I needed a break from Corona days. It is tough to do so physically but I did the best. For one, I kept away from the news channels as much as I could. On the few occasions I found myself in front of the Television, I became a Martian. I observed the poor Earthlings living their miserable lives in quarantine. I felt safe in my deserted Martian landscape. I thanked God for taking away our water and oxygen. Life feels safe here. I also spent the precious time that COVID-19 has gifted us, by working on my ambitious pet project. I used my abundant imaginative skills to call it the "Ambitious Pet Project"; APP for short. As soon as I named the project thus, I noticed a redundancy in the name. All pet projects are ambitious and hence words ambitious is redundant. But I like APP better than PP. PP at best could stand for passport. But APP stands for Alan Parson's Project. Most people who listened to music from the around the world in the 80's and 90's would have listened to "Time" and "Ammonia Avenue". I felt that these songs and many others made APP one of the greatest rock groups on the planet. Later, I realized that there were many lists of greatest groups on the planet but APP did not figure in any of these. Obviously, the Earth is inhabited by stupid beings. How can a group that has created "Eye in the sky", "Mammagamma" and "Vulture Culture" not be on every list of greatest groups on the planet? For heaven's sake, Alan Parsons was the engineer for Pink Floyd's "Dark side of the moon". Why does every greatest group list have Nirvana and not Alan Parson's Project?
Getting back to the point! Initially I did not go far in my APP (i.e.) Ambitious Pet Project. I came back to this space and started writing here. But at the end of the first three paragraphs (not including this one) ambition kicked in once again and I kicked myself back to my APP. I am thrilled to say that I have completed what I planned to complete. There is hope still!
I had decided on the contents of my next Corona days entry a few days ago but I changed my plan changed due to the news of few occurrences from around the world. I decided to add my views on these occurrences to this write-up. But as I started writing, life threw a few incidents at me, which I thought should be recorded for no one to read. This resulted in a reduction in my ability to fit the occurrences from around the world in this journal entry. So I decided not to talk about the news articles at the present moment. This is the best part about writing a journal - Not only do I have to not stick to my plans, I can change it a million times without bothering anyone. I certainly did not plan to write these lines but I wrote them anyway and no one cares.
It is 7:30 am and there are no movements in the house. I plan to spend another ten minutes in writing before getting up to make tea. I find it easy to write in the mornings. Thoughts and words flow freely. This morning, I woke up at 5:45 am but wasted more than an hour by not getting up. Many thoughts lost forever! I am listening to the latest Pearl Jam album over Prime. The album is called Gigaton and it sounds good. It has been a while since I have listened to a new Pearl Jam album and I am glad I picked this one. I also listened to their 2009 album called Backspacer. I like this album too. Many years ago, I discovered Pearl Jam when I saw the video of "Jeremy" on the television. I was amazed by the song, lyrics, video, music and singing. Within the next few months, I owned a copy of their first four albums. All four of them were contained great songs; not one filler. But I did not like their fifth album, Yield and from then stopped following their albums. I had started following this group due to Eddie Vedder's singing. His voice brings out a range of emotions. When he sings angrily we feel his anger. But he can also bring in a sense of calm. The songs from the soundtrack for the movie "Into the wild" is an example for this. For me, Eddie Vedder is the big difference between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I will always love the latter over the former. Actually, I don't listen to Nirvana at all.
Getting back to the point! Initially I did not go far in my APP (i.e.) Ambitious Pet Project. I came back to this space and started writing here. But at the end of the first three paragraphs (not including this one) ambition kicked in once again and I kicked myself back to my APP. I am thrilled to say that I have completed what I planned to complete. There is hope still!
I had decided on the contents of my next Corona days entry a few days ago but I changed my plan changed due to the news of few occurrences from around the world. I decided to add my views on these occurrences to this write-up. But as I started writing, life threw a few incidents at me, which I thought should be recorded for no one to read. This resulted in a reduction in my ability to fit the occurrences from around the world in this journal entry. So I decided not to talk about the news articles at the present moment. This is the best part about writing a journal - Not only do I have to not stick to my plans, I can change it a million times without bothering anyone. I certainly did not plan to write these lines but I wrote them anyway and no one cares.
It is 7:30 am and there are no movements in the house. I plan to spend another ten minutes in writing before getting up to make tea. I find it easy to write in the mornings. Thoughts and words flow freely. This morning, I woke up at 5:45 am but wasted more than an hour by not getting up. Many thoughts lost forever! I am listening to the latest Pearl Jam album over Prime. The album is called Gigaton and it sounds good. It has been a while since I have listened to a new Pearl Jam album and I am glad I picked this one. I also listened to their 2009 album called Backspacer. I like this album too. Many years ago, I discovered Pearl Jam when I saw the video of "Jeremy" on the television. I was amazed by the song, lyrics, video, music and singing. Within the next few months, I owned a copy of their first four albums. All four of them were contained great songs; not one filler. But I did not like their fifth album, Yield and from then stopped following their albums. I had started following this group due to Eddie Vedder's singing. His voice brings out a range of emotions. When he sings angrily we feel his anger. But he can also bring in a sense of calm. The songs from the soundtrack for the movie "Into the wild" is an example for this. For me, Eddie Vedder is the big difference between Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I will always love the latter over the former. Actually, I don't listen to Nirvana at all.
