Trough of Al Rahma Low Pressure came and took away four lives and many vehicles when we were looking away at COVID19. Did we not pay enough attention to the weather forecast?
We can complain by saying ‘Stay at home’ has been said so many times but when we hear about the loss it makes us wonder all over again. Maybe the trough was not taken too seriously but flash flood is a factor and is part of the weather patterns in Oman and we have to accept it.
Loss of lives is the biggest loss for a nation and that is why it is important to listen to the statement #stayathome unless you have to be out – and that could be an emergency, working or shopping for provisions. Many in the private sector have been concerned about working in office during this time. Maybe the management also should think about working smart.
This is not the convenient time to organize small gatherings at home. Maybe we are not seriously taking the issue yet. On the other hand, if we criticized the digital world in the past, then this is the time this platform is going to provide many solutions. Solutions vary from shopping online to working and studying on line. We are just beginning to experience the new lifestyle.
We have been taking so many aspects for granted like going out and eating out. Most importantly we always thought nature is at our beck and call. And now we have to wait to visit the beach. Maybe the earth really needed the break to inhale and exhale.
We are also learning to become independent. No more laundry shops and beauty care and thankfully many of us will be working from home. There is more of cooking at home and testing our patience with each other. Oh the biggest missing bit must be the meetings at coffee shops. The coffee shops and the karak tea shops were inseparable from our lives and now it is time for karak tea at home. Best friends are separated but elderly parents must be really thrilled to have everyone at home.
We are going back to the basics. Once being at the Rimal Al Sharqiya Festival the organizers introduced everyone to the Bedouin culture, where during the evening in front of the tents, near the campfire, under the starlit night, people would recite their own poems and others would follow suit and take turns.
It is that creativity may be we need to look out for now. Not all of us maybe cut out to be poets, but how often do we even know the inborn talent in our family members. How often do we even listen to them intently?
And that brings up the topic of being obsessed with our mobile phones and forwarded messages. And so much of sharing information has made us mentally exhausted. Let us compete on how many positive and healthy stories can be shared so that we can collectively uplift ourselves. There is so much we can learn from each other.
Speaking of working from home is not as easy as we think. Now there is no boundary and borders. Everyone is encroaching on each other’s space. So the phrase, “Do not take home issues to work and work issues to home’, does not work anymore. So it might be smart to segregate a place at home specifically for work. Children might be thrilled you are at home and would want their share of attention and the attention at work requires goes without saying.
So all in all it is a whole life style only a few years ago we had read about electronic money and now here we are depending largely on it. There might be many more thoughts that are worrying us, but we just have to remind ourselves this will pass too. What is essential is to adapt ourselves to newer ways of doing things and we ought to be agile in order to face the changes and conditions.
It is a natural instinct to go out but if there is an isolation or quarantine prescribed, then we must learn to respect it for our own good and for society as a whole. This is an opportunity to serve the nation by cooperating and respecting the measures that have been taken. And this means not to cross wadis and to stay at home, as in the case of COVID19 measure, unless there is a genuine need.
Now it is time for a karak tea and a board game.
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