Arjun Rampal, who is accidentally self-quarantined on the outskirts of Mumbai, shares his thoughts about what’s going on in the world around us, and tells us that after we are past all this, we will always view life as BC/AC — life Before Coronavirus and life After Coronavirus
By Arjun Rampal (BOMBAY TIMES; March 29, 2020)

So, here we are, Day 10 of quarantine for me. But let’s level here, so we shall consider it as Day 5, post the compulsory national lockdown was announced. No, this is not the Janata Curfew as we all witnessed, we know how that panned out, with a bunch of morons who defeated the good of all disciplined citizens, by doing a victory lap in thousands as if they had defeated the coronavirus.

Yet, all is not lost, and now, we all realise the magnitude of the problem that surrounds us. I am in a quaint town on the outskirts of Mumbai, where I have been filming for the past two months. I have accidentally been self-quarantined here, since the curfew was imposed on the day I was supposed to leave. The delay happened because I had set up home here with my personal team, dogs and gym equipment, and was taking a few days to get everything back home, but by then, everything had changed. The team left, including my eight-month-old baby’s nanny.

Out of no choice of mine, or maybe some divine intervention, the people who ended up staying were Gabriella (Demetriades), Arik (Arjun’s son), Babblu and Santosh (staff members), my three dogs — Faff, Dean, Brando — and, of course, my gym equipment. Lucky me. So, that’s my current situation. But this is not what the article is about; hopefully, it shall make sense as we proceed.

Sitting here with nature and two bars of 4G on my phone, which I get only under the fifth coconut tree on this property. I find myself lost under that tree, worrying about all the people I care about, getting in touch with them, and thinking that my life could end, less likely by COVID-19 and more likely by a coconut. I see the panic mankind has gotten into, as if we were immortals facing mortality. Why? Is it just that we have assumed that we all are going to live forever, or is it that we just want to live more, since we are not done consuming. We all have had the same complaints, during our normal existence, too, much work and no time for family. Now, locked down with our family, we can’t wait to get the hell out and work. We work all our lives and spend most of our income to make beautiful homes, and once we are confined to them, we feel jailed.

Then, we are bombarded with an overload of information about the virus. Lots and lots of theories, conspiracies, stories, fake news, panic messages, economic meltdown, biological warfare, new treatments, celebrities who have been infected (Oh my God, they get it, too!), party apps, crazy videos, memes, fear, fear and more fear. All this floods our social networking timelines. The interesting thing is that, now BC and AC have donned a new definition — of life Before Coronavirus and life After Coronavirus. Some very affluent writers and intellectuals go to the extent of saying that the world will never be the same, we would need to choose a new world order, which would mean we lose our freedom (which we have now, being quarantined), our privacy — maybe by getting chipped or through some biometrics — people can check our body temperatures and use facial recognition, which would then allow governments to monitor our every move, and know our reaction towards anything we process. They will know that we are falling sick even before we know it. Bit by bit, we will be given some of our freedom back. But overall, take this time to put in a new order, a new way of life. Wow, a bit too overwhelming. A great way to control and distract, considering that we were on the cusp of a global economic meltdown, regardless of COVID-19.

Environmentalists have been screaming from rooftops about global warming, deforestation continues at an alarming rate to fulfil human needs and species getting extinct is just another day at the office. News today, gone tomorrow. Governments, the world over, have indulged in building great armies and weapons of mass destruction, but have failed when it has come to healthcare. No nation has prepared itself for a pandemic like this. So yes, it’s true that now they have the opportunity to take away all of our freedom. Implement technologies that will monitor us 24X7. That will be the world we shall leave for generations to come. All these thoughts buzz through my mind. Making me feel hopeless, knowing how easily humans adapt, as I look up through the shade of the coconut tree, almost willing a coconut to crash my skull for just being so redundant. I then see the sky so blue, smell the air which is so clean, listen to the birds, who are audible, and not a mash-up of vehicles, people talking, news reporters screaming or people rioting. And all I can do is hope and pray that life after coronavirus is one where we aren’t so greedy, voiceless and selfish, we can call out the dishonest and we can protect our Earth for generations to come. A life where we aren’t so gullible and we will live and love each other as we do today. We move more towards inner peace than the hoax of materialistic happiness. We shall be humbled by nature, as nothing and nobody is greater than that. We will be satisfied, because if we aren’t, then today will just be the trailer, and the movie will tell another story. I realise that maybe this coronavirus is nature’s vaccine towards a virus called humans.

It’s time for us to acknowledge that and time for all of us to give back. You are at home under that roof with your family, and yet, you feel jailed! Ask yourself why? Because you want to run around those mountains, breathe the freshness in the air, swim in the lakes, rivers and oceans and travel the world. A world in synergy and sync with one another. Not a toxic waste dump.