What have we lost?

Amid the third COVID wave, powered by Omicron, here are some questions to think about in 2022

- PUJA MEHRA

Around this time last year, many of us received a message on WhatsApp. It was an image in which the digits ‘2021’ were calligraphed to resemble the word ‘Hope’ in blue, slanting slim cursive on a white background. A message of promise – of new beginnings, possibilities, an end to uncertainty and regaining lost freedoms. Scientists had already readied vaccinations for COVID. Lockdowns were lifting. The economy was reopening. Life was about to un-pause at last. The nightmare of the pandemic seemed behind us. The mood was of preparing to return to normal life in a few months. Then the second wave came. Hope faded. We had underestimated the mutating virus. And we underestimated the incompetence of bureaucrats and politicians to safeguard life and business by rolling out vaccines swiftly, ensuring medical supplies and hospital beds, and managing something as basic as oxygen. Were we hopeful or over-optimistic? Many people spent the year in quiet reflection and grief. The third wave rising, powered by Omicron, here are questions to think about in 2022, balancing optimism against reality.