The Show Must Go On

Dear Readers,

We’ve come a long, long way since the start of the year. 2020 has been one long ride for everyone across the world. More than a ride, it’s been a spring cleaning of sorts – we’ve had to unceremoniously dust off a lot of our old or ‘usual’ habits, routines, preferences and yes, freedoms. And we’ve had to grudgingly embrace the ‘new’… new outlooks, new priorities, new experiences… a new world order and a new and dynamic normal that keeps redefining itself, forcing us to keep up with it.

The one reality that has reigned supreme and reinforced its standing, is beautifully expressed in the words of the legendary poet, Robert Frost, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life – it goes on.” Time truly waits for no one and for nothing – therein lies the good news and the bad. We can choose to delight in the half of the glass that’s full or lament the other, empty half. What remains certain is life will go on, with or without you, whether you choose to adapt to the flow or fight it. The wise have therefore said, ‘The show must go on’, reminding us to return our focus to the here and now and to play the best game with the cards that destiny has dealt us.

Although that is easier said than done, there is no better advice that will help us sail through the remaining, unpredictable tenure that the pandemic has decided to stick around for, before it is well and truly gone. While we all hope and pray for that to be sooner than later, we still await the vaccine that will provide some relief from this global catastrophe that has wreaked havoc, death and destruction on the human race. Till then, we must hold on to hope and seek solace in faith, even as we continue to strictly observe the mandatory measures necessary to escape catching this viral infection, like wearing masks, washing our hands regularly, keeping sanitizers at hand and maintaining the requisite social distancing.

It’s going to be a while till these measures are relaxed, what with second waves and the global spikes in the number of people testing positive for the normal coronavirus. But life, like time and tide, waits for none, and the show must go on. You’ve done a great job this far and you need to keep going for now. For those times when you think it’s getting a bit much, help is always on hand, in the form of friends and family, so don’t hesitate to reach out. Sometimes you’ll be the one reaching out, at others you’ll be the one people will reach out to. But for now, the show must go on.

I leave you with a few of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, which assume an altogether more relevant denotation in keeping with the times and the need to keep moving:

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts…”

Have a lovely weekend!

– Anahita