(a forward from Lambert Pereira)

Everyone's losing something

What did you lose today?

Our routines have all gone haywire

Taking our comforts away.

Did you lose the privilege of a driver

Whom the lockdown forced to stay home?

Or were forced to cook your own dinner

Pushing you out of your comfort zone?

Are you sad that you lost a holiday

That you had booked so much in advance?

Caught with the seeming unfairness

Of this unfortunate circumstance.

Or did you lose a golden opportunity

To have the biggest wedding you'd planned?

But just ended up with a small one

No big crowds, and no live band.

Everyone's losing something

A privilege, an opportunity, a chance,

But lucky are they who lose just these

Minor hiccups to otherwise smooth plans.

There's the unlucky one who lost a job

And another who lost his mind,

The stress of this pandemic scenario

Has turned out to be brutally unkind.

Someone lost more than a privilege

A brother-in-law, an uncle, a friend,

It's going downhill far too quickly

Can’t wait for this nightmare to end.

So if you missed your maid this morning

Or your favourite TV soap,

Remember the little girl missing a dad

But just doesn't know how to cope.

Extra chores may push you to exhaustion

Or just make you miss that beauty sleep,

Think of the man who lost his wife

But his baby gives him no time to weep.

Each one is going through this nightmare

In varying degrees of dread,

For some it's a minor adjustment

For others, a permanent void instead.

Everyone's losing something or someone

Many are finding it difficult to cope,

But whatever you lose as you travel on

Make sure to never lose hope.

There's light at the end of the tunnel

A definite rainbow after the storm,

Your losses will strengthen your inner core

And you'll learn to cope as you move on.

Remember if you just lost a privilege

Someone else lost a very dear friend,

So ignore that insignificant inconvenience

Think of what really matters in the end.

There are people dying all around us

No beds, just gasping for breath,

Our convenience doesn’t matter as much

As collective onus to prevent each death.

Everyone's losing something or someone

Let’s remember we’re all part of a whole,

One person’s action can hasten the spread

Let's choose right and hang on to hope.

Everyone’s losing something or someone

We've all got to play our part,

And hang on to hope as we journey on

Bruised, broken but never losing heart.

(Odette Katrak is an activist based in Bengaluru)