So it was true the morning session where two health workers wearing suits and masks landed up at my OYO Rooms hotel in Andheri East was not just a casual visit. The BMC has put the entire hotel its staff and the guests under house arrest, which means we are under quarantine. They have stamped all the workers and taken personal details. By the afternoon four BMC workers and local police put barricades outside the exit gates of our hotel and put a banner that says sealed under quarantine. Full-time police will stay outside our gate and make sure no one goes out or inside the hotel for two weeks. I managed to take some pics while they were locking us out. Why? You ask well there was a guest who had the virus he left two days back with fever, the authorities tracked him to our OYO Rooms and now we all have been locked in for two weeks.
This was chaos, I had plans to move to a better hotel in five days time, what am I to do now cancel my booking as I am locked here for 14 days. The whole COVID thing was now blowing in-front of me as I realized that now I am directly affected. I have been staying with a carrier for a few days, I could be info ted too. The BMC says they will do some swab testing also, just to see no one is further infected. They will be giving food and rations to us, but someone will be designated to get those otherwise no one steps out and the police waiting outside at all times was going to be insuring that.
“ Fucker I have not downloaded the Aarogya app it is surveillance, the government is using it to spy and track people. If you leave your hotel they will track you back and arrest you, maybe put you in an infected patient ward.” My friend said, as he too was bringing to realize the reality of the situation.” It’s, the liquor shops they owned it, and the infections went up, more than 10,000 infected alone, everywhere in the red zone .” Ashish has been a great help in Corona times with his supply of ganja, cigarettes, and chocolates he has given me company at all times. He has been active driving to my hotel and back home for almost forty days, that he has had a feel of this pandemic situation from the start. He believes things are not going to be easy and the Pandemic is here to stay longer than expected. I reminded him about new mutated strains of the virus and about the second wave of attacks to come.
Now that we are quarantined, tagged, and being tracked it will not be easy for him to come over and visit me as there will be cops standing outside the gates of the hotel. Which means no pot and no idle potty banter and loose talk and gossip that we both have gotten used to in Corona times. Apart from that, I am gear to move to a new hotel just to get better service and be next to the beach, as of now it looks difficult.
I would like to be tested though just to be sure I am not. Carrier and safe from infection, I am sure soon that too will happen as Mumbai is a big hotspot of the country. As of now, I keep monitoring the Ayodhya app to find if I am safe and how many people are infected within one km of my location.
Every day I along with two friends make plans and every day the virus makes sure our plans are canceled. My Gujrati friend has canceled his hotel bookings twice, he even applied for a police permit and almost booked a taxi to his home town in Gujarat, but the dynamic pandemic situation keeps throwing hot water on his plan and indeed mine too.