnologist or doctor or scientist or whatever it takes to invent the cure for deadly diseases.

I don’t want people to die because of an influenza when we were all set to cheer for the roll out of 5G in the global spectrum.

I don’t know how much more time this deadly pandemic will take ! And nor do I know if I will be able to make it to 2021; but what I know from today is that it is a Satanic disease. Because science is supposed to be more powerful than Corona as it has done wonders in the modern days. Artificial Intelligence has failed to send us the pre-cautions? Or machine learning will fail to provide us the solution in just a few days! Or Corona will end our lives and end of the world!