NON-FICTION REFLECTIONS ON A PANDEMIC.

The Covid-19 pandemic came, it saw and it never left. For better or for worse, the coronavirus is here to stay and one can only hope that the worst may be over. However, for the most part, humankind has learned to accept, adapt and live with all the ramifications of the deadly virus that broke ground at the end of 2019.

Though there are clear distinctions between life before and after Covid-19 in all aspects of everyday existence, most conversation in this regard is clinical and diagnostic, devoid of empathy for being forced to ride an emotional rollercoaster - along with suffering psychological and physiological trauma - of Sisyphean proportions. Whether or not they were diagnosed with Covid-19 or felt any of its mildest or worst symptoms, individuals and their families were put through immense emotional and intellectual strain for which, up till now, there has been little recognition or acceptance.

While easing into normalcy - even this is ironic, considering there was nothing easy about it - it appears that the world at large just decided to consider the Covid-19 years as a mere blip, an inconvenience. It has continued with its mechanical mundanities and pandemic memories have been reduced to casual, drawing-room conversation.

In this regard, the collection of essays titled Far from My Hospital Bed: Reflections on the Pandemic and Society, written by sociologist Teresita Cruz del Rosario, is a poignant work of recording the experiential events that have now been reduced to cliches - terms such as 'the pandemic' or 'Covid-19' or 'lockdowns' have become mere labels with a lot of subtext in fine print that only a few bother to read.

A sociologist attempts to grapple with the immense emotional and intellectual strain Covid-19 virus put humankind through, with poignant personal essays that are a breeze to read

The book is clearly personal. It has to be, if it is to fully empathise with the entirety of the human pandemic experience, and the emotional and psychological processes or triggers that have altered our way of thinking over the past few years. It begins with the author's 25-day stay at a Singapore hospital and the realms of thoughts, memories and emotions that engulfed her during that life-altering period. Her book continues to explore the realms of humanness during and beyond the pandemic and finds reasons to be hopeful for, and in the future of, humankind.

The essays in Far from My Hospital Bed were written and collected over a...