“One day I will go to Mumbai – the city which I believe will help me live my dreams” – A young aspiring small town Indian

“We don’t have ‘work from home’ policy in our organization. We believe in working together from office” – An Employer

“I love fast food. These so-called healthy foods are not tasty at all. I don’t know how people eat them” – An urban college going student

“I can’t manage without my maids. Yes, I have 3 of them – one for cleaning, one for cooking and one for miscellaneous tasks” – A successful working urban female

“I wish I could go to my hometown- a village in remote Maharashtra, but my work doesn’t allow me.” – a working professional settled in Mumbai years ago (originally from a small village)

“I don’t believe in exposure to digital media to kids at such small age. It’s not healthy for them. I don’t allow my son to watch any video” – A mother

“I am a movie buff and love to watch movie in theatre every Friday. Big screens are magic. These online platforms like Netflix and all are good, but a new movie has to be watched in theatre on big screen” – A movie buff who loves to go to theatre

“I travel to at least 5-6 new countries every year. Travelling helps me Rejuvenate, learn from different cultures and be a better human being “- A travel blogger

“The work is there in cities, not in our villages. There is no future here in my village. I want to go to city to explore” – A village dweller looking forward to a big city for livelihood

“I don’t do chopping. I just cook so if you need a cook, I will come for work. You need to keep separate maid for chopping. This is how it works here” – A maid specific about the work she does or doesn’t do citing this as a norm or rule

“I want to do something on my own now. How about a startup. It’s the right time.” – A young enthusiast after investing a few years in corporate world 

Do all these statements sound familiar? Have you heard similar ones before? Or you could hear yourself saying one of these?

Actually , it won’t be surprising if you say “yes” as it was normal in pre covid-19 world to hear or say such statements in specific situation or place or group but it’s just the opposite in “The New Normal” world post Covid-19, isn’t it?

The New Normal world is now very content with work from home, digital exposure to kids, imbibing healthy food habits to build immunity-thanks to loads of brands promising improved immunity, migrant workers moving back to their homes, being self-reliant without any house help… more importantly spending time with family! Everyone figured out ways to live in this New Normal world ensuring life is lived fully at personal as well as professional level.

Can this New Normal continue in future – Now and More importantly after inventing a vaccine successfully?

It was a huge change, that too all of a sudden and we all worked towards making this world work for everyone and creating a New Normal world. 

This is why “Work from home” is a norm now and there are reports which state that the productivity has improved in “work from home” style of working. Imagine this is the result when everyone is doing house chores, taking care of elders and kids themselves in the absence of maids who used to help. The results could be much better if they could get help for house chores, elders, kids etc.

Migrants Crisis during initial phase of lockdown made the country aware about the huge number of migrant workers in all big cities. While long term migrants remained in the cities even in these times hoping for things to improve but “migrant workers” who come for and leave back to their hometown and migrate to same or new city where they find work, were the most vulnerable. While we all saw the plight of them, we must remember that when things open up again, we will need them. Economy can’t run without them. But will it be the same? Will it be so easy to get them back? Won’t they question how safe they are, how they are insured against similar crisis? Surely things will be different in the New Normal world which is yet to figure out how to get the migrant workers back. 

Moreover, many of long term middle-class white-collar migrants went back to their homes and are working from there. If they can give similar service from their home so far away, won’t they question why should they come back to office? Even all those who did not go to their hometown but are working from home, will also have similar questions, won’t they? After all, why should anyone spend 4-5 hours on road which are totally unproductive and unhealthy.

Our children are studying online today. The digital exposure which was supposed to be a demon for kids as per experts, is ok now and there are new theories now about kids’ digital exposure.

Outdoor recreation activities (movies in theatre, dining in restaurant, travelling abroad etc) have entered home and first time we are enjoying this. We had actually forgotten how to enjoy moments with family and friends at home but in these times, we discovered happiness in these get togethers.

I agree that we need to start certain things again for economy to improvise but we don’t have to restart everything the way it was, specially when we have experienced a better way to do things with overall better results.

Why theatres must open the same way as they used to be before covid-19? We can watch lot of these movies on OTT platforms at home with our family at much lower price. Can’t we find a mid-way and open theaters only for a select few movies or open a few of theaters only.

If I go by what the world used to believe previously, it takes 21 days to form a new habit and by that we all had crossed that time long long ago (since the first lockdown).

The new theory based on Phillippa Lally’s research says that it takes anywhere between 2 months to 8 months to form a new habit. Well, globally we have crossed this time also already. Ideally, we should all be comfortable with new habits now, shouldn’t we?

The bigger question is – will we go back to old normal or continue with good habits and practices acquired in last few months commonly known as New Normal?

Time should tell us what will happen…

It’s an opportunity with everyone to call for change and drive it’s execution for better of everyone - humans, animals, environment and of course economy.

What do you think? Is New Normal going to stay or it’s temporary?

Share your views here in comments or you can write to me on social media / my blogs!