The reality of living in the times of Coronavirus became even more evident as my shelter life in an OYO room hotel where I mostly slept ate and listened to youtube.com videos was disrupted by medical and health workers. The morning was disrupted by two puny ladies who wore medical white suits made of virus-proof material along with big white surgical masks. I walked up to the reception area to find out what they were up to .” We are quarantining every employee of the hotel they will not be allowed to go out for two weeks, we will monitor them .” She explained her mission for being here. They stamped the hands of the cook and the cleaners and noted their numbers and names along with other details.
“ No not you, you are guest .” She replied as I also asked two to be stamped,” You can test me I want to know if I am Corona free .” I gave myself to be tested .” No no not now testing later now only quarantine .” She went on to say. Their white suits made them look like astronauts rather than medical workers.
I walked up to them to take photographs and was almost shooed away,” Distance sir maintain social distancing no touching only namaste .” She said asking me to move back. I managed to click some snaps anyways.
I have the corona app on my mobile which keeps reminding me how safe I am and whether there are people around me with the infection. Check out my snaps with them. The stress is empty again today after the reopening of booze shops, states have gone back and shut things down again, there are restrictions on home delivery as well, as most people still remain confused as to how safe it is to venture out. It is like people need to be reprogrammed as to how to live in this new paradigm and not everyone is finding the going easy.
I will be soon moving into a better hotel got it at a 50% discount rate for two months at Juhu. The view will be better and I am sure the service too, as it is it will be much longer when flights are opened up froM Mumbai as infections have increased again.
Prices of essentials have gone up and cigarette cost has gone up 200%. Milk and curd products are in short demand as people also begin to hoard essentials. The poor are being fed by the charity and the government but if they don’t go back to work the situation will only get worse. The government is getting all Indians stuck abroad to buy special flights this week.
As I stand beside my room window staring at empty buses and auto’s pass by, some shops are open but there are no customers. I do see few people walking down the street with bangs in Tehri hands trying to get somewhere. Friends say it is better to do some jogging and brisk walking if one can get some space as putting on weight is the easiest thing to do at these times, due to boredom, anxiety, or otherwise. Job losses are mounting up and companies are trimming staff and salaries. Uncertainty and anxiety about the future are increasing domestic violence. But the virus goes on relentlessly as places that have opened up expect wave two to come soon.
