Quarantine Diaries

It said that every “obstacle” that you face, brings hidden “opportunity” for you. So true it is! When we were busy living our fast-paced lives, we all faced “obstacle” in the form of “lockdown”. Corona pandemic reduced our pace of life drastically. It was as if a fast running car was brought to halt suddenly due to unforeseen pothole or speed-breaker on the smooth road. Initially everyone was overwhelmed by the unprecedented situation. Concept of “lockdown” was new, so was “mandatory work-from-home”. It took weeks to digest the overall happenings around and to adapt to those. Needless to say everyone went through emotional rollercoaster – happy, anxious, sad, overwhelmed, depressed, fearful and what not. I am not exception to this. I too went through all this. From struggling to put simple time-table to fulfilling additional responsibilities at home, every single thing was challenging and mentally taxing. However, it was the same time that afforded me opportunity to sit bac...

है राम तेरी भूमि में सब लोग कमजोर खड़े है, सरहदों पे भी तेरे नाम के चर्चे है!!  क्या बताये हालत-ए-वतन, यहाँ तो बस गरीब ही शोषित है,  बाकि तो सब पकवान और क्वारंटाइन challenge में विलीन है!!  राम भूमि की तरफ तो ये सारे शोषित चल पड़े,  न जाने कितनी लंका दिल में लेके वापस आ पड़े!!  शायद तुम बस एक समाज के लिये हो  बाकि तो बस एक माया है,   तुम्हारे नाम का सब कुछ बन गया  पर उसमे तुम्हरी छाया कहा है ? देखिये प्रभु आप की दरवाजे पर खड़ी है आप की वानर सेना,  पर क्या करे इस सेना ने कोई यूनिफार्म नहीं पहना!! कम से कम अपने भक्तो का तो ख़याल रखना, अपने एजेंट लोगो को बोलना  इस भक्त का कोई सामान / या हिसाब गिरवी मत रखना !! अगर तुम हो तो इन लोगो को समझा देना, की कैसे तुम राम बने,  रामराज्य आने से पहले कितने जनाजे उठे!! --  म्हसोबा --

                                            Last week two officials of an organisation working in social sector contacted me. They requested if I can volunteer and help them with fund-raising for their initiative. They were raising funds to help out families of stranded migrants. They were making sanitation kits and kits of daily essentials and were delivering it to the families of the labourers who were on their way back home. Much has been spoken and written about the plight of these migrants. What I feel the worst was, they were not even afforded an opportunity to go back to their homes with dignity. When lockdown due to corona pandemic was announced, they were laid off and were forced out of their temporary homes in cities. Having lost their jobs and livelihood options, they started walking back to their homes. On their way back, the cities that prospered on t...

Last week majority of shops were allowed to open. Even shops in red zones were opened. Liquor shops & the unending queues outside those shops could be seen. I have already ranted about it enough in my previous blog. It so happened that I was already not feeling good because for past whole week Mom (hereinafter Aai) could not come home. Inter-Taluka commutation is banned even for government servants & Police has cancelled already sanctioned passes as well. Earlier this was allowed. Since the outbreak of this corona pandemic Aai made sure she comes home once a week. Usually she came home Saturday night & left early in the morning on Monday. For howsoever less then she was there, it was enough for all of us at home to be more than happy & cherish every moment of it. But what a hypocrite policy – inter-taluka commutation is not allowed as it may spread virus & opening of shops (that too LIQUOR SHOPS) is allowed because economy first. I have no issue w...

Monday, 03 May 2020. We entered in lockdown 3.0. How did it start? We could see people rushing to street only to queue up outside liquor shops. The news of opening of shops in general and liquor shops in particular, spread like wildfire. People made sure they get up early and stand in a queue to get their drinks. I wonder if they had shown the same zeal when their families asked them to go out and stand in queue to get some groceries. One could easily see people using their emergency savings to quench their thirst of alcohol. Whether it was right or wrong on the part of policy makers or government to allow such shops, is not a part of discussion here. I just want to try and understand the prevailing human behavioural tendencies in the time of crisis. We all had started getting forwards/ jokes/ memes on social media as to how people are dying to get liquor and thronging streets and shops. Social distancing norms seemed joke to them. Even the scorching heat could not deter the...