My mobile phone and laptop claims "today is 19 April 2020". I believe it is. It also claims "today is a Sunday". I am unable to accept this for yesterday seemed like Sunday, so did the day before and the day before the day before. The only day that is different from the series of Sundays I am living through are the days when I go out to buy the provisions. I don't miss going out. On the contrary, I love staying inside my house and not going out at all. Yet I look forward to my trips to the market. I find the process of buying food joyful. I don't even mind the process of picking the best looking beans from a bunch of tired ones. I have always liked choosing okra (I don't like calling them ladies finger). I feel great satisfaction in breaking their tips to ensure that they are just right for cooking. The art of picking vegetables and fruits has been passed to us through the ages. Some say these techniques are older than the Vedas itself. For example, the okra tip breaking technique is found in some ancient literature, I am not sure which, and is known in Sanskrit as "Bhendakrabhagam". Each vegetable has a recommended process for picking and if one confuses the process of one for another, the results would be disastrous.
As the fourth week of the lockdown is nearing its end, the time is right to capture some data.
1. Eight: Number of trips I made to buy grocery.
2. One: Number of trips I could have avoided (I planned to go out on a Sunday but panicked and went out on the Saturday. Ultimately, I had to go out on Sunday too. So the Saturday trip became unnecessary).
3. Five: Number of loaves of bread consumed.
4. Three: Number of times we had Top Ramen noodles. At a time, we have six small packs of the noodles. So we have had eighteen small packets of noodles. Of this the first time, I could only get three TopRamen noodles and as a result I had to buy three packets of Sunfeast noodles. The resultant combination of the two brands was interesting. The last time I decided to experiment with three flavours - Masala, Chilli and Curry flavours. The result of the mashup did not live up to my expectations. The Chilli flavour is useless.
5. One: Number of times food was ordered via Swiggy.
6. Two: Number of times meat was bought (Nattu kozhi).
7. Four: Number of biriyanis consumed (Once from restaurant and thrice homemade)
7. Four: Number of biriyanis consumed (Once from restaurant and thrice homemade)
8. One: Number of visits to the petrol bunk (Woohoo).
9. Hundreds: Biscuits consumed during the lockdown.
10. Infinity: Amount of time spent watching Corona news on television.
My original plan was to list the movies that I had watched during the lockdown with a brief summary of my thoughts for each. Half way through the writing I realized that I had watched nearly thirty movies and placing the list here would make this write-up unwieldy. So the list has been given the honour of having a separate entry. I have run out of interesting Indian language movies in Prime and Hotstar. There are few in Zee5 but the Zee5 application is too heavy for Amazon Fire Stick. Every time I select a movie the application crashes. So I am giving up on Zee5. I have subscribed Netflix for a month. There are a few interesting Malayalam movies and also the latest Karthi, Vijay Devarkonda and Allu Arjun movies to watch. This should keep me occupied for few weeks. I have also started watching the series Panchayat on Amazon. It reminded me of a series that was aired in Doordarshan during the 80's called Raag Darbari. The series is based on the satirical Hindi novel by the same name written by Sri Lal Sukla, Coincidentally, I found a copy of the book in a second hand book stall (I don't remember when and where though. I wished I had started writing a journal earlier. Such minor but interesting details would not have been lost forever). I have read the book and still have it on my book stand.
Five weeks have passed since the lockdown commenced. Eight hundred and forty hours of time spent at home and our everyday schedule has been regimented. Our activities in the mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights remain nearly the same across the days - Tea and writing before breakfast, cleaning of the house or going out to buy grocery and taking bath prior to lunch, watch a movie before the evening tea, spend some time on the laptop before dinner, continue to spend some time with the laptop or watch television before calling it a day. The fourteen year old in the house is not bored either. He has been spending time doing his homework and watching Anime. Both these activities go hand in hand and I am not sure when he does which. But the homework gets done and so I don't bother him. The morning starts with the Vishnu Sahasranam playing in the background. For most of the remaining part of the day Corona news can be heard in the background.
One morning, I heard the phrase "Oh God!" come out of the kitchen. As is usually the case, these words were followed by a bad news. "We have run out of gas". I smacked my head and said "Damn!" In the kitchen, the making of dosas stopped abruptly. We had no choice but to depend on a single induction stove for the next two or three days. This implied that the items in the menu would reduce considerably and the process of making food using a single stove would cause delays in the getting the food ready. For a start, that morning's dosas transmogrified into idlis. I opened the Bharat gas application on my smartphone and booked a cylinder. I tried calling the gas agency to inform them of our desperate situation and convince them of our urgent need for a new cylinder. But I did not get a response from the agency. It took me an hour to realize that the gas agency would be considered as a non-essential service and so would remain closed during the lockdown. I checked my contacts list and found an entry with the words "gas delivery" written besides it. I called the person and asked him if he delivered gas cylinders in my area. He snorted before informing me that he only delivered cylinders in an upmarket location within the city. I apologized and ended the call. I searched through the different lanes inside my head for an idea to get the new cylinder quickly. But every lane turned out to be a dead end. I gave up!
