‘There is a huge pent-up demand post-pandemic’ – 15 quotes from India’s COVID-19 journey

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.

When the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown happened, trans people across the country were left bereft with zero sources of income. - Priya Babu, Transgender Resource Centre

People, especially coming out of the pandemic found out how important it was to find a home, but also to find a place where they can work and live with their families. - Helen Chen, Nomad Homes

Despite COVID-19 accelerating online shopping by multi-folds, the Indian retail market remains largely unorganised. - Kamna Hazrati, TheYaYaCafe

Some robots are also assisting healthcare organisations before patients’ check-ins. For instance, an autonomous robot developed in Mexico is helping medical staff to deal with high-risk COVID patients. - Vineet Aggarwal

This [edtech] experience was on steroids during COVID including home-based or hybrid learning. - Anuj Ahuja, Studybase

From lack of digital penetration to lack of access, we had to target bridging the learning gaps between the long school closures. - Ratna Viswanathan, Reach To Teach

At Aichi Triennale 2022, we will ponder the meaning of life in these difficult times through powerful expressions where the act of living is strongly linked to artistic creation. - Kataoka Mami, Aichi Triennale 2022

The pandemic seems to have given people time to retrospect and realise the true values of life. - Lisa Pingale, Monalisa Kalagram

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[R]esidential real estate volumes rebounded really, really quickly about three months after the pandemic, so people were buying just as they used to. - Helen Chen, Nomad Homes

Launching a jewellery brand during the time when people were miserable, scared, and unwell didn’t feel right. Therefore, we waited for the first wave to pass—till things began to look under control. - Shristi Ghunawat, Tangerine

A lot of trans people were into begging and sex work, and both of these came to a complete stop. They needed urgent help. - Priya Babu, Transgender Resource Centre

2022 will be a period of recovery from this pandemic, during which we will see new propositions being called for from all domains of life, whether environmental, political, economic, or cultural, in order to address the structures of contemporary society that have been thrown into sharp relief by COVID-19. - Kataoka Mami, Aichi Triennale

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We have witnessed a tremendous shift in the industry in the last few months of the post-pandemic period, in terms of brand strategy innovations that are fundamentally changing the way marketers implement their email programs. - Chaitanya Chinta, Netcore Cloud

Although brick-and-mortar stores bounced back post the lockdown restrictions, consumers are more likely to shop online and prefer convenience. - Kamna Hazrati, TheYaYaCafe

There is a huge pent-up demand post-pandemic. In terms of customer buoyancy, it is visible in commercial vehicle or personal vehicle sales. - Rajeev Yadav, Fincare Small Finance Bank

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).