Ruchira Darda
It's been a year of my family keeping a tab of Covid counts, in the city, in the state, in the country and in the world. Our preferred lunchtime conversation goes like, ‘‘He can't breathe anymore, pass me the dal.’’ “Their relative passed away due to Covid, can I get another roti?’’ “The world will collapse due to this, tomorrow can I get something sweet with lunch?” I know it sounds hilarious but this is us. Discussing the worst everything over each meal.
So, imagine when the virus came home, how much more we had to talk about. Now, it was about us, and the repercussions in between bites. Let me paint this picture properly for you. I live in a campus encompassed with lush greenery and office buildings. Somewhere in the centre of that is our humble home. Hence, since last year we feel like we live in a fortress and a highly vulnerable place all at the same time. We had our own lil episode of a Covid scare a fortnight ago.
That meant now was the time to put into action all the learnings we had acquired over the last year. Everyone had a project. The patients were isolated and the rest were put under a 24-hour surveillance. “Did you sneeze?” “TELL US WHAT YOU DID LAST NIGHT” “WHEN DID YOU MEET THE PATIENT LAST?” “MAAAASK-UP.”
“Mumma, Dada is scaring me,” A junior said. It was hard for me to explain to him that you are a suspect now. As accusing eyes followed him around and as we kept a one arm length from our own, it taught me something about the human mind. Fear, threat and doubt can easily separate us. We all strive to protect our own and we are also very quick to accuse or judge. But also without the hustle bustle of each member, it was extremely dull to go through the day. After that round of doubt and judgement came our realization, that there is no laughter without our own and no spice to an otherwise mundane day.
When our results came, I heard my children heave the biggest sigh of relief. FREEDOM!
I think I was a bit disappointed, there would have been so much to write about if ...
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