‘It definitely looks rosy on the outside now, but the pandemic has taken quite a toll’ – 25 quotes from India’s pandemic struggle
In this compilation, we present thought-provoking quotes from the week of March 28–April 3 that frame India’s battle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle. Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.
See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.
During COVID, the gap between patients and doctors was observed even in urban areas. Unless it was absolutely necessary, people started avoiding hospitals to get treatment for their health problems as they feared contacting COVID-19. - Ajit Narayanan, mfine
What was earlier a fitness enthusiast market is now a proactive health aware market. More consumers are taking care of their bodies and have actively increased consumption in this category. - Rahul Chowdhri, Stellaris
As adults switch to a cleaner lifestyle, we can anticipate a spurt in healthier, kid-friendly snacking options too. - Ankit Chona, Phab
The pandemic has adversely affected sectors like travel and tourism, but on the other hand, we have seen the maximum number of unicorns emerging from the pandemic. - Renu Shah, STEP
![[Year in Review 2021] How women entrepreneurs pivoted during the pandemic and saw tangible results](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/4/8e7cc4102d6c11e9aa979329348d4c3e/Cover-05-1639653048479.png?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop)
The pandemic gives [entrepreneurs] an inherent and underlying opportunity to reinvent and do something. - Aakanksha Bhargava, PM Relocations
The pandemic saw the launch of several new businesses that fulfilled gaps in the market. - Sairee Chahal, SHEROES
[The pandemic] unleashed a tidal wave of entrepreneurial activity across the country from women that choose to support their families. - Amit Doshi, Britannia Industries
In the pandemic, many breadwinners have lost their jobs and therefore women have taken up entrepreneurship. - Rashmi Bansal, Ashoka University
That's the clear change that the pandemic has brought about, there is no company who can treat technology as purely an enabler and not as the way of life. - Rahul Chari, PhonePe
Post-COVID ecosystem rules and consumer preferences have seen a tectonic shift towards digital engagement, soaring quality, and convenience demands. - Shishir Gandhi, GarageWorks
Technology has completely transformed the ecommerce industry. The pandemic has accelerated this transformation. Probably what would have taken years has happened in a matter of months. - Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho
The need for technology is critical in almost every sector today because of the rapid digitisation across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this, and the demand continues to grow. - Gautam Rege, Josh Software
COVID-19 acted like a catapult and propelled everyone into a direction that no one had ever imagined. The pace of technology adoption by companies and users in Bharat was at a jet speed. - Karanvir Singh, Pariksha
Many of us in the city were able to order online, but in the villages, people had phones, but no grocery or other essential product could reach them. - Ankur Dahiya, Rozana.in
There has been a demand uptick for laptops ever since offices went into Work From Home (WFH) mode and schools shifted to virtual classes ever since the onset of the pandemic. - Prasun Kumar, Just Dial
Educational institutions are now shifting to hybrid mode. Bringing the offline and online students together and engaging them on a single platform is becoming the key. - Sujeeth Kanuganti, AspectO
There is one section of children who are able to complement their school-based learning through technology v/s kids who have no ability or access to quality edtech products. - Rathish Balakrishnan, Sattva Consulting
The main focus now is to seamlessly integrate students back to the classroom environment. - Saurabh Taneja, Akanksha Foundation
Today’s brides lean towards experimental, minimal and out-of-the-box looks. Sustainability has become a big aspect of couture, especially after the pandemic. - Varun Bahl
These [sharp] lines represent the games that COVID-19 has been playing with us – a kind of start-stop element, which hopefully we’re getting out of now! - Ashish Soni
This year’s [Chitra Santhe] exhibition was especially exciting and wonderful because the physical edition happened after a gap of two long years. - Kanchan Rathna
In the post-COVID-19 world, the focus on import substitution, seizing the opportunity in exports due to countries willing to diversify their trade away from China, and the government’s reinvigorated push for ‘vocal for local’ – have all significantly benefited the logistics sector. - Nilesh Ghule, Forza Logistics Techlabs
People will now have to keep the worst scenarios in mind and plan their business continuity in a way that they can cope despite travel and transport restrictions, as well as lockdowns. - Deep Ganatra, The Good Glamm Group
In this world of flexible work, for it to work successfully, it really requires a proactive conversation as a management team all the way down the chain of the company. - Bret Taylor, Salesforce
Gig economy is here to stay. We have been hearing that talent is distributed but opportunities are not. What the pandemic has taught is that opportunities can be distributed as well. - Ronak Shah, Apna
The anticipation of returning to normalcy by companies is fueling a strong hiring sentiment as there has been a pent-up demand across sectors. - Pawan Goyal, Naukri.com
It definitely looks rosy on the outside now, but it has taken quite a toll on my mental health, especially during the pandemic. A lot of businesses struggled through COVID-19. - Ritu Oberoi, ForSarees
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
Edited by Teja Lele