3 min readMar 25, 2026 06:07 AM IST First published on: Mar 25, 2026 at 06:07 AM ISTYou wake up with a sense of uncertainty, not knowing what to expect of the day. Will there be a let-up, a sudden breakthrough, light at the end of the tunnel? Or will this be yet another day of depressing news, from the economy plummeting to innocent lives lost. Things are looking bleaker, supplies have got tighter, travel plans are at a standstill. Everyone is waiting and watching.These lines were written in March 2020.If the current US-Iran war feels like Covid-19, it’s not without reason. Both events crept up suddenly, catching the world unawares, forcing a shift in life and perspective. The signs had been there, yet no one quite believed that the lockdown of March 2020 or the airstrikes on February 28, 2026 would actually happen. One day it seemed inconceivable that we would be in the midst of something scary and unknown and the next day we were in its vice-like grip. Initial optimism prevailed, only to be quickly crushed as both catastrophes escalated rapidly, giving way to daily obsessive tracking of the unfolding tragedy. War anxiety mirrors pandemic panic; the blocking of Hormuz took one back to empty shelves in stores when supply chains were disrupted. We stockpiled essentials and anxiety then — many are doing the same now.AdvertisementThe economic whiplash is familiar — markets plunging, small businesses packing up, daily wagers hit hard, get-togethers restricted and people away from their homes scrambling to get back and stay put. Donald Trump’s Truth Social updates leave the people oscillating between hope and hopelessness.And then there is the scourge of misinformation moving faster than a virus or a missile. If the lab-leak theories eroded trust during Covid, doctored or AI generated clips of explosions are threatening to dent news credibility now. If Covid taught us helplessness against an invisible enemy, this war replays that feeling as we watch distant explosions in real time. Most haunting, perhaps, is the insidious psychological toll.This brings us to the uncomfortable point this comparison is trying to make — human beings have a remarkable ability to swiftly forget even the most profound lessons once the immediate crisis fades. As soon as Covid receded, there was an outpouring of reflections on the lessons the virus had seemingly taught us. On a personal level, we spoke of our realisation of being able to live with much less, the rediscovery of self- reliance and revaluation of priorities. Inter-connected vulnerabilities led to an unspoken bond across humanity. On a universal scale, the lessons ran deeper — the value of human life, the pricelessness of freedom, the need for economic resilience and the indispensability of global solidarity. The phrase that best captured this hard-won wisdom: “Until every country is safe, no country is safe.”AdvertisementYet here we are six years later, and while the calendar says March 2026, the weather feels like March 2020.you may likeThere is just one difference — there was a debate, then, about whether Covid-19 was a natural or human-made calamity. This time round we do not even have the comfort of that debate.The writer is resident editor, The Indian Express, Pune sunanda.mehta@expressindia.com