The Flowers of Forgetting

It's amazing how swiftly a week passes by during this lockdown period. I've been able to spend some time in Cyberjaya since the lockdown has been relaxed. But I will try not to go back to my old lifestyle after all this is over. Things might never be back to normal in this new age of the pandemic. But it is also an opportunity for humanity to acquire some new habits. Having less traffic, less congestion and less environmental abuse can only be good for us.

I was at the Sunway Pyramid Mall to run some errands on Friday. Was pleasantly surprised to see lots of parking available in the basement. Many outlets were still closed. Those that were open are half-empty because of social-distancing measures. It is tiresome to get your temperature taken every time you enter a shop. It doesn't look like things will be back to any semblance of normalcy for a while, with these stringent measures in place.

Twenty years ago, I was travelling every other week across the region. Over the past two decades, I have been 'domesticated'--kind of by choice, I must say. I wanted to lead a different kind of life. Now the pandemic is offering me and everyone else for that matter, another opportunity to lead a different kind of life. But what kind of life will it be?

Sometimes it is good to be yanked out of our comfort zones. Only then will transformation take place. Now companies are rethinking their business operations. Do they even need a physical office? Business could still be done with a lot less overhead using technology. We were all commuting to the office, chatting over coffee at the pantry and attending meeting after meeting out of habit, not necessity.

Football matches played in empty stadiums, awkward elbow bumps for goal celebrations and masked faces in the substitute bench--these are all things we have to get used to. It is a colder world, no doubt. But let's look at the bright side: we are all more hygienic--washing our hands obsessively and being ultra-conscious of the existence of pathogens in everything we touch. Wiping, spraying and washing with disinfectants at available opportunity. Never in the entire history of mankind, have the human race observed such high standards of cleanliness.

I used to spend a lot of time doing my work from cafes. Maybe now I've lost that habit. I don't know. Am I leading a lesser life because of it? Probably not. I still have access to all the books in the world; I have tonnes of audio and video contents that I can listen to; I have lots of things to learn; I still work 8 hours a day from my study or bedroom; I am still writing in my journal; my weekly blogging continues uninterrupted.

Our adaptability is our greatest asset. Like ant paths, all habits are but convenient routes which we follow by instinct. But when these paths are obliterated, we are quick to forge new ones. And soon, everything flows along again as if nothing had happened. The daily preoccupations of survival distracts us from any thoughts of the past. And soon we'll forget, like we always do.

Forgetting is a great human gift, which can be used to great advantage. For sometimes it is better to forget our old ways completely after we've acquired new ones. Only by forgetting do we really discard our bad habits. Only by a willingness to forget, does pain ever fade away. Only in the withering of flowers and leaves, do fresh new shoots spring from the ground.