Fall 2022 - Post COVID, Nature is Just as Beautiful!

I share this batch of pictures as an exercise in personal introspection of the not-so-traumatic side of the recent years. COVID’s behind us now, or so we think. As terrible as the experience was for most of the world, there were some very positive outcomes. We must celebrate those positive outcomes, both at the individual and social levels.

For one, individuals (particularly, those that were lucky and managed to fend off the monster virus) were forced into an unplanned, but welcome downtime. This downtime helped many to re-connect with their hitherto forgotten talents and hobbies — cooking, sketching, painting, music, reading, writing, photography and the like. Many produced their masterpieces. I personally spent much time with my photo gear and regaled my family with my culinary creations — not to mention the countless hours of binge watching new and old movies and shows.

At the collective social levels there were many benefits. The environment appeared to clean up even as humans stayed shuttered in their dwellings. Fewer cars and trucks resulted in cleaner air. Despite the larger COVID pandemic, other annual endemic events like the flu abated. Zoom.com, virtually unknown to many before the pandemic, became a household word - 40 minutes of togetherness for free — for long-lost family and friends to connect and catch up. Over Zoom, folks even prayed together; grandchildren read books to their grandparents. For fun, Smule allowed folks to have online karaoke parties. Amazon reigned supreme as it delivered every consumable — perishables and non-perishables — to our door step and crushed the brick and mortar stores. Teachers learned how to teach over the internet. And, on and on, humanity learned new ways to live.

The geo-political fracases too appeared to take a pause, at least for a while, because COVID did not allow peoples to engage at any level. Emigrating and immigrating populations across the world were forced into a moratorium. All told, it appeared that people considered themselves safer in their familiar environs. Could all this have contributed to a temporary worldwide semblance of peace? Perhaps.