The Great wall of ‘Corona’ 

 

      Hello there, hope you all are doing well. I am writing something after so long. As confined between great walls of  ‘home’ did not let me experience travel or any thing new, but lately I realised that being in our comfortable abodes for so long we all have gone through various mental stages and behavioural patterns and have adapted well with the corona situation.  With the 5^th month of lock down going on , stepwise unlock process begun  , we also have drawn a  picture at  the backdrops of  our minds about ‘The Alternative way of being’ and many ‘What ifs’.

         Here is my tryst with  ‘Lockdown stages ‘ of almost 4 months of staying behind the walls.

       - The dilemma  – Is ‘Corona’ for real?

      It was an usual day, a bright  sunny morning , I dropped my daughter to her school and grabbed my cab for office at around 12:30 pm. The usual politics discussions among colleagues, classes and tea breaks in between, nothing special it was a routine day , but now when I look back it was a special day as it was the last day before the lockdown when our little worlds weren’t ‘CORONA’ driven.

      I was mentally preparing list of stuff I need to pack for upcoming trip to Udaipur. Two days before the scheduled trip the news about a couple in Rajasthan found to be corona positive started doing rounds, a little apprehensive , I decided to go on this trip. With all the news floating around about ‘corona’ everything appeared corona infected to me. On our way to Udaipur we had to take night halt in a beautiful hotel in Ajmer, lush green with well laid tents , all seems to be so good but  now jinxed with that little spine headed virus.   I asked receptionist several times ‘hope no Italians in your hotel’ ?As I entered  the tent, I heard  somebody humming an Arabic song from the adjacent tent , but  my corona smitten half started arguing with the carefree half-   ‘What if an Italian singing an Arabic song!!, or Arabic from Italy or Arab travelled alongside an Italian . I rushed to the receptionist who this time little annoyed answered sternly  that “Madam , the person staying nearby your tent is from Israel not Italy”.

      We decided to visit selected places in Udaipur preferably with less crowd.  Many of the Holi celebration programs were already cancelled.  We were left with morning walks along  Fateh  sagar lake. On the way back home I kept checking social media handles  or news update there was worldometer counting the corona infected people  or  recovering from it, locked down people singing songs on their balconies . Lost in this huge pile of information I did realised later that this was my last trip in ‘ corona free world’ .

 

Back Home -   Offices were on, people however shifted their discussions from politics to corona.  The fact that it will be a complete lockdown was quite unanticipated then.

 

 

Lockdown Stage 1-  ‘Slow down  and reflect phase’

The dilemma persists- 

22 March 2020 , we clapped at 5pm on our balconies to thank health workers, that was the first day of lockdown. Checking worldometer became daily routine .  You tube flooded with doctors talking about various aspects of Corona infection, people talking about home remedies and how Indians are less susceptible to disease due to inbuilt immunity and eating habits, Indian subcontinent inhospitable for corona virus survival.  Letters written by people from other countries describing the severity of the situation in their country doing rounds on social media handles.

     ‘ Stay home and stay safe’ became the new mantra along with ‘lets acquire sanitisers first’. Sanitisers became the luxurious necessity overnight. Nearby medical stores doubled tripled the price from mrp , I also ordered a bottle of sanitiser for 900 rupee  and masks for everyone. As the lockdown extended for 15 more days and then more and so the fact that ‘Corona is for real’.

      

            Self  reflection by human race  -  World went  in meditation mode .

The articles popping up now and then said – “Enough is enough” lets stop , give a thought ,   human race has done enough damage and so  deserves to be behind the bars or lets say concrete walls, and corona is the tool.

Rivers cleaning up, air pollution index gone down , frequent rainfalls, deers coming back to empty roads in Coimbatore, migratory birds coming back to their seasonal abodes, people getting time at home to be with their families , so do I after so many years , it was so good to be home.  This phase of lock down turned out to be rejuvenating , with reading books , painting ,  corners of house which I never realised exist and are to be cleaned.  After a long time I was free from morning hustle bustle,  clocks became mere tick tocks on the wall.