At 2 pm, as we were getting ready for lunch, my phone rang. I picked it up and said "Hello!" The person on the other end said "Sir, gas delivery. Please come to the ground floor." I did not understand a word of what was said and attempted to clarify with a "What?". The person on the other end repeated what she had said earlier. The message took a moment to register as the chauvinistic part of my mind was busy thinking "Aren't gas cylinders delivered by men?" The non-chauvinistic part of my mind asked the chauvinistic part to shut up and get into action. I responded "Wait a minute for five minutes!". I picked my wallet and the empty cylinder, opened the door and sprinted to the elevator. I pressed the elevator button four times to inform it about my urgency to get to the ground floor. The elevator quickened its pace and reached my floor a few second earlier than it usually takes. I got into the elevator and pressed '0'. I did not press it multiple times, as these buttons are toggle buttons (if I press it once, it selects the floor but the second press would deselect it). I pressed the button to close the elevator door six times. The door closed double quick and the elevator descended to the ground floor at its usual pace. I watched the floor count decreasing as I stood at the centre of the elevator. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, I ensured I maintained the maximum possible distance from the elevator walls by standing at the centre of the elevator. Based on everything I have heard, I understand that COVID-19 is not athletic and as a result did not jump from one location to another. So I believe as long as I stay away from the walls of the elevator, they cannot reach me. The elevator doors opened and I saw a man in a blue uniform standing outside with a beautiful red cylinder besides him. He asked me to wait inside and placed the red cylinder inside the lift. He took out the empty cylinder. As I paid him, I could not help but ask him "how come you delivered the cylinder this quick?" I bit my tongue for asking this stupid question. What if he realizes it was delivered by mistake and he decides to take it back? He responded "we did not have too many deliveries. That is why!" I smiled the best I could and thanked him profusely. As the lift climbed up, I looked skywards and mouthed "Thank you! I believe in you".
As I was writing the above lines, I wondered why we say "Hello!" when we pick up a call. I mean I understand it is a greeting but the way we say the word, it does not sound like a greeting. It seems more like a habit. When I was young I had seen my father respond to phone calls with his name rather than "hello". I liked the idea and decided to do so when I grow up. But as I grew up, I realized that it was not easy to respond to a call with my name. I practiced it standing in front of a mirror but it was of no use. I was and still am unable to respond to a call with my name as the greeting. I think I am too self-conscious. So I continue to say "Hello!", which I think sound ridiculous.
The lockdown enabled us to clean our house regularly and extensively.
Five weeks have passed since the lockdown commenced. Eight hundred and forty hours of time spent at home and our everyday schedule has been regimented. Our activities in the mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights remain nearly the same across the days - Tea and writing before breakfast, cleaning of the house or going out to buy grocery and taking bath prior to lunch, watch a movie before the evening tea, spend some time on the laptop before dinner, continue to spend some time with the laptop or watch television before calling it a day. The fourteen year old in the house is not bored either. He has been spending time doing his homework and watching Anime. Both these activities go hand in hand and I am not sure when he does which. But the homework gets done and so I don't bother him. The morning starts with the Vishnu Sahasranam playing in the background. For most of the remaining part of the day Corona news can be heard in the background.
One morning, I heard the phrase "Oh God!" come out of the kitchen. As is usually the case, these words were followed by a bad news. "We have run out of gas". I smacked my head and said "Damn!" In the kitchen, the making of dosas stopped abruptly. We had no choice but to depend on a single induction stove for the next two or three days. This implied that the items in the menu would reduce considerably and the process of making food using a single stove would cause delays in the getting the food ready. For a start, that morning's dosas transmogrified into idlis. I opened the Bharat gas application on my smartphone and booked a cylinder. I tried calling the gas agency to inform them of our desperate situation and convince them of our urgent need for a new cylinder. But I did not get a response from the agency. It took me an hour to realize that the gas agency would be considered as a non-essential service and so would remain closed during the lockdown. I checked my contacts list and found an entry with the words "gas delivery" written besides it. I called the person and asked him if he delivered gas cylinders in my area. He snorted before informing me that he only delivered cylinders in an upmarket location within the city. I apologized and ended the call. I searched through the different lanes inside my head for an idea to get the new cylinder quickly. But every lane turned out to be a dead end. I gave up!
At 2 pm, as we were getting ready for lunch, my phone rang. I picked it up and said "Hello!" The person on the other end said "Sir, gas delivery. Please come to the ground floor." I did not understand a word of what was said and attempted to clarify with a "What?". The person on the other end repeated what she had said earlier. The message took a moment to register as the chauvinistic part of my mind was busy thinking "Aren't gas cylinders delivered by men?" The non-chauvinistic part of my mind asked the chauvinistic part to shut up and get into action. I responded "Wait a minute for five minutes!". I picked my wallet and the empty cylinder, opened the door and sprinted to the elevator. I pressed the elevator button four times to inform it about my urgency to get to the ground floor. The elevator quickened its pace and reached my floor a few second earlier than it usually takes. I got into the elevator and pressed '0'. I did not press it multiple times, as these buttons are toggle buttons (if I press it once, it selects the floor but the second press would deselect it). I pressed the button to close the elevator door six times. The door closed double quick and the elevator descended to the ground floor at its usual pace. I watched the floor count decreasing as I stood at the centre of the elevator. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, I ensured I maintained the maximum possible distance from the elevator walls by standing at the centre of the elevator. Based on everything I have heard, I understand that COVID-19 is not athletic and as a result did not jump from one location to another. So I believe as long as I stay away from the walls of the elevator, they cannot reach me. The elevator doors opened and I saw a man in a blue uniform standing outside with a beautiful red cylinder besides him. He asked me to wait inside and placed the red cylinder inside the lift. He took out the empty cylinder. As I paid him, I could not help but ask him "how come you delivered the cylinder this quick?" I bit my tongue for asking this stupid question. What if he realizes it was delivered by mistake and he decides to take it back? He responded "we did not have too many deliveries. That is why!" I smiled the best I could and thanked him profusely. As the lift climbed up, I looked skywards and mouthed "Thank you! I believe in you".
