Today is Saturday, my most meticulously planned day of the week. Although time management and general organisation is not my forte, still my weekends are planned to the T. It doesn’t matter if nothing goes the way I wanted it to, the fun is in the planning, the waiting, the rush on the day before.

Sundays are not so heavily micromanaged as they’re just an aftershock of the day preceding it.

I have to complete all my tasks by 12 pm, which is when my favourite part arrives; leaving for Nani’s place. Two days’ clothes have to be packed, homework has to be finished and preparations have to made at the earliest possible hour and then, a blissful weekend awaits.

My grandmother is a wonderful storyteller. Sometimes she’ll tell us random tidbits from her life or sometimes we’ll ask her to tell us a particular story. Today, I plan on asking her about the great pandemic of 2020, more than half a century ago.

All my classmates were absolutely bored when we had that lesson because, according to them, “Who cares what happened in the past? People lived and now they don’t.”

No one takes history seriously. But me and a handful other kids do. To make a mistake and not learn from it is foolishness. Our history is a result of our successes and failures, so if we read and understand it then we would know what to do in the future and what to avoid.

Of course, life is full of surprises and you can never really avoid your struggles, but at least history equips you with certain assets that can help in a smooth sailing of the future.

I know I’m boring you with my lecture so I’ll just move on with what you’re really here to know; the mysterious happenings of our past before any of us even existed! I eagerly ask Nani how life was back when the entire world was in absolute chaos.

“Oh God, not the coronavirus again!’ Nani complains good-naturedly.

“Please, Nani, you’ve never told us about it!” I peer up at her frail figure from my seat on the floor.

“That’s because the world had once talked so much about it that I feel as if I never left it behind,” Nani shakes her head. “But since you’re my favourite grandchildren, I’m willing to reconsider.”

My sisters and I scoot closer on the floor near Nani and she beams with pride. She knows how much we enjoy her stories, whether fictional or not.

“It was exactly 52 years ago and I remember it as if it was yesterday. You must’ve learned about the drastic effects the virus had on the world. And you’ve probably had to write numerous essays on the poverty, lack of supplies, and joblessness that ensued following it?”

Samira nods, “We even watched the documentary “2020” in our school.”

“Oh, good, good! But what people don’t talk about is how we came back from it as it doesn’t seem as interesting to most. Sure, learning about global disasters and the problems they come with is important, but it is also important that we see how the recovery era went so people can have a little hope during their own difficult time.”

“So, how did we recover?” I question.

“In short, we went from good to bad to good and then stable,” Nani says as she looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “After the last of the patients had been dispatched from our hospitals at the end of July, August became a frenzy of emotions. People were meeting relatives, catching up with friends, rescheduling weddings, it wreaked havoc. We even witnessed a 16-hour traffic jam!

“It was like the ending of a movie where everyone is dancing out on the streets and people are overcome with happiness. Do you know some areas even had drums playing all night? It was amazing and magical for 13-year-old me, but now looking back upon our excessive celebration, I think we should’ve heeded the government’s advice on being cautiously happy. Because after that came the worst global warming period we had ever witnessed.”

“Oh, yes, we learnt in school that it got so bad that people had to practice another lockdown of sorts where they either used public transport or stayed home, which our teacher called a ‘handcrafted disaster by humanity on humanity’,” Saadia interjects.

“Your teacher is quite right, the earth was healing in the April lockdown. The air was getting fresher. In some cities, pollution had dropped by a whopping 40 percent but then we toyed with our good fate and reset the entire healing process by everyone going out with vehicles on a daily basis.

“We were blinded by a false sense of euphoria that vanished as quickly as it appeared. Fights between officials and citizens broke out, it was a dog eat dog world by all means. Thankfully, God has also blessed mankind with the power of empathy and kindness and soon rallies were being held all around the world to counter our wrongdoings.

“Since people were now sick and tired of a year’s worth of constant city-wide problems, they all played their part ... well, not everyone, but most people had the good sense to work towards the betterment of our environment.

“We rebuilt all the forests we had lost in the Amazonian and the Australian fires in 2020 by planting trees and recycling. The most successful movement was the ‘One Person, One Tree’ initiative taken by activists.”

“You mean the one where every time a child was born, a family member planted a tree for them?”

“Exactly, and in six months or so, it seemed as if everyone was doing it, some just for fun. By the mid of 2022, afternoon walks became less depressing and people were generally in a better mood. In about four years or so, things started to stabilise. The absolutely brutal time that we went through in 2020 to 2021 was finally ending.”

“But kids in my school still litter!” I complain. “Deforestation and animal extinction is still going on!”

“Well, that’s bound to happen. No matter how hard you try to succeed, you’ll still experience shortcomings. We can’t just stop using trees, we will always need them for something. Sure, glue, paper and some furniture have been modified to be made from different elements discovered in 2031, but that doesn’t mean we will suddenly never need trees for anything other than oxygen.

“Perhaps in the future there might be a solution. Don’t be sad, beta, everything in excess is bad but if we live in moderation, we’ll be okay,” Nani concluded.

“Nani, can’t we just stop all these problems?” Sadia whines. “I’m so annoyed with everyone’s nonchalant attitude.”

Nani chuckles, “I was like you when I was a child, but as you grow up you’ll understand why some things are never unstoppable but are controllable. After all that’s why life is so interesting; you cry, you laugh, you hate and you love. It’s the mixture of the beautiful and the ugly which makes life worth living.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 16th, 2020