APRIL 9, 2020
KARO-NA! A New Discourse
Every adversity brings in multiple opportunities, which very few can identify while fighting in the middle. God has pressed a pause button on its system and I am not sure if earth is moving on its axis! We keep reading and hearing doom and gloom all around. When I try to analyse the meaning of the statement “World is not going to be the same”, I, as a student, see great opportunities in the coming time. Many students are going to get into some professional stream in the next year or two and they need to make hard choices now in terms of the profession they want to opt for and colleges they want to go to.
This virus is throwing multiple challenges to human existence. However, humans being humans equipped with intelligence and technology, are tiptoeing to live and survive this onslaught. Post COVID, “new normal” will be normal for all of us. Crisis management and health care sector, which comprises hundreds of areas of expertise and specialisation, are going to be key focus of every government around the world. Secondly, the world will learn to live in the solace of the virtual world and every facet of human existence would get redefined. There is going to be great emphasis on technology touching our mundane lives. Online grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants etc. will innovate and change their manner of offerings. There is a storm around crisis management in every source of information. World’s best colleges have already started offering crisis management as a subset of global health management courses and possibly in the coming academic years this course may be the most sought after by the aspirants. In the coming time, we may see lockdown managers, social distancing managers, tracing managers, and quarantine managers, holding degrees from the best colleges in the world, managing health crises around the world with the support of technology. The ongoing experiences in these areas, in countries like Spain, Italy, USA, and China may offer exciting scripts to Hollywood filmmakers. As they say - “A film is a mirror of real life”.
Since we are living in a locked world, there is no sport, film shoots, live performances - which we call content creation, is happening. In the world of entertainment - content is king and it needs a perpetual supply. Disruptions like COVID creates vacuum in this space, as a result we are watching decade old TV serials being broadcasted again and again. Surprise? They are still getting the highest TRPs. Event managers have started discussing NBA, EPL, IPL and even Olympics in audience-less stadiums. All big franchises have instructed their players to get ready to create content for an online audience. There is every chance that the entertainment world may invest their resources in content creation and best colleges and universities churning out well equipped human resources for this cause.
When the world goes virtual, we need laws and regulations to organise seamless functioning in this world. Cyber experts, digital fraud detections, data theft, crypto-currency exchanges etc. are going to be a new line of learning for this generation to meet the need of the hour. It may seem over exaggerated but one thing is certain, post COVID the world is going to operate differently and colleges and universities will produce equipped human resources to serve in this different world. History is going to judge all of us for our behaviour today but people who will learn from this event - are going to get benefitted.