Love in the time of pandemic: Let’s weather the storm together, let’s talk and realise the possibilities of being human

The Pothi team wishes you safety and health. We would like to join you in this bleak hour when covid cases are surging and claiming many lives, and tell you that you are not alone. Let us share stories and make life bearable.

Tranquility of Nature 1 by Suvvro P Basu

It is often said that only big challenges bring out the best solutions. It is true. There are solutions to most all problems. However, when we are in the throes of a problem, as human beings the only human thing we can do is to listen, understand, and share the compassion we find within ourselves.

This is a time where love and a helping hand is not just an idealistic trope, but a practical solution. What we feel for those that suffer can be our redemption. We not only help by providing practical solutions, but also by being there. We are here to tell you that in your hour of suffering, we understand what you need is a bit of comforting, and a place where one can grieve or even recuperate, without having to listen to advice or platitudes.

The Pothi team too has suffered in the pandemic, like so many of you. Since art emanates from life, it is crucial that we understand the first principle is to nurture life and help those that are in a space where they feel there is no hope. We are here to tell you that together we can create a new hope, and a way of living that is not merely symbiotic but connected by emotions that make us who we are.

Our heart goes out to everyone who have had to deal with sorrow at short notice. Since we are an art website, we worry for all the young artists whose practice might have been seriously affected by the pandemic, especially the virulent second-coming.

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This is a time to pick up the phone and ask “how are you?”. This is a time to make conversations that have no other purpose besides being a conversation. This is a time to reconnect with those that you love (and even those that you don’t much love) and to do things that would otherwise look corny or even sentimental. Let’s leave the “deeper” conversation for a better time. Let’s now find out how our friends are, how our neigbours are, and what we could do to alleviate some of their pain. The funny thing about pain is that your pain reduces when you help someone else reduce theirs. This is a time when we need each other more than we have ever before. The true art of our time right now is to manifest the humanity that we have been given in our DNA. We survive because you survive. It’s a connected chain of working, loving and living.

Generally, we would be talking only about art here. But in our editorial meeting today we could not help but see that art comes from life. Unless one is alive with a certain amount of ease, art will not happen. If art is life, life must go on. Our simple plan is to weather this storm together.

Our forum is open for all artists and non-artists to share their lives and how you dealt with this unseen and poorly-understood problem. Your understanding will enrich us all and inspire us to live with a relative amount of peace. By having a conversation, our pain will be a little less painful.

Tell us how you are dealing with it all. Close friends and family have been claimed by this infectious disease, but we can fight it too. The pandemic is not just a viral disease, but a question as to who are we as human beings. It makes us see that our thoughts are intimately connected with the universe.

Let’s promise to follow simple protocol like wearing masks, be home as often as we can and keep a healthy distance from people. And do your best to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, you can connect with us with your covid story on: office@abirpothi.com. We would be happy to publish what you have to say.