29.04.2020
Home, Mulund West, Mumbai
Covid-19: The game changer!
In January, 2020, I read in the newspaper about a virus in China, making the residents of Wuhan really sick, few deaths were quoted too. What was alarming that, the virus had no cure or no vaccine. I had read the news and without paying it much thought moved on to other news items. The next time, I paid any attention to this virus, known as novel corona virus was in February, 2020. A medical student from Wuhan, China traveled back to her hometown in Kerala and was found positive for corona virus. Kerala immediately went into the emergency mode as they had learned some lessons from the Nipah virus the previous year. She was cured in a couple of weeks and all was well again. Meanwhile, we heard about the virus spreading to European countries, but chose to ignore as it was not around us. And then, it started creating medical mayhem and escalating death rates in Italy. Kerala came into picture again. A malayalee family from Italy came visiting Kerala and attended many social functions. They traveled across the state before they were tested positive for Covid-19 (now this disease was named Covid-19)
In Mumbai, life was just moving on. I was going for my yoga classes, walks, shopping etc. Maids were coming home. My husband was going to work and my son was attending his classes. His exams were due in a few weeks. Around March 10th, I decided to buy a sanitiser, Sterilium, masks and gloves. It was just a precaution as Mumbai had a few positive patients. I was helping my Yoga instructor with her Master’s thesis and regularly used to sit at her studio till late evenings. My father-in-law’s care taker used to take a train and come home every day. Mumbai was crowded as usual. And all hell broke loose when the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi asked the nation to follow a one day Janta curfew which meant that on March 22nd (it was a Sunday) no one will go out of their homes. This was the directive for around 1.25 billion people and it was followed to the T. It was just a token. On the curfew day, he came on television and declared a 21 day lock down in India. By this time, Italy, USA and Spain were in a bad shape. China was managing fine- I don’t think one should trust anything China says.
Locked down means, no public transport which means no suburban trains and no buses are plying. It is applied to the whole country. Within a few days all domestic air transport also came to a stand still. One has to always wear a mask while going out for essentials or medical supplies. All the other services are closed. Banks and brokerage houses are functional and a new term has become normal- work from home.
I never imagined such times would ever come. For all of us at home it is all about chores…washing, cleaning, cooking. Venkat is expected to take his father for dressing (of a surgical wound ) to a hospital but eventually learnt to dress his father himself. These are difficult times. The chores never seem to end…and we do not know when we are going to live our normal lives again. The lockdown is on.
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