The covid 19 pandemic, as they say, did not break the system. In reality, it exposed the already broken system. And this system also included the lifestyle of individuals, apart from the economy and polity of the state. A lot has been written and discussed about economy and polity but what has got very little or almost no attention is how covid 19 brought in the forefront our clandestine attitude towards things that should have mattered the most, but was neglected for our blind run towards money and success. And that thing is an individual’s health, fitness and wellbeing. As someone who has recovered from covid 19 after being covid positive for almost 6 weeks along with my family, I can state with full authority that this catastrophe opened my eyes and changed my perspective towards life and lifestyle.

There are two visions when we get struck to a dead end of the cliff, metaphorically. One is to see this as a hopeless end and the other is to see this as endless hope. The choice is ours. And I ministered to see this as the later. Although I was a visitor to the gym, yoga classes and exercised on irregular intervals and avoided junk food, yet all this was adhocism in nature and did lacked coherence and consistency. However, when I got struck with this lethal virus at a time when even thought of the vaccine was nothing less than a wishful thinking, the only remedy I was suggested was a complete overhaul of my lifestyle and an adoption of incremental changes for the good. And therefore, I started doing yoga and meditation daily and did not miss any exercise session that I planned for myself at home. From tea I switched to healthier alternatives like Kadha and golden milk and titled more towards preventive healthcare measures. Fruits, dry fruits and raw vegetables became an indispensable part of my diet and refined oil gave its way to kachi ghani and coconut oil. Tinned and packaged food got replaced by freshly homemade cooked food.

All these events also led me to think about how ignorant we were about our own ancient culture that had remedies even for ills of the twenty-first century. Thanks to the concerted and concrete efforts of the Modi government, our Yoga became a global currency once again and the entire mankind benefited from this gift of Hinduism to humanity. All that was practiced for ages by our ancestors was, unfortunately, discarded by us in the name of “modernity”. Be it yoga, desi spices, herbs, medicines or ayurveda, everything was looked upon by us with disdain. Western consumerism cut us off from our roots and made us a degraded copy of them. But in one stroke everything has changed. After covid 19, the world has not just realised but also appreciated the soft power of India, be it yoga, ayurveda or even the Indian lifestyle. Namaste became the universal symbol of greeting and many prominent leaders were seen greeting each in this manner. I am very much contained to see my young daughters copying me and my wife doing yoga and exercise daily. This is getting into their minds in this young age and would perhaps become an intrinsic part of their life in the near future. Habits formed young are difficult to amend. And I wish such habits remain not just with them but for all of us forever. Let there be happiness and health for everyone. Sarve bhavantu Sukhina..