“It’s karma… everything we do has a reaction”: Pandemic, peril, and progress

Abstract

We conducted individual interviews on 33 Indian rural (51.51%) and urban (48.48%) adults to examine their psychological response during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis indicated that participants turned to ancient tradition to find wisdom and understanding to their experiences during this pandemic. The concept of karma, kalyuga, and pralaya from Indian mythology; rasas (aesthetic mood and relish) like karuna (pathos), and vira (heroic), and bhavas like bhaya (fear) were verbalised. 93.93% participants articulated that living in rural areas, with less pollution and population, and nutritious food being available locally, would be a safer abode now. Grounds for resilience and posttraumatic growth were expressed in pathos, compassion and kindness for other human-beings along with an awareness regarding the environment. Learned optimism, not learned helplessness, is evident from the responses. The meaning-making model (Park, 2013) has been used to knit the explanations construed by the participants.