   

   Lock down phase 2 – ‘Enough self reflection , get back to work ‘.

Humans have an agile mind , they have this unique  ability to normalise the abnormal situations. This phase came with online flood.  Schools came online with their Microsoft Teams, Google meet meetings, Zoom. These became the household terms at once. Companies devicing new strategies for the new CORONA scenario , people doing more work as usual to sustain their jobs.

 

As the number of corona cases increased the lockdown as well , but fear has its own life span , it gets diffused with time however the grave the danger is, survival becomes the primary necessity. Eventually, the society as a whole reaches to a New Normalisation.

 

The new Normalisation –

The new normalisation can be mirrored by the market full of products  customised with Corona scenario. Some of the special ones I came across were – special see through masks for deaf and dumb people, bridal get ups with matching silk embroidered masks, and recent one where you can order a customised mask with graphics of your lower face ,  both product and service companies complied with new corona driven  psychology people.They display their sterilisations measures in their advertisement for instance people started to avoid buying bread. So Bread making companies came up with  several steps of sterilisations in their packaging process which can be seen in their advertisements. International universities opening up many online courses.  The demand and supply dynamics of the market changed its course with respect to number of corona cases .  Be it special packages and top ups in medical insurance policies or education or edibles or stocks or fashion.

 

      In this span of almost six months consciously or subconsciously we all have drawn a mental picture of  a ‘Post Corona World'. We can have varied opinions, some of us think that corona vaccine in market will rewind the world to pre-corona  while there are others who think post corona world cannot be free from a permanent  mental scar as a warning sign that must the human kind take care and can’t go on rambling nature whenever and wherever they want , otherwise calamaties effect all irrespective of status, just a human body is enough, which we all have in common.  So instead of Homo sapiens rather Humble homo sapiens who do not take nature for a free ride would make this world a better place to live for our generations ahead .

 

 

 

        

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                   The Wedding  Divide

                February is usually the season of weddings. One can see the preparation in full swing- Pre booked banquet houses prepping for upcoming ceremonies, catering services inviting customers for recipe trials , bands and shehnai walas rehearsing for their forthcoming performances, family pandits packing their bags for pooja ceremonies, beauty saloons crowded with men and women of different age groups with the purpose of looking their best on their or others’ ‘big day’. We also had few wedding invitations of family and friends lined up for this season. There were two weddings on consecutive days one in South Delhi, and other one in a village located at outskirts of Faridabad

.

                         For wedding in South Delhi, the venue was a five star hotel located in a plush area. Market place brimming with luxury cars, roads lit with aesthetically twined light cords, the aroma of cologne spread all over.  Inside it was a huge airconditioned hall decorated with dandalions, roses and pearl strings all over. Women in beautiful silk and chiffon sarees, dolled up with makeup, diamonds dripping from them, men dressed in their black berries and Van Hessen flaunting their latest models of I phones.

               I sat in the second row to watch the ongoing ceremonies. Mother of the groom was busy in pooja, some gifts were given from bride’s side. My balloon of enthusiasm was pricked when I saw the photographer taking photo of the cash and gold as soon as it landed in the lap of groom’s mother. Although the giving and taking dowry is a dead debate, people have already turned cold shoulder towards it and normalized the system. It’s a pride to get a good deal and boys family was elated with their latest acquired bargaining chip.  As majority of guests get engrossed in chatting. I sat next to two elderly ladies dressed in beautiful silk sarees, from their conversation I got to know that the girl is very beautiful and well qualified professional as compared to boy. The boys family spent 3 to 4 lakhs more to blow the dust of propaganda in order to bag the money for car and furniture from girls parents. After greeting and congratulating the couple. I met bride’s parents the expression of relief rather than joy was more pronounced on their faces.

                          There was another wedding to attend next day. We reached the venue little early. It was a decent tent house with chandeliers hanging, coolers installed all over. At the back of the tent, halwais were busy making pakodas and other snacks for guests, women dressed in beautiful sarees with modest jewelry, children playing all around. As I knew that the financial status of this family was not that they can afford this much also. I greeted the couple and sat on one of the chairs near stage area. After sometime bride’s sister came to invite us for dinner, on the way to dining hall, I asked her who has done all the arrangements?  Village people are simple, they often reveal more than what is asked contrary to stone faced city people. She cheerfully said , didi we halved the expenses so that we can arrange a good party for guests of both the sides. After dinner we headed for dance on the dj floor and merrily danced with the parents and relatives of both the sides.

                  While coming back I inadvertently found myself comparing the two wedding functions. I kept wondering whether our actions are the outcome of circumstances or can we come forward voluntarily shedding our prejudices.

                     

                          

         

    The Trek

                “ He who climbs the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies,

      real or imaginary "

       -Friedrich Neitszche.

Life and times have changed in truly revolutionary ways. Yet we seldom feel it, as we are also its integral part. Life has become so busy in metropolitan cities that we hardly have time to pause and think, least forget reflecting. It is like as if someone has pressed fast forward button and forgot to press it back and before we realise, there is a big  ‘THE END’ flashing on the television screen of life.

                   Not very long ago I developed immense love for travelling. Often my trips comprise of road trips to mountains(particularly Himalayas) which works as an escape route for me from city madness to wilderness. This time I chose rather little more adventurous escape route – trekking. Being a plane dweller , I was skeptical about my physical abilities for this climb and also a tiny part of me was also apprehensive of the unknown .After much search and contemplation I booked my trip with an agency operating in the field of Himalayan adventures. It was trek to NagTibba located 60 km from Mussoorie.

            We started our trek from a small village called Panthwari on bright Sunday morning. Our team had people from different parts of country. It was a group as some of them were highly motivated, some skeptical, others seasonal trekkers narrating stories of their previous treks. Over all it was a lively group of individuals of different age groups. The essence of this team was a common goal – The climb. The expert guides with us provided seamless experience of trek, they gave enough space to each one of us to climb at our own pace. Although from different walks of life, the essence of interaction lies in otherwise mundane ways like motivating each other, laughing and perching on rocks in between, appreciating the vastness of beauty around while climbing. These complicate our feelings of hate or prejudice, so much that it will make those feelings vanquish entirely. It allows us to be open, to trust, to breakdown cultural, religious, professional barriers and turn a once stranger into just another human being.

The beautiful sunset rays

                   It was 7km trek to base camp. I had been struggling to catch my breath all the way uphill but it was a lively feeling with sun warming my back and mountain cold wind caressing my face. After approximately 5hours, we reached base camp. It was almost sunset time. By the time we settled in our respective tents, it became dark outside. The vibrant colours of sunset were engulfed by stark darkness all around. I felt profound silence as the fellow trekkers snuggled up in their tents. As the night advanced distant sounds began to fade away. The sky above came alive , glittering vivaciously studded with dense stars accessorizing the panorama of shadows of trees on mountain peaks. I was totally enthralled by the profundity of the vision that lay before me, it trumped everything else I experienced before. I just looked and looked and looked at the spectacular 

glitterati spread above me. (After failed attempts of trying to capture it by camera, I decided to paint it when back home).

           My all senses came to a halt for an hour to capture the beauty in my mind’s eye. I was taken over by intense calmness and began to understand what being in present (mindfulness) actually mean. I spotted another group, trekkers with their headlights on making their way to camp. Their enthusiastic voices added to the background score as backing vocalists under the starry night.

The white around.

               Next morning, we headed to Nag-Tibba summit. The path now, was not very bumpy and steep, it was a circular trek through the forest area and the wind pelted snow chunks on us from the tree canopies. After walking for about an hour we found ourselves amidst the shimmering snow spread all over, lit by golden tint of sun. Trudging and catching up with the team, I finally spotted Shiva temple. Reaching at its door step, I could only thank Lord Shiva for bestowing me with the strength to climb.

The shiva temple covered with snow.

                               Each time when I come back home from these trips, not to mention this time from climb, there is always a new me, emerging out from an old moult. The moult which I left behind somewhere in the jungles of these magnificent Himalayas.