Seeing through the windows.....

April

There were a day or two, when Mumbai (a densely populated city) was shut down completely. The only reason being riots, bomb blast, floods, as I remember. And now it is shut for weeks.

The exams are postponed, the results are postponed, in fact the state board has deferred its one paper. Police personnel are inquiring each passing vehicle (nakabandi type).and bus conductors are very strictly allowing only essential service workers. All are working sincerely. 

The roads are deserted. In fact once I saw through the bus window, baboons (believe me, I saw them ) in the main road roaming like they are in their natural habitat. The withered flowers from gulmohar trees were covering the streets like blanket. The beautiful spring was ending.

The initial lock down (Lock down 1.0) was trying to teach grumpier me, patience, by increasing my tolerance for travelling issues. This was the time, I realized only if I had learnt to drive car comfortably and fearlessly on roads, soo much of energy and time would have been saved. Also, this situation gave me an opportunity, I started seeing life through the windows.

Covid patients were given admission in my hospital. I started witnessing the social stigma it imposes on their and their relatives life. Our blood bank department is situated above the mortuary. Day by day the number of patients started to increase.

At the end of of lock down 1.0, there were changes. But the case were increasing in number day by day. Lock down 2.0 got imposed. There were patients who recovered and got discharged . And there were few who didn’t and died .

Standing near the west side window , I could see through, the staff handing over dead bodies wrapped in plastic (abiding the rules and protocol) to relatives and hear the wailing next to kin’s voices.

All I saw was Uncertainty at that time.

“Uncertainty of life,

Uncertainty of tommorow,

Uncertainty of promises,

Uncertainty of death.”

A fortnight ago maybe that dead body (today), was, someone’s loving husband ,some little one’s superhero dad, someone’s caring son, some family’s only breadwinner.

To me, till this disease infected rich abroad travellers, it was bad, but when it started hitting poor people claiming their peace and life, it became worst enemy of mankind. Imagine the plight of people who live in one small room with many others and share same toilet seats with many, how can they maintain social distancing, how can they follow all the instructions. Doesn’t life prove it all again, “Life is certainly a struggle for many, but its literally unfair to few.”

And there came a time I had to self quarantine myself, as my colleague tested positive for covid-19. I self-isolated myself in a room for a period of 14 days and tested negative. It wasn’t easy time, but certainly I faced the bitter uncertainties of life. 

My April ended here.

MAY

To be continued in next post.