In human life, the transition from one year to another is most often seamless with no big break from the immediate past, though the shift from 2020 to 2021 and next to 2022 were exceptionally under focus due to the nightmare the humanity faced of the pandemic burst by Covid-19 and its cousins Delta and now latest Omicron.
Nonetheless, this transit point in time does offer a vantage position to assess and assimilate the kind of worst times that we lived in. We all know no New Year starts on a clean slate and it does have salvage of good and bad incidents carried over from the preceding year. 2022 too would have carried forward imprints of the past from Covid-19 to the New Covid variants, though none can predict what fresh tidings, good and bad, the year has hidden in its unknowable womb.
The most visible negative signs of the times are disruption of life, untold miseries of losing kiths and kin, demolition of health infrastructure, no matter it is a rich or poor country; virus infecting all without any distinction; death of nearly 5.5 million people (infecting 288 millions) world over; rendering millions jobless; forced closures of businesses; shattered economies and huge development & resources got wasted.
Fear of Covid roaring with its mutated co-brother Delta and Omicron is looming large on humanity as it has traveled to all sides. The trio walk hand in hand into the ending year's sunset and are likely to emerge with greater gusto at sunrise of the ensuing year.
The happy news that happened after the nightmare of 2020 and first eight months of 2021 that the biggest vaccination drives in human history have been carried in all nooks and corners of the world. The current challenge is that it has fostered unity among the nations to contribute their fullest to get the people rid of Covid monsters. The incident that would go to the annals of history, has also upskilled out social responses and it has taught great lessons to the governments of the day to go for huge augmentation in the existing health infrastructure.
Intense panic and anxiety over rendered the Medical Research no longer confined to US and Europe but encouraged many countries to thrust their talent available to come out with the Covid vaccines. And in a globalized and integrated web world, there are no elite inventors with propriety over some idea, but hordes of talented ones keep contributing to an ever enlarging pool of knowledge and know-how to meet this unprecedented challenge.
India too is in the forefront of its fight against the Covid. Thank God, its vaccination programmes have been largest and significant. All admit that it was due to this vaccination, the worst impact of 2nd wave receded and fatality rate significantly reduced. India is all set to start the fresh vaccination programme from January 03rd in this New Year 2022 across the country. Concluding by quoting from Benjamin Franklin, “Be at war with your vices and disease, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man.” Let us, therefore, look forward to an event filled but surely a safe and secure 2022.
– Rattan Singh Gill (Editor)
