Usually when a business or an organization has a big influx of people coming in, and using its services, it is a great sign. However, last week when I wrote about the local safe house being opened up and running at full capacity, it was not really a moment to rejoice.

This week, my home country has been on my mind a lot.

It has always amused me how often humans barely value their own lives, let alone the lives of their fellow human beings. So it doesn鈥檛 much surprise me when I see people drowning in endless debate over whether or not to wear masks publicly.

On Friday, the Alaska National Guard air-lifted the famous 鈥淚nto the Wild鈥� bus and removed it, keeping in mind public safety. The long-abandoned Fairbanks bus was made famous after it was mentioned in the book Into the Wild, with a movie of the same name, based on the journey and life of Chris McCandless, who lived and died in the bus in 1992.

鈥淓veryone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always鈥� 鈥� a powerful quote from Robin Williams, a star who lost his battle some time ago. However, what he said is true today, more than ever.

The world has been going through massive upheaval in the past few months. From a global health pandemic, to cyclones and hurricanes, from feminism to racisim, from student rights to animal rights, there is some issue, some topic that is being constantly discussed with a lot of passion, angst and fury. You probably feel passionately about some topic, there must be something that is close to your heart that you feel is worth fighting for.

Why is it that we start taking things seriously only when tragedy hits closer to home? Why do we wait for the storm and then prepare, instead of showing preparedness in advance? The COVID-19 pandemic has been no different and instead of dealing with things with ample preparation, we have been working on panic, triggers, and finger pointing.

As much as I want to avoid the topic of the pandemic, it is constantly in my face, everywhere I turn, anything I do, everything is connected to these dark times. And yet, life seems to go on for so many.

鈥淪o when we found the cure and were allowed outside, we all preferred the world we had found, to the one we鈥檇 left behind鈥�

Amelia Earhart envisioned this, a world without borders, something that truly resonates with my heart. I am Priyanka Ketkar, the newest addition to the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 team, and I have crossed borders and oceans in search of the horizon, to get here, to be a part of a new community. I was born and brought up in a beautiful, small city, Thane, and I worked in Mumbai, in India.