As I was writing the above lines, I wondered why we say "Hello!" when we pick up a call. I mean I understand it is a greeting but the way we say the word, it does not sound like a greeting. It seems more like a habit. When I was young I had seen my father respond to phone calls with his name rather than "hello". I liked the idea and decided to do so when I grow up. But as I grew up, I realized that it was not easy to respond to a call with my name. I practiced it standing in front of a mirror but it was of no use. I was and still am unable to respond to a call with my name as the greeting. I think I am too self-conscious. So I continue to say "Hello!", which I think sound ridiculous.
The lockdown enabled us to clean our house regularly and extensively.
- Every square inch of the floor - swept and swabbed regularly.
- Every part of the house - dusted regularly.
- Every vessel used for cooking - cleaned many times a day.
- Every part of the large windows and slide doors - cleaned using pointed instruments to pry out dirt from every nook and corner and wet cloth.
- Bathrooms and toilets - cleaned from floor to the ceiling.
We have consumed many oranges during this lockdown. Prior to start of the lockdown, I bought fifteen Nagpur oranges from an organic shop in the city. These oranges were sweet and yet they had a strong tangy taste. Right after the start of the lockdown I bought ten Nagpur oranges from a nearby super market. These did not taste as good as the organic ones as they were not tangy enough. The supermarket also had the handsome Australian oranges but we preferred the ordinary looking Nagpur oranges. Every Monday and Thursday evening, a vegetable stall is set in our complex. Since the beginning of the lockdown, the exit gate of our complex has remained locked and the entry and exit to the complex takes place through the entry gate. The stall is placed between the exit gate and the main road. The residents stand in a line within boxes drawn one metre apart. The association had created two lines; one for men and other women. The number of women who come to buy vegetables is greater than men and so it is advantageous for men to go and buy the vegetables. Once I got oranges from this stall. They tasted similar to the ones from the supermarket but cost Rs. 25 more. So I did not buy these oranges any more. I bought the oranges from the super market once more but found three rotten ones and so have stopped buying oranges since.
As the extended lockdown trudged along to it end, the cases of COVID-19 continued to increase. At the face of it, the increase does not seem alarming. In Europe and US the number of cases and death were much higher. The Government continued to reiterate that in the absence of the lockdown and the resulting social distancing the number of cases would have been nine or ten times higher. But there were underlying worries one could not ignore. The increase in the numbers in Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh did not raise our confidence in the current measures. In most metros and cities across the country, the numbers continued to increase. In Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune reported the maximum number of cases. The number of cases in Dharavi have increased to 241. In Tamilnadu, the number of cases has increased in a few cities including Chennai. On 24th April, the Tamilnadu Government declared a complete lockdown for four days from 26th to 29th in a few places including Chennai. The announcement informed that everything other than essential services like medical shop, hospitals, water and gas delivery will remain closed. Delivery from restaurants can also be done during these days. This seems to be the Government's desperate attempt to ensure social distancing is maintained during the last days of the lockdown. It has been five and a half weeks since the beginning of the lockdown and the Governments were desperate to end it. I also heard that the Tamilnadu Government was planning to clean the streets by spraying disinfectants during these four days.
On the morning of 25th, the organic shop closest to my house informed that nattu chakarai is available in the shop. I had bought one and a half kilogram of this item prior to the start of the lockdown. But regular consumption of tea, coffee and kanji had depleted this resource quickly. This seemed to be the case for most customers of the organic shop. For a week or so, many of the customers inquired about the availability of nattu chakarai in the shop's WhatsApp group. The response was always the same - "no stock". The message on 25th April, gave a list of all the items available in the shop. In the middle of list, I saw the words "jaggery powder" written. A bulb blinked close to my head. I called the shop and asked "Is jaggery powder the same as nattu chakarai?" The person at the shop answered "Yes". I said "Save two kilograms. I will be there in an hour." He responded "Lot of stock sir. Come whenever you can". An hour later, I got into the car and adjusted the rear view mirror before starting the car. As I did so I saw my face in it. I involuntarily said "Damn!" Half my face was covered by the surgical mask and yet I looked like the Nagpur orange and not like its Australian counterpart.
The road outside my apartment complex was empty. The small shop at the entrance of a farm close to the complex was open. Though the shop sells a few fruits, it is not really a fruit or vegetable shop. It primarily sells some of the farm's produces. It consists of a thatched shed with a large table underneath. Fruits, a cash box and weighing machine were placed on the table. Stems of bananas hung at the front of the shop. Though we pass this shop regularly, we have bought fruits from it only twice. Last year we bought half a jack fruit. It was good but not great. With jack fruit it should be great and not just good. So we never went back to the shop. The lockdown changed the situation. The shop is close by. It has a farm behind it and we felt good buying from a shop with a farm attached to it. Since the start of the lockdown we have bought jack fruits and bananas from the shop regularly. Once I even bought raw papayas. En route to the organic shop, I stopped at this farm front shop. The place was unusually crowded. Being a regular customer, I was provided with instant service. As usual, I bought a kilogram of jackfruits and half a kilogram of Yelakki bananas.
