Arundhati Roy finds the Silver Linings in this Pandemic

Even as this pandemic poses great challenges for us to adapt, it also offers an opportunity to re-imagine the form our 'normal' lifestyles can take. Arundhati Roy captures this dichotomous effect of the the novel corona virus by balancing the positive and negative highlights of nations' responses to the situation, especially drawing focus to the lockdown that India implemented for its one billion plus population.

On the one hand, there are detailed account of the grave dangers of this lockdown on migrant and daily wage workers, and economically weaker sections of our society. These dangers bring to the fore deeply rooted problems of social and economic inequalities, discrimination, and selectively beneficial policies that often leave out the poor. Furthermore, there are dangers of the lack of a coordinated international response to the situation.

Yet, on the other handーand this is perhaps the beauty of Roy's writingーis the optimism that she encourages us to find within this bleakness. To regard this 'interruption' of our normal lives as a "portal" and an opportunity that allows us to construct new normalsーones that are more empathetic to humans and the environment, that allow us to slow down or reconstitute systems that can cause significant damage to our social and environmental ecosystems.

Read more here: ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca