Day 21
When I first heard of the three-week lockdown it kind of shook me, in the sense that I did not know what to expect. We had never seen anything like this before, so I didn't know what to expect. Will there be enough food, will we be able to move around, is it ok to have the maid work, milk, newspaper. And then slowly one by one they fell off - the maid stopped at the end of the month because her family told her to stop, the newspaperman stopped by himself due to some distribution problems, the milk guy is working without a hitch and after some initial glitches, our grocer and supermarket are well stocked. After the initial uncertainty, now I have fallen into a routine which I would like to further finetune.
Also, the initial attempt at being altruistic and call everyone now withered and I am not making any calls, nor even checking the phone. Reading is on, movies have reduced, I started to exercise today. Me and myself is the focus.
Today, PM Modi came on air at 10 am and said that India was doing much better than other countries and that all our decisions like lockdown etc were correct decisions and we were doing well. He said we should stay home, and that policing will be strict in the coming two weeks so we can effectively contain the spread. At the same time, I saw a picture today of a huge crowd at Bandra station of people from Bihar trying to go back home - thousands. How are those poor people not on anyone's radar? I also read of a 24-year-old boy from Bihar who came to work to Hyderabad, who committed suicide, probably unable to cope with his loneliness. All his mates had left and he was alone. Another news item - a good one - of a landlord in Balanagar - who waived rent of 3.25 lakh from the three buildings he owns. They are all migrant labour who live in single rooms. He said he knows what hunger is, and he is ready to waive it off for another month too.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/migrant-workers-gather-at-mumbais-bandra-bus-stand-demand-arrangement-of-transport-to-return-home-2577497.html
Today, our dhobi Ramu's grandson and his mother came over to ask if they could pluck some 20 mangoes for their pickle making. I aid it was ok, the tree is full of mangoes, hundreds of them. My neighbours from the three houses that surround me have all got sticks which they use to pluck mangoes from our tree - from their balconies. So possessive of our mangoes are they that they feel we are probably stealing their share when we pluck mangoes from our own tree! So when Rajesh and his sister were plucking mangoes the man who lives behind apparently told them not to pluck from his side - those were his! Anyway, the kids got us some fifty mangoes as well which I put out to ripen.
This historic tree was planted in 1975 or thereabouts, a seed given by a neighbour of my oldest sister. Surprisingly that man met my brother in law recently by chance and actually asked how the tree was doing! After 45 years! It's doing great and feeding my neighbourhood. Also Manga and company have said they would make some picked for us too. Wow. Plucking mangoes, making pickle, what else can we ask for.
The day began well enough with the routine of the journal, chores and then some pending work from yesterday's online class. Before I knew it, lunch was upon me, followed by some more work and its time for the evening meditation. Some reading, a bit of exercise and I am all set for dinner. Whoa! That's pretty fast for time to pass.
Sanjay decided to make a group call and joined Vardha and we had a small hello.
End of day. To find a good movie to watch.
All set for another 20 days of lockdown.
When I first heard of the three-week lockdown it kind of shook me, in the sense that I did not know what to expect. We had never seen anything like this before, so I didn't know what to expect. Will there be enough food, will we be able to move around, is it ok to have the maid work, milk, newspaper. And then slowly one by one they fell off - the maid stopped at the end of the month because her family told her to stop, the newspaperman stopped by himself due to some distribution problems, the milk guy is working without a hitch and after some initial glitches, our grocer and supermarket are well stocked. After the initial uncertainty, now I have fallen into a routine which I would like to further finetune.
 |
| Mt Fuji - Anon (maybe Gauri) |
Also, the initial attempt at being altruistic and call everyone now withered and I am not making any calls, nor even checking the phone. Reading is on, movies have reduced, I started to exercise today. Me and myself is the focus.
Today, PM Modi came on air at 10 am and said that India was doing much better than other countries and that all our decisions like lockdown etc were correct decisions and we were doing well. He said we should stay home, and that policing will be strict in the coming two weeks so we can effectively contain the spread. At the same time, I saw a picture today of a huge crowd at Bandra station of people from Bihar trying to go back home - thousands. How are those poor people not on anyone's radar? I also read of a 24-year-old boy from Bihar who came to work to Hyderabad, who committed suicide, probably unable to cope with his loneliness. All his mates had left and he was alone. Another news item - a good one - of a landlord in Balanagar - who waived rent of 3.25 lakh from the three buildings he owns. They are all migrant labour who live in single rooms. He said he knows what hunger is, and he is ready to waive it off for another month too.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/migrant-workers-gather-at-mumbais-bandra-bus-stand-demand-arrangement-of-transport-to-return-home-2577497.html
Today, our dhobi Ramu's grandson and his mother came over to ask if they could pluck some 20 mangoes for their pickle making. I aid it was ok, the tree is full of mangoes, hundreds of them. My neighbours from the three houses that surround me have all got sticks which they use to pluck mangoes from our tree - from their balconies. So possessive of our mangoes are they that they feel we are probably stealing their share when we pluck mangoes from our own tree! So when Rajesh and his sister were plucking mangoes the man who lives behind apparently told them not to pluck from his side - those were his! Anyway, the kids got us some fifty mangoes as well which I put out to ripen.
 |
| Mangoes from our 1975 born tree! |
The day began well enough with the routine of the journal, chores and then some pending work from yesterday's online class. Before I knew it, lunch was upon me, followed by some more work and its time for the evening meditation. Some reading, a bit of exercise and I am all set for dinner. Whoa! That's pretty fast for time to pass.
Sanjay decided to make a group call and joined Vardha and we had a small hello.
End of day. To find a good movie to watch.
All set for another 20 days of lockdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment