Corona- the ring nobody wanted (part -I)

Corona- the ring nobody wanted

(Part I)

So, hello and good evening my dear readers. I hope all of you are safe and doing well. So, today, I will be talking about something that I’ve been thinking about for the past few months, something which I’m sure all of you, or most of you will relate with. 

Now, before I begin, I would like all of you to just take a moment and think about March, and most specifically, about life before the 21st of March, 2020, 11:59:59 am. Some of us had been actively traveling around the country (or world), some of us had been visiting old friends or making new ones, some of us had been making our foray into the professional world, and some of us, well, you get the drift. So basically, all of us had been going about our lives, with not even the faintest inkling about what to follow shortly, redefining and reshaping our lives in a way we had probably seen only in science fiction or some other relatively more, tangible examples.

It was the same for me as well, one day I had been catching up with an old friend of mine, and from the next day onwards, the entire nation hunkered down (apparently) for 3 and a half weeks, till the 15th of April. 

Ah, at first, I was elated because, for me, it had been but a temporary reprieve from the hustle and bustle of life, though it is not that I didn’t enjoy it. 

So, what had caused this rather momentous change? Well, its name was the novel Corona-virus 2019 or nCoV-19, as dubbed by medical authorities; it had achieved the impossible - it had brought the entire world to a standstill, lending the roads a desolate look, and all the public spaces ominously silent, much like the situation during the political ‘bandhs’ of the 1980s and 1990s in West Bengal.

This period of complete abstinence from normal or daily life brought about some unexpected changes, such as the re-emergence of peacocks in a certain ultra-modern suburb of Mumbai, the re-emergence of dolphins on the coast of the United States of America, and so on, which led to jokes and memes on social media about the re-emergence of dinosaurs and the miraculous resurrection of famous leaders and so on, a period of light jollity for a pandemic-hit world. 

 And so life continued in this manner till June, a life which saw many people hone their latent talents such as cooking, art (painting, sketching, DIY craftwork, etc), dancing, and so on; it also saw men invest more time in their households such as helping their wives, mothers and so on giving birth to many at home Sanjeev Kapoors, Vikas Khannas, and Gordon Ramseys.

This period also saw many heart-warming incidents such as Italian people singing to each other by coming out onto their balconies, and so on. 

Now, in June, or on the 04th of June, if my memory serves me correctly, the Government of India announced ‘Unlock 1.0’, meaning that it decided to gradually ease certain restrictions which had been in place since the 22nd of March, 2020, and open up businesses which weren’t essential, (such as shops selling more than just the bare essentials required for survival) along with some offices, to boost the fledgling economy and to help at least some people regain their old jobs or start new ones.

And so, normal life began to very gradually resume from this moment onwards.  The spread of the nCoV-19 had been very effectively contained till this particular moment, owing to the severe restrictions placed by the Government, but the game would change now, though for no fault of the Government as the country’s economy needed a boost, and livelihoods reinstated. 

(to be continued in Part II)