The cops had blocked one side of the road near the junction and the traffic on both directions were forced to use one side of the road. Usually the sparse lockdown traffic allowed free flow of traffic but on this day, cars lined the side of the road and the traffic was slow. The grocery, vegetable and fruit shops by the junction were crowded. People were preparing for the four day complete lockdown by stocking up food. The announcement by the Government has once again resulted in panic buying. I took a left from the junction and drove towards the organic shop. The supermarkets on either sides of the road had twenty to thirty people waiting to get in. On my three visits to the supermarkets, I was either the second or third person in the line. Social distancing was getting compromised by the desperate rush to stock food. I reached the organic shop. The shop is a house with the room in the front acting as a shop. It is off the main road and not many people are aware of its existence. Besides, most of the population consider organic food to be a fad and hence continue to shop in supermarkets. The shop only had another customer. I bought the nattu chakarai and few other items. As I was paying the bill, I asked "do you have milk?" The person at the shop said "it will be here in another hour". I felt annoyed! Had I known it I would have come an hour later. I could not wait for an hour in the shop. I asked the person to inform me through the WhatsApp group as soon as the milk arrives. I got into the car and applied the sanitizer to my hands from the bottle that I kept in the car. The intoxicating smell of the sanitizer filled the car. I smiled underneath the surgical mask and drove towards home.
I continued to see many vehicles and people on the road that morning. When a complete lockdown is announced people are not sure how much food is enough. I have experienced it myself many times during the past five weeks. I turned into the complex and stopped at the gate. Two security personnel walked towards my side of the car. One of them had a notebook and pen in one of his hand and the other had a temperature gun. I smiled at them but realized they did not register my smile as it was hidden underneath my mask. I provided my name and apartment number. The person pointed the gun towards the centre of my head and held it there for five seconds. The focused attention of the gun caused a slight discomfort in my forehead. But before it could turn into a headache, it was taken away. He announced "36.2". I have realized that when the AC inside the car is on, the temperature is closer to 36 otherwise it hovers around 36.5. The security person had informed me previously that a temperature of around 37.5 is considered dangerous. I have remained safe for the past few weeks. I drove into the complex but instead of going straight to my parking place, I took a right and parked the car close to the store. I was not sure if the store will be open for the next four days and decided to indulge in last minute desperate shopping.
The association had laid out the rules for the store too. Only one person shopping inside the store; others waited outside in boxes laid one metre apart. But the person at the store himself did not like this idea. He let two of three people into the store. There was no one waiting outside the store and I only saw a lady customer near the billing table. I walked in and picked a packet of milk. When I looked up from the refrigerator, I saw a tall man standing at the other end of the shop through the shelves. I was confused and stood at the spot holding the refrigerator door open. The shop chettan asked me to let go of the door and to continue shopping. As I walked into the shop, I picked a packet of multigrain bread. Prior to the lockdown, we did not buy bread at all. Since the beginning of the lockdown, I have picked four loaves already; almost averaging at one per week. Bread and the two minute noodles came in handy for a quick fix meal. During the pre-lockdown days, we would have called Swiggy and ordered food. Since the beginning of the lockdown, we have only used Swiggy once. We did not feel safe consuming food from outside and have not ordered from outside since. At the other end of the shop, I saw a packet of rava in one of the shelves. The red coloured packet had Naga double roasted rava and sooji written on it. It seemed like a fancy version of the rava that we buy usually. Since moving into this apartment complex, I have realised the value of a packet of rava in the store's shelves. Many a times, I have walked into the store and found the shelves bereft of such packets. So in my head, a packet of rava lying like a lost child in a mela is similar to finding a nugget of gold. I picked it up instantly and held it close to my heart.
The lady at the counter paid for her purchase using her card. Card payments at the store take long. The reason for the delay as per chettan is "inge connection seri ille". A good three minutes was spent in the lady's billing process. During this time, I picked two packets of broken roasted semiya too. Upmas take birth from rava and semiya. People associate the south of India with ildis and dosas but upma should be added to the list too. While idlis and dosas are liked by almost everyone, upmas are hated by many. It reminds people of jail food though most of the people who hate it have not even seen jail food. Out of habit, I checked my mobile for messages. There was a message from the organic store - the milk had arrived. I cursed under my breath. I thought about my next course of action. I did not want to drive back to the shop. It was only three kilometres away and yet driving back did not seem right. But we needed a few packets of milk. The argument for going back to the shop seemed stronger. I called the shop and asked if the milk had arrived already. I got a yes in response. I asked the person to save four litres of milk for me.
By this time, the lady had left the shop and the tall man was talking to the chettan. He asked for five kilograms of raw rice. Chettan went in search of a new sack of raw rice. He brought it closer to the table and started opening it. All the while, he talked about the uncertainty regarding the complete lockdown days. He was not sure if he will be allowed to open the store. He thought it will be pointless as he will have no source to buy the products from. I thought that the complete lockdown should not affect us as we reside in the neighbouring district to Chennai. But he refuted by saying that the CM had announced that complete lockdown will be in effect in Chennai and its suburbs. The tall man's wife was standing outside the shop and observing the happenings inside. She asked the man to pick a packet of rava. Chettan responded that the store had run out of stock. I was holding the last packet of rava in my hand. She observed this and chided her husband in Telugu "Didn't you know we needed the rava? You came to the shop earlier than him and yet he has the last packet of rava. You should have picked it earlier". He gave the ideal response for this chide; silence. The opening of the bag of rice seemed complicated and chettan was spending a long time on it. I asked to save the materials I had picked and that I will collect them in thirty minutes. He looked at the five items I had in my hand. He got up, sat on his chair and started billing my items. I did not stop him. The husband and wife glared at me. I gave them an apologetic smile but once again it was lost within the mask. I walked out of the store without looking back at them. The packet of rava was searing in my hands.
