Curse Of Corona – Part IV

Curse Of Corona Part I can be read here

Curse Of Corona Part II can be read here

Curse Of Corona Part III can be read here

What I missed the most were the shops that closed down all of a sudden, not during the Pandemic but thereafter. One was Kaleva. A short ride from home. Its a well known brand and sell very good sweets and fast food. In India, all fast foods are not junk foods and consist of items which are also made at home for breakfast, tea time as well as celebratory occasions. Many evenings, while returning home from office, I would make a detour to buy some sweets for puja or for after dinner desert. On festival season, the shop would teem with buyers. On weekends, families would get together to have evening snacks. Sometimes, the shop ( a big one) had no place to sit and chattering punctuated with rolls of laughter would fill up the sitting area. The counter boys greeted us happily being regular visitors. The quality of sweets was good and rates were reasonable. But the shop could not sustain the long closure and consequential losses during pandemic. The quality deteriorated. And one fine day the space was sold off and in its place a big Wine And Beer sprouted. Now, a long queue is seen snaking towards its counter. Men carry arm load of bottles. Its no more a family place now. Only a revenue grosser for the Government.

Gradually, the cityscape is changing – for good or for worse. One such change is the mushrooming of Liquor Malls in affluent localities. These are different from the usual desi thekas or the ordinary over the counter shops. They are glitzy, upmarket departmental stores fashionably stacked with variety of alcoholic beverages a source of joy for regular drinkers. Since I am not one I fail to appreciate their presence.

The other shop that shut business was Nalli in South Extension. I do not know whether their Connaught Place Branch is still open. It was a huge building wherein every floor was demarcated for a particular item – casual wear sarees, wedding sarees, running fabrics, dress materials so on and so forth. It was customary to visit Nalli before the Durga Pujas and other occasions. Where could one find such gorgeous collection of sarees and ethnic fabrics for dresses? During Deepavali (the festival of lights) Nalli would lit up along with all other buildings of the market. We took pride in saying that the saree or salwar kameez that we wore was from Nalli. The materials were a class apart. The designs were exclusive. Even the fragrance of incense and flowers inside the shop was so pleasant! I always used to take a deep breath after entering the premise to soak in the feel of the surrounding. The South Indian counter boys talking to each other in their own language and answering our queries in heavily accented Hindi were all part of an era which sadly would never return.

My concern is more towards the Health Industry. When in 2021 my mother was admitted in the ICU of a well known Hospital (having branches all over the National Capital Region), I was greatly perturbed to see how understaffed it was. The nurses had to perform the duty of attendants, ayahs and care givers. They had long hours of duty and larger number of patients to take care of. This time when my sister was admitted to another such well known hospital (she has been discharged yesterday) we were plagued by the same situation. As I have mentioned in my earlier blogs, the lack of manpower is attributable to the mass exodus during the first spell of COVID. Those left never came back again. However, things are normalizing which raises hopes for a brighter future.

COVID has brought in changes in work culture, business activities and ways of socializing. People rely more on online interactions. During pandemic communal ostracization was more killing than the disease itself. People suffered from loneliness, isolation and depression. I suffered an ugly bout of depression when my mother contacted Corona. Fighting an invisible enemy all alone was frightening.

When my next door neighbour (we share a common wall) contacted the disease, one another neighbour specifically came to warn me. Funny, this other neighbour had not talked straight to me ever before COVID. We were practically daggers drawn with each other. However, fear became a common concern. I saw it in his eyes!!

Terrible was for those who lost their near and dear ones during pandemic. Grief cumulated as they performed the last rites all by themselves. Nobody attended the funerals to give them moral and emotional support. Sometimes we did not even come to know of our neighbours passing away. Those few who visited the crematoriums did with fearful hearts. Most of the times we were asked not to. Even the bereaved did not expect friends and relatives to join them in their mourning. Unfortunately, this trend continues.

More than physiological complications COVID has succeeded in accelerating the process of alienation in society. Whether it is Work From Home, restrained outings, joblessness, psychosomatic fall outs, what we are now going through is a process of cooping up in our own cocoons. That cocoon is no more our comfort zone as frictions within are rifting relations apart. The rising graph of domestic violence all over the world is a burning example. While workable alternatives to every issue is being sought by the Administration , Care and Community Groups, changes for the better seem perceptibly slow.

Perhaps we, as individuals, have to realize and become conscious of the fact that we are converting into self-centered islands which is detrimental to our inner peace, health and happiness. Only then can we battle against the ”death eater” traps of Corona.

Corona will stay with us but we do not have to embrace a self-lock-up lifestyle to combat its ill effects. We have to be brave hearts to accept its presence amidst us and defeat its demonic attacks persistently not only to sustain civilization but also to preserve our true being as a gregarious species which bonds, survives and grows together.

All pics from Google