March 2020 and before-Everything was super awesome! I was leisurely continuing with my happy-go-lucky life, visiting families and friends, enjoying school , gossiping with friends , inventing new projects, turning playgrounds into battlegrounds, sprinting through shopping malls, gorging enormous burgers, wandering aimlessly but freely, pestering my father to ……….A never ending list of events…..and then everything suddenly turned upside down.

April 2020 and after-The world literally came to a standstill. A lockdown was announced, and I officially gave up all hope of stepping outside ever again. Over the last I year, 3 months and 10 something days{I counted}, the world faced and is still facing a terrible pandemic called…Covid 19!Believe me ! It was the first time I googled the key words such as endemic, pandemic, mortality{scary!}, infection rate, symptoms and weirdly, my mom was also scrolling through the same keywords on her smartphone. If smartphones were humans, they must have absolutely enjoyed this extra attention.

A snowball effect was clearly visible.

It began with restricted gatherings in public places that eventually graduated into complete lockdowns. Masks which began as optional, became mandatory. I remember people discussing how the supplies of masks, tissues and daily consumables were getting exhausted from the stores. Once, when I had accompanied my mom to the grocery store, I was disappointed to witness the empty shelves staring at me blankly as if trying to understand the panic an invincible virus had created. Heated debates and discussions about Covid-19 causes and cures were heard everywhere, and confusion was clearly painted on the faces of most of the individuals.

Well, I knew what it was. It was a virus, which was glue-sticky annoying ! And it was not planning to bid us farewell very soon. Period!

What? Isn’t that a good explanation?

What I learnt that my enthusiasm of staying at home started on a cheerful note but turned into bigger disappointments as days went by. Initially it was fun waking up late, lazily grazing breakfast, annoying Em {Empress of mischief-my sister, remember my previous blog?} and vice-versa, attending home-based learning (HBL), chatting with friends, and meeting virtually over zoom calls. After a month of home-based learning (HBL), I found myself losing interest in the classes. There were no lab activities, no project works, no group discussions, no music room lessons (so many no’s…..).We were all chatterboxes, so we were muted most of the time during HBL. To unmute, we had to raise our hands. I still remember that when the lockdown was over and we resumed school, some of us just kept raising our hands even if we were allowed to talk, because that’s what had happened in HBL. The awkward silence wore away soon and  deep in my heart, I thanked everyone who took the noblest decision to reopen the school. The holidays had lost their charm and for the first time in my life , I wished I did not have June or December holidays.

Along with my HBL was my father’s frequent official calls. The poor internet connection could not manage so many Zoom calls and hence kept breaking. And once thrown out of Zoom, it took ages for me to enter the meeting again . There was a complete hullabaloo in the house because of my father’s office meetings, Em trying not to study while screaming at the top of her voice, Me trying to drown out everyone’s voices and trying to emerge as a winner by answering all the science questions correctly over Zoom.  The overlapping sounds made it impossible to decipher who was saying what.

The empty buses, the deserted playgrounds, the zombified streets and the horrifying news of people struggling in difficult times were overwhelming. I still wonder what kind of adaptation would have helped us to fight this virus. Can you suggest some? During this entire period, I really missed visiting my grandparents, dining out with my family without discussing about the virus, meeting up with my friends at birthday bashes, swimming lessons and travelling to other countries.

The restrictions are imposed from time to time. I remember the last time when mom took Em for her regular vaccinations, and she cried a lot.  Surprisingly, today everyone seems so eager to get the vaccinations, including my parents. I was never able to understand at first why my parents were so eager to go for a vaccination! I mean, they have always been so terrified of vaccines. If you ask me, I am only eager to get a Covid virus free earth, by hook or by crook.

Signing off with a stern message to Mr. Virus —

“Dear Mister Virus… Stop Existinggggggg! Because I want my freedom back!”