Soon I was on my way to the organic shop. As I was parking my car at the shop, another car parked besides me. The driver got down in a hurry. I realized he was trying to beat me to the line waiting outside the shop. I quickened my pace and reached the line earlier. There were two persons ahead of me. They were in the process of ordering many items. Since I was there to pick the milk I asked the person at the shop to get me the milk. He got me the milk, I paid for it and left the shop. I did not look at the people standing in the line to find if they were glaring at me. I got into the car and rubbed the sanitizer on my palms for the third time that morning. When I reached the gates of my complex, I requested the security person to let me in without measuring my temperature as I had only done so a few minutes back. He agreed and let me in.
That evening, we received a message from the association that the gates will remain closed during the complete lockdown. We were informed that no one will be let in or out during this period. The notice ended with a request to cooperate with the Government. I have a feeling that association members of the complex were part of Nazi Germany during one of their previous births. Since their coming to power they have tried to control our lives as per their wishes and thoughts. I think I will soon start referring to our complex as a ghetto (I hope I am not being insensitive here). This rule is not a bad one but I still feel it is sent to inform the residents that the members of the association have the right to decide on our movements. The don't have the right. If someone has to go out, they will. Can any of these fellows stop them by locking the gates?
At 8 pm, we realized that we have run out of green chillies. The shops were closed and I was not sure what could be done. Being Indians, we don't believe in the existence of food without chillies and onions. As a matter of fact, I have heard someone mention that one of the vedas (or maybe it was the puranas) mentions that Brahma created an onion plant, a chilly plant and an egg before he created the rest of the Universe. Apparently, Brahma was not clear as to which egg it was but it ultimately turned out to be a hen's egg. I wanted to provide another piece of information about the creation of universe from that veda or purana but that could put my life under threat, if I have not done so already. Getting back to the point; no green chillies meant four days of food that tastes like continental food. It was too late for the shops to be open. But there was a ray of hope still - the vegetable stall by the gate. I felt happy and sad. Happy with the hope of getting the green chillies. Sad to spend an hour waiting in the line to buy green chillies. I picked up a cloth bag and walked out of the house.
The doors of the bigger elevator opened and I found that it was empty. As I walked towards the centre of the elevator, I realized that I was not alone. A baby lizard was standing in attention at one end of the elevator. If the army recruited lizards, this one would have been in one of the defence academies by now. When I reached the centre of the elevator, it perceived my presence. Its head moved almost imperceptibly to its right. Almost immediately, it took off and ran towards the elevator's doors and waited there. I looked at it with a smile under my mask. On reaching the ground floor, the elevator doors opened and the baby lizard sprung towards the open door. It stopped when it noticed the gap between the elevator door and outside world. It looked at the gap for a second before turning around and running back. I waved a "see you later" at the baby lizard and walked away.
As I was walking towards the gate, I realized that the day was not one of the two days when the stall was set in the complex. But I walked towards the gate anyway and was surprised to see the vegetable stall as I approached the gate. The long line of people bothered me a bit but I was happy to see the stall open. I realized that I would have to wait for forty five minutes in the line. The weighing of the items and the searching for the keys on the keyboard during billing took long. I took out my mobile and opened Prime. I went to the downloads tab and was thrilled to see that it contained three movies. I put on my headphones and started watching Brightburn. By the time I reached the stall, I had seen thirty five minutes of the movie. I got the green chillies and went back home. We were all set for the complete lockdown.
I should mention at this point, that I did not see the baby lizard in the elevator on my way back home.
The end of the lockdown is less than a week away and numbers don't look very encouraging. According to the news from 26th April 2020 (first day of the complete lockdown) "The death toll due to COVID-19 continued to rise on Sunday, with the country registering a total of 826 fatalities and 26,917 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry. While the death toll rose by 46, the number of cases spiked by 1,975 since Saturday evening. With 440 new cases reported on Sunday, Maharashtra breaches the 8,000-mark as cumulative tally soars to 8068. As many as 19 deaths were reported across the State to take the total deaths to 342. As many as 293 positive COVID 19 cases reported in Delhi today with eight recoveries and no deaths taking the cumulative number of cases to 2918". The PM met CMs of the states this morning and none requested the lockdown to end. Nine CMs requested extension in lockdown. But the PM is worried about the economy and is not sure how to balance the effects of the pandemic with the economic conditions. So there will be some easing of the measures. But it is clear that normalcy is still many weeks away. People will be allowed outside for functional reasons only and that too just one or two persons.
Corona days continues...
On the morning of 25th, the organic shop closest to my house informed that nattu chakarai is available in the shop. I had bought one and a half kilogram of this item prior to the start of the lockdown. But regular consumption of tea, coffee and kanji had depleted this resource quickly. This seemed to be the case for most customers of the organic shop. For a week or so, many of the customers inquired about the availability of nattu chakarai in the shop's WhatsApp group. The response was always the same - "no stock". The message on 25th April, gave a list of all the items available in the shop. In the middle of list, I saw the words "jaggery powder" written. A bulb blinked close to my head. I called the shop and asked "Is jaggery powder the same as nattu chakarai?" The person at the shop answered "Yes". I said "Save two kilograms. I will be there in an hour." He responded "Lot of stock sir. Come whenever you can". An hour later, I got into the car and adjusted the rear view mirror before starting the car. As I did so I saw my face in it. I involuntarily said "Damn!" Half my face was covered by the surgical mask and yet I looked like the Nagpur orange and not like its Australian counterpart.
