Friend: Not really.
Ajay: Would you like to share?
Friend: I had to login to a video conference last day from my home. It was an important meeting, but there I was struggling with unmuting myself and turning my video on. I felt like a laughing stock, an old man so out of place.
Ajay: I get your pain.
Friend: And I don’t even want to start talking about my bosss video calls at the oddest of hours and situations. Technology might have been an enabler during Covid times, but it also took over everything and made things like this the norm.
Ajay: And you feel like you dont belong in this new world, is it?
Friend: All the time! Call me old-school, but I like to get ready in the morning, go to work, greet my colleagues good morning, and do my meetings in person. I dont feel comfortable with any of these new ways.
Ajay: I understand. In what is being called the new normal, remote working has become the norm and many a time you dont know who you are working with. People attend meetings in pyjamas and your boss thinks he can video call you anytime since now your home is also your workplace.
Friend: Exactly! If this is the new normal, where is the space for people like me?
Ajay: Well, in all fairness technology has kept work going in the past few years. There was no other go during the Covid period. But things have changed now and now theres no reason to continue the same way.
Friend: Im glad you get it, Ajay.
Ajay: Of course I do. Theres a section which finds it all overwhelming and yet have been adjusting to the new way to keep things going. Now that we have almost moved into a post-Covid world, this section should definitely be taken into consideration and we must make space for them as well. We have just survived the worst, all the more reason to be compassionate to everyone.