The pandemic made the world leap forward in the direction it was moving. Among other things, now we see that a person is more isolated and self-centered. After the crisis is over, the normal would be new in the sense that people would rely less on their community and even on family and more on public services. Life and more so death would be more mechanical, aloof, and secular and correspondingly less organic, communal, and ritualized.
There are aspects, positive and negative, about the dynamics: for instance, real sociability has ebbed over time but at the same time we have a virtual world to socialize in a non-intrusive fashion. Moreover, the earlier sociability had this unsavory aspect that happiness of some was always at the cost of less happiness of some others.
The foundational shifts would bring in inevitable changes and one should instead of bemoaning the loss of the old ways of life should think of the necessities of times. And the most important thing needed is the maximum rationalization of the order. It would translate to, in the context of the argument here, the seamless availability of services, hasslefree and cheating free.
Thinking the new is the critical need of the times.
Niraj Kumar Jha