The road outside my apartment complex was empty. The small shop at the entrance of a farm close to the complex was open. Though the shop sells a few fruits, it is not really a fruit or vegetable shop. It primarily sells some of the farm's produces. It consists of a thatched shed with a large table underneath. Fruits, a cash box and weighing machine were placed on the table. Stems of bananas hung at the front of the shop. Though we pass this shop regularly, we have bought fruits from it only twice. Last year we bought half a jack fruit. It was good but not great. With jack fruit it should be great and not just good. So we never went back to the shop. The lockdown changed the situation. The shop is close by. It has a farm behind it and we felt good buying from a shop with a farm attached to it. Since the start of the lockdown we have bought jack fruits and bananas from the shop regularly. Once I even bought raw papayas. En route to the organic shop, I stopped at this farm front shop. The place was unusually crowded. Being a regular customer, I was provided with instant service. As usual, I bought a kilogram of jackfruits and half a kilogram of Yelakki bananas.
The cops had blocked one side of the road near the junction and the traffic on both directions were forced to use one side of the road. Usually the sparse lockdown traffic allowed free flow of traffic but on this day, cars lined the side of the road and the traffic was slow. The grocery, vegetable and fruit shops by the junction were crowded. People were preparing for the four day complete lockdown by stocking up food. The announcement by the Government has once again resulted in panic buying. I took a left from the junction and drove towards the organic shop. The supermarkets on either sides of the road had twenty to thirty people waiting to get in. On my three visits to the supermarkets, I was either the second or third person in the line. Social distancing was getting compromised by the desperate rush to stock food. I reached the organic shop. The shop is a house with the room in the front acting as a shop. It is off the main road and not many people are aware of its existence. Besides, most of the population consider organic food to be a fad and hence continue to shop in supermarkets. The shop only had another customer. I bought the nattu chakarai and few other items. As I was paying the bill, I asked "do you have milk?" The person at the shop said "it will be here in another hour". I felt annoyed! Had I known it I would have come an hour later. I could not wait for an hour in the shop. I asked the person to inform me through the WhatsApp group as soon as the milk arrives. I got into the car and applied the sanitizer to my hands from the bottle that I kept in the car. The intoxicating smell of the sanitizer filled the car. I smiled underneath the surgical mask and drove towards home.
I continued to see many vehicles and people on the road that morning. When a complete lockdown is announced people are not sure how much food is enough. I have experienced it myself many times during the past five weeks. I turned into the complex and stopped at the gate. Two security personnel walked towards my side of the car. One of them had a notebook and pen in one of his hand and the other had a temperature gun. I smiled at them but realized they did not register my smile as it was hidden underneath my mask. I provided my name and apartment number. The person pointed the gun towards the centre of my head and held it there for five seconds. The focused attention of the gun caused a slight discomfort in my forehead. But before it could turn into a headache, it was taken away. He announced "36.2". I have realized that when the AC inside the car is on, the temperature is closer to 36 otherwise it hovers around 36.5. The security person had informed me previously that a temperature of around 37.5 is considered dangerous. I have remained safe for the past few weeks. I drove into the complex but instead of going straight to my parking place, I took a right and parked the car close to the store. I was not sure if the store will be open for the next four days and decided to indulge in last minute desperate shopping.
The association had laid out the rules for the store too. Only one person shopping inside the store; others waited outside in boxes laid one metre apart. But the person at the store himself did not like this idea. He let two of three people into the store. There was no one waiting outside the store and I only saw a lady customer near the billing table. I walked in and picked a packet of milk. When I looked up from the refrigerator, I saw a tall man standing at the other end of the shop through the shelves. I was confused and stood at the spot holding the refrigerator door open. The shop chettan asked me to let go of the door and to continue shopping. As I walked into the shop, I picked a packet of multigrain bread. Prior to the lockdown, we did not buy bread at all. Since the beginning of the lockdown, I have picked four loaves already; almost averaging at one per week. Bread and the two minute noodles came in handy for a quick fix meal. During the pre-lockdown days, we would have called Swiggy and ordered food. Since the beginning of the lockdown, we have only used Swiggy once. We did not feel safe consuming food from outside and have not ordered from outside since. At the other end of the shop, I saw a packet of rava in one of the shelves. The red coloured packet had Naga double roasted rava and sooji written on it. It seemed like a fancy version of the rava that we buy usually. Since moving into this apartment complex, I have realised the value of a packet of rava in the store's shelves. Many a times, I have walked into the store and found the shelves bereft of such packets. So in my head, a packet of rava lying like a lost child in a mela is similar to finding a nugget of gold. I picked it up instantly and held it close to my heart.
The lady at the counter paid for her purchase using her card. Card payments at the store take long. The reason for the delay as per chettan is "inge connection seri ille". A good three minutes was spent in the lady's billing process. During this time, I picked two packets of broken roasted semiya too. Upmas take birth from rava and semiya. People associate the south of India with ildis and dosas but upma should be added to the list too. While idlis and dosas are liked by almost everyone, upmas are hated by many. It reminds people of jail food though most of the people who hate it have not even seen jail food. Out of habit, I checked my mobile for messages. There was a message from the organic store - the milk had arrived. I cursed under my breath. I thought about my next course of action. I did not want to drive back to the shop. It was only three kilometres away and yet driving back did not seem right. But we needed a few packets of milk. The argument for going back to the shop seemed stronger. I called the shop and asked if the milk had arrived already. I got a yes in response. I asked the person to save four litres of milk for me.
