My Take on the Pandemic

Hi friends,

Guess last time it was like a flush in blackjack- bombardment of information. So, I decided that this time we will try to interact. However, being the introvert I am, I was having trouble choosing a topic to talk about (it’s easier for me to explain a subject from my expertise). From the past year till now though, there has been a common topic among everyone in the world- “the pandemic”. Though it gives a very gloomy vibe, I am sure it has affected everybody in one way or the other. But the best part, we all have either overcome or evaded it all together. So without further ado, I will be sharing my pandemic story.

Courtesy: James Thew (stock.adobe.com)

Like every other Marvel fan, it made a huge impact on me when Thanos snapped his fingers with the gauntlet and half of the population of the universe was wiped out, in 2018. In fact, if you open the link https://elgoog.im/thanos/, it still feels as eerie. Though everything in the MCU was corrected again with the subsequent movie in 2019, little we had thought that the real world will experience something similar. 21st March 2020, the day is etched in my mind. It had been just a week when I myself had quit my job to look for something better and was rigorous in my job search when the government announced a nationwide lockdown.

It was a mixed feeling; there was panic, chaos, and pandemonium all around. Still, there was a gloomy and eerie feeling that crept in the mind. The first thing that came to my mind- I need to keep myself busy. Everybody was glued in front of the screen, with the news channels, exaggerating as ever, reporting the condition worldwide. Loving loneliness and solitude, silence never fazed me. But the very next day when I came out near the crossroad in my locality, an ever-busy place with shops stalls, and people, and found it desolate, I was shaken.

The people of Vadodara, or the whole of Gujarat for that matter, seem to have their own version of the government directions. Clapping and applauding the so-called “Corona Warriors” was soon taken over by Garba in the societies in the beats of beating thalis. And lighting Diya the next day turned out to be an impromptu summer Diwali celebration with firecrackers.

A pattern was developed with the daily chores. I and my roomy made sure we cook 4 times a day and master it. I used to drink around 7-8 liters of water daily since it also became something that kept me occupied. This might be comforting to my mother, who is always running behind me with a bottle, in a normal scenario. Bit of studies, the phone, and the laptop comprised the other activities. An hour or more of a workout would finally cover a majority of the time and also drain me enough to end my day early.

Once a week, we used to go out for supplies. The vegetable and fruit vendors who were based in the locality were always in a rush if they were driven by the police. I myself often had to explain to the police my reason to come out.  The bigger food marts like the Big Bazaar were open for a fixed period of time for supplies, allowing people in a queue. And the interior of the place astonished as well as frightened me every time-entry barred in areas other than food and toiletry section, signs and markings for safe distancing, ready-made food section seeming like lit has been plundered and proving that a big chunk of the living and healthy population thrives on Maggie, half-covered faces with eyes showing panic, competition, and suspicion- I can’t find a single word to describe the scenario.

I did many things in that time: I celebrated my 1^st and hopefully only pandemic birthday, I wrote a good fraction of my PG dissertation to publish it, I completed a few online courses, I achieved good fitness, mastered cooking, saw movies, and enjoyed my me time. It was great to catch up with friends and family.

When the pandemic was coupled with the tropical summer, things became irritating. I remember storing vegetables under the bed since we did not have a refrigerator. We shifted to the lower floor since the upper one became a furnace throughout the day. Sweeping the floor wet before going to sleep was a regular work to do. I still remember the night though when all the fans stopped working at the same time and I enjoyed sleeping under the stars on the terrace till the freezing dawn drove me downstairs again.

Every night I used to sit on the terrace and look in the night sky till late hours. Though the lockdown had ended after 3 weeks, I was still at home for over 4 months. Gradually my savings were exhausting. Home-stay transitioned from a vacation to no option, and eventually to imprisonment. With the economy hit badly, job opportunities dwindled. The only happy moments in the day used to be the excitement of trying to cook something new. The improvements in fitness due to the workouts hardly interested me anymore. The change of online courses from knowledge and interaction pools to business ventures, made me despise them. Reading or studying anything became pointless. OTTs became boring. Every night my parents used to call me and ask if I was ok. Every time I used to answer “yes” and then asked myself the same with doubt slithering in.

27^th July, was the next memorable day, when I finally secured a job, that too, of my own liking. It felt like an end of a rough road. Sure the pandemic was still on, and a lot was about to unfold, but finally, for me, the lockdown was over. Such peculiar was the relief that I couldn’t smile, couldn’t even take a breather. With the then scenario of the economy, this employment was nothing less than a blessing.

Throughout this ghastly first half of 2020, there came many scenes: we saw people feeling secured by plundering malls for food while being ignorant about even protecting themselves in the pandemic; we saw our tears trickling down at the death of Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, and Shushant Singh Rajput; we watched with astonishment when Shilpa Shetty was doing household chores; we found ourselves in denial with the loss of our loved ones, we found out that work from home is not as interesting as we anticipated; we experienced the “Tablighi Jamaat” and the migrant workers’ journey to home; we found the whole everyone becoming fitness buffs, chefs, and podcasters; we found ourselves going crazy on OTTs about Money-Heist and shows even not in languages we understand; we saw ourselves in self-doubt about our mental health. Being a 90s kid, I feel it’s quite a list of stories to remember and share.

Most importantly, I learnt that no matter how ahead we go in our lives for success, survival, and recognition, we need our loved ones to just be there- with a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry, a lap to rest, an ear to listen, a voice to talk to, and most importantly a heart which believes in us. I am grateful enough that my loved ones stood by me in such a tough time saying “when going gets tough, the tougher gets going”. The pandemic taught me a lot; but among all, I learnt that you need not always excel in life; sometimes you just need to hang around. Patience is the key.