The lockdown was announced on Tuesday night, to start from 12.00 am. Given that I am used to being home for many days at a stretch, with more than enough to do, I did not foresee a problem, especially as I knew that all my family members and friends were safely in their homes, as comfortable as they could be.
The news has been terrible - not so much the spread of the virus - as the way this lockdown has affected so many people including migrant workers and daily labourers, and the inhuman treatment of people by the police. I thought I would maintain a daily record of my activities (mundane as it may be) and thoughts (hopefully less mundane) over the next 21 days so here goes.
Day 1 - 25th March
Today is Ugadi/Yugadhi/Gudi Padwa - the start of the New Year in Karnataka, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Interesting that this lockdown will be over on 14th April when Punjab, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be celebrating Vishu/Baisakhi/Poila Baishak - their New Year.
While the world seems to be commending the quick clampdown by the Indian Government and predicting the effectiveness of the lockdown in controlling the spread of the COVID virus, news has started coming in of people all over the country struggling to get back to their homes. With public transport suddenly coming to a stand-still, thousands are on the road walking to their homes hundreds of kilometres away. Police brutality is again rearing its ugly head. The days ahead are going to bring out the worst and the best in human beings.
A lot of discussion in all the groups is about what social distancing and isolation should typically involve. A video chat with some of the family has kept my spirits up. Interestingly, the TV has stayed switched off for most of the day.
My day - worked on fixing the iMac with an upgraded OS (that finally didn't work), learnt Thirukkural couplets 31 - 60 from my mother (there are 1330 to go through!), progressed further on 1 crocheted prosthesis
Day 2 - 26th March
The broadband connection has been really slow and all of us at home are having problems going online, and are really cribbing about it. Watching the news over Twitter of increased police brutality, the desperation of people on the roads and the very real concerns of many people has realigned our priorities and the cribbing has stopped. All of us are reading a lot more than before. I wish there was some way we could be of use in this awful situation. I checked with doctors about making cloth masks but most of them feel they would not be of any use as protection from the virus. However they could be used by people who have a cough or a cold. I've decided to wait for an actual need before getting busy making masks. Total respect for our frontline medical workers!
Within the community, as expected, people are being as generous as possible, offering support for anyone needing it. The suppliers are managing to provide vegetables, dairy products and grocery, at least for the present. Hopefully the trend will continue for the days to come.
My day - Restored the data on the above mentioned iMac, started a light Ginger Gold mystery, started a knitted sweater for Kiara, made Mysore Pak, fixed some glitches in our internet connection, learnt Thirukkural couplets 61 - 80, read too much on Twitter and retweeted a lot of it, made udud dal baris, went out, by car, to the store 4 mins away to collect some provisions.
Day 3 - 27th March
Woke up today to awful videos of police beating up innocent people - one apparently died of his wounds! -, making people hop as punishment for being on the streets, recklessly damaging vegetables from a vendor's cart... the list goes on. One IPS officer actually tweeted about how they were preparing, with an accompanying picture of a few lathis on his table! Thankfully he took it off later, but if this is the mentality that is all pervading, then all i want to do is curl up and go back to sleep... for ever maybe. There was an article about someone asking if this was a good safe time for babies to be conceived and all I could think of was why would someone want to bring one more baby into this horrible world.
The trick to keeping sane - have a quick video chat with family, exchange notes on whether others are well and safe and then sit down with a frothy book like another Ginger Gold mystery where the choice of correct hat to go with a suit is a major dilemma.
My day - Ginger Gold over, now Manu Pillai's The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin, more work on Kaira's sweater, completing Kanishk's laptop quilted cover and watching Parasite with family over Amazon Prime in the evening.
The news has been terrible - not so much the spread of the virus - as the way this lockdown has affected so many people including migrant workers and daily labourers, and the inhuman treatment of people by the police. I thought I would maintain a daily record of my activities (mundane as it may be) and thoughts (hopefully less mundane) over the next 21 days so here goes.
Day 1 - 25th March
Today is Ugadi/Yugadhi/Gudi Padwa - the start of the New Year in Karnataka, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Interesting that this lockdown will be over on 14th April when Punjab, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be celebrating Vishu/Baisakhi/Poila Baishak - their New Year.
While the world seems to be commending the quick clampdown by the Indian Government and predicting the effectiveness of the lockdown in controlling the spread of the COVID virus, news has started coming in of people all over the country struggling to get back to their homes. With public transport suddenly coming to a stand-still, thousands are on the road walking to their homes hundreds of kilometres away. Police brutality is again rearing its ugly head. The days ahead are going to bring out the worst and the best in human beings.
A lot of discussion in all the groups is about what social distancing and isolation should typically involve. A video chat with some of the family has kept my spirits up. Interestingly, the TV has stayed switched off for most of the day.
My day - worked on fixing the iMac with an upgraded OS (that finally didn't work), learnt Thirukkural couplets 31 - 60 from my mother (there are 1330 to go through!), progressed further on 1 crocheted prosthesis
Day 2 - 26th March
The broadband connection has been really slow and all of us at home are having problems going online, and are really cribbing about it. Watching the news over Twitter of increased police brutality, the desperation of people on the roads and the very real concerns of many people has realigned our priorities and the cribbing has stopped. All of us are reading a lot more than before. I wish there was some way we could be of use in this awful situation. I checked with doctors about making cloth masks but most of them feel they would not be of any use as protection from the virus. However they could be used by people who have a cough or a cold. I've decided to wait for an actual need before getting busy making masks. Total respect for our frontline medical workers!
Within the community, as expected, people are being as generous as possible, offering support for anyone needing it. The suppliers are managing to provide vegetables, dairy products and grocery, at least for the present. Hopefully the trend will continue for the days to come.
My day - Restored the data on the above mentioned iMac, started a light Ginger Gold mystery, started a knitted sweater for Kiara, made Mysore Pak, fixed some glitches in our internet connection, learnt Thirukkural couplets 61 - 80, read too much on Twitter and retweeted a lot of it, made udud dal baris, went out, by car, to the store 4 mins away to collect some provisions.
Day 3 - 27th March
Woke up today to awful videos of police beating up innocent people - one apparently died of his wounds! -, making people hop as punishment for being on the streets, recklessly damaging vegetables from a vendor's cart... the list goes on. One IPS officer actually tweeted about how they were preparing, with an accompanying picture of a few lathis on his table! Thankfully he took it off later, but if this is the mentality that is all pervading, then all i want to do is curl up and go back to sleep... for ever maybe. There was an article about someone asking if this was a good safe time for babies to be conceived and all I could think of was why would someone want to bring one more baby into this horrible world.
The trick to keeping sane - have a quick video chat with family, exchange notes on whether others are well and safe and then sit down with a frothy book like another Ginger Gold mystery where the choice of correct hat to go with a suit is a major dilemma.
My day - Ginger Gold over, now Manu Pillai's The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin, more work on Kaira's sweater, completing Kanishk's laptop quilted cover and watching Parasite with family over Amazon Prime in the evening.