By this time, the lady had left the shop and the tall man was talking to the chettan. He asked for five kilograms of raw rice. Chettan went in search of a new sack of raw rice. He brought it closer to the table and started opening it. All the while, he talked about the uncertainty regarding the complete lockdown days. He was not sure if he will be allowed to open the store. He thought it will be pointless as he will have no source to buy the products from. I thought that the complete lockdown should not affect us as we reside in the neighbouring district to Chennai. But he refuted by saying that the CM had announced that complete lockdown will be in effect in Chennai and its suburbs. The tall man's wife was standing outside the shop and observing the happenings inside. She asked the man to pick a packet of rava. Chettan responded that the store had run out of stock. I was holding the last packet of rava in my hand. She observed this and chided her husband in Telugu "Didn't you know we needed the rava? You came to the shop earlier than him and yet he has the last packet of rava. You should have picked it earlier". He gave the ideal response for this chide; silence. The opening of the bag of rice seemed complicated and chettan was spending a long time on it. I asked to save the materials I had picked and that I will collect them in thirty minutes. He looked at the five items I had in my hand. He got up, sat on his chair and started billing my items. I did not stop him. The husband and wife glared at me. I gave them an apologetic smile but once again it was lost within the mask. I walked out of the store without looking back at them. The packet of rava was searing in my hands.
Soon I was on my way to the organic shop. As I was parking my car at the shop, another car parked besides me. The driver got down in a hurry. I realized he was trying to beat me to the line waiting outside the shop. I quickened my pace and reached the line earlier. There were two persons ahead of me. They were in the process of ordering many items. Since I was there to pick the milk I asked the person at the shop to get me the milk. He got me the milk, I paid for it and left the shop. I did not look at the people standing in the line to find if they were glaring at me. I got into the car and rubbed the sanitizer on my palms for the third time that morning. When I reached the gates of my complex, I requested the security person to let me in without measuring my temperature as I had only done so a few minutes back. He agreed and let me in.
That evening, we received a message from the association that the gates will remain closed during the complete lockdown. We were informed that no one will be let in or out during this period. The notice ended with a request to cooperate with the Government. I have a feeling that association members of the complex were part of Nazi Germany during one of their previous births. Since their coming to power they have tried to control our lives as per their wishes and thoughts. I think I will soon start referring to our complex as a ghetto (I hope I am not being insensitive here). This rule is not a bad one but I still feel it is sent to inform the residents that the members of the association have the right to decide on our movements. The don't have the right. If someone has to go out, they will. Can any of these fellows stop them by locking the gates?
At 8 pm, we realized that we have run out of green chillies. The shops were closed and I was not sure what could be done. Being Indians, we don't believe in the existence of food without chillies and onions. As a matter of fact, I have heard someone mention that one of the vedas (or maybe it was the puranas) mentions that Brahma created an onion plant, a chilly plant and an egg before he created the rest of the Universe. Apparently, Brahma was not clear as to which egg it was but it ultimately turned out to be a hen's egg. I wanted to provide another piece of information about the creation of universe from that veda or purana but that could put my life under threat, if I have not done so already. Getting back to the point; no green chillies meant four days of food that tastes like continental food. It was too late for the shops to be open. But there was a ray of hope still - the vegetable stall by the gate. I felt happy and sad. Happy with the hope of getting the green chillies. Sad to spend an hour waiting in the line to buy green chillies. I picked up a cloth bag and walked out of the house.
The doors of the bigger elevator opened and I found that it was empty. As I walked towards the centre of the elevator, I realized that I was not alone. A baby lizard was standing in attention at one end of the elevator. If the army recruited lizards, this one would have been in one of the defence academies by now. When I reached the centre of the elevator, it perceived my presence. Its head moved almost imperceptibly to its right. Almost immediately, it took off and ran towards the elevator's doors and waited there. I looked at it with a smile under my mask. On reaching the ground floor, the elevator doors opened and the baby lizard sprung towards the open door. It stopped when it noticed the gap between the elevator door and outside world. It looked at the gap for a second before turning around and running back. I waved a "see you later" at the baby lizard and walked away.
As I was walking towards the gate, I realized that the day was not one of the two days when the stall was set in the complex. But I walked towards the gate anyway and was surprised to see the vegetable stall as I approached the gate. The long line of people bothered me a bit but I was happy to see the stall open. I realized that I would have to wait for forty five minutes in the line. The weighing of the items and the searching for the keys on the keyboard during billing took long. I took out my mobile and opened Prime. I went to the downloads tab and was thrilled to see that it contained three movies. I put on my headphones and started watching Brightburn. By the time I reached the stall, I had seen thirty five minutes of the movie. I got the green chillies and went back home. We were all set for the complete lockdown.
I should mention at this point, that I did not see the baby lizard in the elevator on my way back home.
The end of the lockdown is less than a week away and numbers don't look very encouraging. According to the news from 26th April 2020 (first day of the complete lockdown) "The death toll due to COVID-19 continued to rise on Sunday, with the country registering a total of 826 fatalities and 26,917 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry. While the death toll rose by 46, the number of cases spiked by 1,975 since Saturday evening. With 440 new cases reported on Sunday, Maharashtra breaches the 8,000-mark as cumulative tally soars to 8068. As many as 19 deaths were reported across the State to take the total deaths to 342. As many as 293 positive COVID 19 cases reported in Delhi today with eight recoveries and no deaths taking the cumulative number of cases to 2918". The PM met CMs of the states this morning and none requested the lockdown to end. Nine CMs requested extension in lockdown. But the PM is worried about the economy and is not sure how to balance the effects of the pandemic with the economic conditions. So there will be some easing of the measures. But it is clear that normalcy is still many weeks away. People will be allowed outside for functional reasons only and that too just one or two persons.
Corona days continues...
