Sanika Daga Grade 9C bags Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021

Let's Read her Award Winning Essay.....

Sanika Daga IGCSE Grade 9 C has won a silver award at the prestigious Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021 in the Senior category.

Out of a list of varied topics given she chose to write her essay on “Keeping connected through COVID-19”

Humans are simply strange. We wait for the oddest of times to start empathizing with others of our kind, but perhaps that’s because of how we have been wired over many decades. Today, we see innumerable issues. Some of these issues have a magnitude that is too high to control, which gives them the power to divide us, but ironically, most of these issues have been created by us. The human race has been self-sabotaging since the very beginning. While this self-sabotage often leads to division, it is ultimately detrimental for everyone in our race. So, this division unites us and gives us common ground that we can walk on together. The Covid-19 Pandemic is one such major issue that we have recently faced. It has been nearly two years since it first came into view. While this dilemma may not have been a direct result of human actions, it is still something that all of us had to face. Though it would have been harder for some than for others, it was hard for each one. This difficulty gave us something to share, which helped us connect greatly. Since Covid-19 hit, all of us know that we aren’t alone, which in itself is a linking factor. This has been a tough situation and we have cruised through the same in our own little ways, Together.

Humans are simply strange. We are like machines. We work tirelessly. When machines work for too long, they break. The same way, if anybody works continually they will break. Like machines, humans need breaks. We need time to breathe. We need time to process information that comes our way, because a little too often, the weight of what is thrown our way is too heavy for us to take on, all at once. This pandemic, gave several a minute to breathe. We all got so caught up in our daily lives that we forgot to actually stop, and breathe. We forgot to appreciate the people that matter, and the little things of life. This, for many was recess from reality. To relearn the beauties of life and to contact those roots that were deeply buried under a pile of dust. This recess allowed people to find their missing puzzle pieces to make their picture perfect.

Humans are simply strange. We prepare for all the different kinds of storms. We make ourselves familiar with all the dangers that we are aware of, just to be prepared. We definitely, do not deal with unfamiliarity well, but we can never fully prepared or familiar with something that we haven’t undergone, so when push comes to shove, we are trying to prepare for unfamiliarity. But are the preparations really working?

Covid-19 has been the most colossal unfamiliarity that our human race has faced in a long time. People lost their loved ones to this deadly virus and the unfamiliarity that it withholds. However, these people will know their true strength after the unfamiliarity becomes familiar. Yes. They would have lost parts of themselves that they can never regain, but they would have also gained parts that they never knew they had. This virus has helped millions of people connect and discover themselves in the most peculiar ways.

Humans are simply strange. We are social butterflies. On a daily basis, we used to interact with around over hundred people, and considered at least half of them our friends and family. But how many of those hundred can we actually have a bearable conversation with? Unequivocally, just about ten percent or is that an exaggerated figure too? We actually need to ask ourselves this question. Ideally, that ten percent should be axiomatic, but we get so lost in our own worlds, that we become incognizant to the people that really matter.

This pandemic has been an eye opener for most of us. We were “close” to so many people earlier. But it is the times of need that make us aware of the people that actually linger. The reality of relationships become obscure when we think there are numerous to maintain. But there was no candid in those relationships. So, when they drifted, a large fog had been lifted, which helped us conspicuously see the ten people. Although few, it is a real connection. These connections have always been rare. The pandemic made this rarity a commonality and it gave us bonds that will last for a life time.

Humans are simply strange. We always speak very highly, but usually, our actions contradict whatever we preach. We have been going on about the effects of climate change, and global warming, plastic and gas pollution, saving the oceans, but very few of us actually stand up and act to support our claims. In fact, most of us act in ways that completely go against the claims we make. Is that fair? No. While the pandemic was abhorrent to us all, it was rather kind to our environment. Research shows that nature and wildlife had not flourished as beautifully as it did when the pandemic hit, in a while. We got to watch nature heal and we got to connect with parts of nature that had never been seen before.

Humans are simply strange. We say things like “I miss them.”, but then we don’t reach out to the ones that we miss. We ignore the dismal that falls upon us without them because of our elephant sized egos. We let the multiple emotions of nostalgia, melancholy, indignation and discontent break us into pieces and eat us alive, only because reaching out would injure our egos.

This Virus purged many from this hurtful notion. It made people realize that allowing the ego to get hurt is the only way to get rid of it, and getting rid of the ego is the only way to accept oneself. Truly accepting oneself is the only way that we can triumph over those crude emotions. After those crude emotions are out of the way, reaching out to the ones we miss doesn’t seem as difficult. Several people left their loved ones on bad terms, and this pandemic helped bring them back together. It reunited people and ironically, helped them ameliorate.

Humans are simply strange. Despite, realizing that we are bit by bit falling apart without them, we say things like “I don’t need them”, only because we think that needing somebody to help put the fragile pieces back together is deplorable. In times of difficulty, humans tend to say “Leave me alone.” But that phrase is no longer quotidian. We need other humans to lift us up when we are falling.

This Pandemic made us realize that we do need someone, and that’s not a bad thing. Human company is essential. We may think that it wouldn’t help, but we know that it does. We owe a large part of ourselves to the ones that stayed and the ones that came along, because without that connection, we would probably not even be here. And we owe it to the pandemic for helping us come to terms with the fact that needing help is only human.

Humans are simply strange. The rollercoasters that we rode during this Covid-19 situation has been outlandish, but we found our ways to cope. And yes, it was a horrifying experience. And yes, a lot was lost, but everyone is already well aware of that.

A lot of us tend to perambulate around the wins of this pandemic, but we still say things like “Be positive.” The only thing we noticed about Covid-19 was its idiosyncratic effects. We failed to notice that this pandemic helped. It may have been in the slightest of ways, but it did help. It helped us get back to basics, to our core self, to mother nature, to the ones that are significant, to our souls. It kept us closely knit. And in this lonely world that we live in, it helped us feel not so alone.

Despite living on a planet with over seven billion people, we needed a deadly virus to connect us together because…

Humans are simply strange.