Bad Times are the Best Teacher

Almost a year ago, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to contain the spread of coronavirus across the country. The challenges posed by the year 2020 were beyond anticipation or imagination. In hindsight, though, it proved to be a transformative period for all of us.

It taught us to be resilient in the face of adversities and that each challenge offers an opportunity to persevere, learn, adapt, and evolve into more stronger and compassionate beings.

It made us reflect on things that we took for granted all along and showed us their real value. Be it our freedom to move about, our family and friends who were always around but hardly had our presence, and above all, their well-being, something that never occurred to us with such urgency.

Thankfully, advanced communication technologies kept us connected, irrespective of geographical distance and circumstances.
In the beginning months post the lockdown, we spoke about returning to our normal lives only to soon realize that there was no going back to the normal. And as humans normally do, we adapted to the changed ways and called it the ‘new normal’. Organizations across the globe acknowledged that their workforce could work from home and accepted that managing by objectives is more productive than managing by the clock.

We are almost three months old in 2021 and realize the worst isn’t behind us with the Covid-19 mutant strains making rounds now. At this juncture, where things are far from being predictable, what is sure is our grit and spirit to surmount the unfavorable.

The industry too has proven its strength by remaining unfazed during the worst and waiting calmly to cross over to the other side. Its tenacity has been exemplary to say the least. We, in the last few issues of MMI, have been trying to capture the same by talking to the industry leaders and sharing their experiences with you.

We await your feedback as always on this issue too!

SOUMI MITRA
Editor-in-Chief
Modern Manufacturing India
soumi.mitra@magicwandmedia.in