BIJOY KUMAR Y
ICAN’T BELIEVE ONE MONTH JUST went into a black hole of sorts. Extended lockdown period may mean many things to many people. For me, I realised that I can exist without riding motorcycles and driving cars. Sure, it is an utterly boring existence. I have also realised that I can do without newspapers in the morning, I don’t need to meet my team every day and I won’t die if I eat wheat dosa for breakfast and dinner.
Certainly, we can learn a thing or two from this and change accordingly. Do we need to print newspapers and magazines? Can’t they exist in the digital format and still be able to make money? How important is it for executives to commute three hours every day to go sit in front of a laptop and push mails? Can’t we avoid the habit of copious consumption and survive on essentials and er… the occasional pizza?
The more we think about it, we will realise that we are the prisoners of our own ways. And habits, good or bad, cannot be weeded out easily. The main culprits to me are the ways of urbanisation that need a new outlook. Allow me to dwell deep.
Let us begin with the schools. You don’t need to be a whiz kid to think that students should go to school for two to three days a week as the rest of stuff can be taught online. This will mean children can play more and be healthier.
Cities like Bengaluru can have some breathing space on roads if 50 per cent of IT employees work from home on alternate days. For other firms, the concept of head office and nodal offices will cease to exist and will be replaced by meeting halls where teams can meet if they have no other options. I really don’t understand why there are so many bank branches for example – I haven’t visited one in years.
Suddenly the existing infrastructure will become more than enough for most cities. There is nothing that you can’t order online these days and all kinds of entertainment is available on the internet or television. I never liked crowded malls in any case.
Manufacturing and industries already have moved away from cities and they can continue to thrive and provide employment to a wider mass.
Less jobs in cities means that there will be more people to work on the fields and agriculture will boom.
Governments, state and central, can do what they are elected for – concentrate on education and healthcare across the nation. Similarly, government offices should spread out rather than be in capital cities which forces people to travel to meet babus. What is the point of unique identity, Aadhar and the sort, if people still need to travel to city centres to get things done!
The lockdown saw the judiciary work from home on certain cases. And why not!!
If that continues for a while, unfortunately, the cities will become redundant. And people will start staying in better homes far away instead of cubby holes in congested metroscapes. Now comes the most important part of my theory...
They will need cars. And motorcycles. Fast cars and big motorcycles that can whisk you to office and back, couple of times a week. And enjoy the countryside, beaches and hill stations over weekends. Hopefully that will give a longer lease of life to internal combustion engines. If not, I am ready to live with electric mobility.
Since governments around the world are all busy formulating the post covid-19 order, all we can do is brace for impact. And if you thought we have seen it all, you are wrong. Try and hide till the day monkeys stop dying of the stupid virus in laboratories around the world and a vaccine is made available.
Till then you can’t stop me from painting a brighter picture. ⌧