The year was 2015. I lost my father to a cardiac failure in May of that year. Since then I labelled 2015 is a bad, unfortunate year. Of course, there were other such bad years in my life but very few and not as bad as this one. So I had a legit reason to call this an unlucky year. Three months down the line, in August 2015 I got nominated in my office for a role which I had always dreamt of. I went through the interview and processes and got the role. These are just two prominent examples of that year, there were several other instances which on connecting the dots can be either seen as good or bad. Thus it's not a good idea to label the entire year.
Now coming to 2020. There are mimes, jokes and sarcastic cartoons made for the year 2020. Of course, its a year of the global pandemic and so will it go down in history. Like 1930 will always be seen as a year of great Depression. But it was also in 1930 that the non-violent Satyagraha movement in the Declaration of the Independence of India and the Salt March happened. 2020 has been an eye-opener and warning for the Global Healthcare System (and therefore, 2020 also exposed a lack of capabilities when it comes to pandemic and healthcare management of several "developed" countries). It is also a year which saw how people at frontlines in hospitals (doctors, nurses and staff) and security services like police departments risk their lives to save people. It is a year which will also go down as a catalyst for digital transformation. In a country like India what demonetization couldn't do for digital currency, the pandemic did in no time. Working from anywhere, learning from anywhere and earning from anywhere suddenly has become a reality. Of course, there has been a loss of jobs and businesses but there is also an opening created for new businesses which no one thought would be possible so fast. The idea is not to justify 2020. Actually, COVID19 is called so because the virus was identified in 2019 and not 2020. The point is no year is 100% good or bad, lucky or unlucky. It depends on how we connect the dots in retrospect, it depends on our worldview. So 2020 is also a 50-50 per cent year like every other year.
Going back to 2015. I lost my father at end of May but what was equally important and more fulfilling was the time I could spend with my father in that entire month. As it was summer vacations, I was with my wife and kids at my hometown. That entire month was full of picnics, parties, movies, outings and fun with the family. It was the best time I ever spent with my father and that too just before he left this world, so isn't that the luckiest year as well?
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