Tag Archives: lockdown

Quarantine Musings #14

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2 am in a city, during lockdown, feels completely out of place. Except for the sound of crickets and frogs, I can now hear absolutely nothing.

Mumbai – fondly called as the city which never sleeps; is now sleeping. It feels that not just the people residing here, but the city in itself is suffering from the disease. I hope she heals well and wakes up sooner from her nap. People are waiting for her to heal, the railways are waiting, the airplanes, the local businesses, the big multinational companies; everyone is counting on her.

On another occasion, it would have felt way better- to experience the silence within a city, the calmness and the fresh air to breath. But under the current crisis, it just doesn’t feel good.

Get well soon, Aamchi Mumbai (literally, ‘Our Mumbai’). And also, get well soon, Mother Earth.

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

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Quarantine Musings #13

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  • My armour against COVID-19 and the rains!

So finally, the rains have arrived in Mumbai! Of course they were here even before, but what are rains without a ‘heavy rainfall orange/ red alert’ or without news of waterlogging in the city?

I had to go outside yesterday, to buy essentials, amidst the rains. It was raining cats and dogs! It was fun though – to go outside after a long while and even more fun to feel the rain falling on you. I’ve always liked the rains (without the thundering, of course).

But one thing became quite clear to me, rains and face masks don’t go well together; unless you’re carrying an umbrella – which I wasn’t. I had a raincoat on and so my mask was completely drenched with rainwater by the time I returned home.

I haven’t traveled outside a 2 km (about 1.3 miles) radius since mid March due to the lockdown restrictions. When was the last time you traveled a farther distance other than for the usual ‘grocery shopping’?

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #12

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It’s almost three months of us now, living under lockdown over here.

But do I see a change? A decline in the number of cases, perhaps? – Not really. Not a bit. In fact, the figures are skyrocketing, making new daily records each new day.

The lockdown is now slowly ‘unlocking’, giving relief to some business owners. But instead of being more cautious, the people are now starting to care even less.

Hearing about all these cases in our neighborhood itself is giving me a fright! If I wasn’t already OCD, I’ll turn more like it by the time this pandemic ends.

How’s the situation in your neighborhood/ city/ town/ country? Hope you are all doing well. Sending loads and loads of good wishes and warm virtual hugs. 🤗

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #11

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Monsoon in Mumbai feels so eerily different this year. Each year after bearing the scorching heat of the summers, we find ourselves longing for the rains. This year the longing phase was so abrupt.

Of course, this may not be the actual onset of the monsoons, it might just be a by-product of the Nisarga cyclone (which I had mentioned in my previous post Quarantine Musings #9 )- which quite conveniently has dodged (and saved us!) away from the city to other parts of the state.

We have been receiving these pre-monsoon showers for a good four days at a stretch. And yet we already have the hashtag #MumbaiRains trending on Twitter!

As local trains aren’t running anymore (except for essentials), in light of the current lockdown guidelines – I wonder whether we would still be hearing news of waterlogging on the railway tracks, like each year?

Monsoons remind us Mumbaikars of bhajiis and vada pavs and garam garam (hot) chaai (tea). This year instead of buying it from those roadside stalls, shops and tapris, we’ll have to savour them by cooking it up inside our own kitchens. Now that should surely be a healthy change!

Wishing you all a Happy Monsoon!

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #10

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I miss the beaches

and the mountains.

I miss our esplanade

the Marine Drive.

I miss the rides

to the markets and the malls.

I miss the bookstores

the smell of new books.

I miss the freedom

to just walk, and walk and walk.

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #7

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These occasional spottings of airplanes and helicopters, are like rays of hope that things will soon come back to normalcy.

Hello, Helicopter!

Living in a megacity, I had grown habitual to the regular noises surrounding me. Of vehicles, of trains- local as well as long distance trains, of airplanes. Now that it isn’t a regular occurrence, I’ve realised how much I’ve taken it for granted.

So much depends on those airplanes. So much depends on those trains. So much depends on those vehicles on the roads. Be it a passenger train, be it a goods trains, or an import-export plane. There are people willing to travel to meet their extended family or even their immediate family living in some other part of the country (or even in some other part of the world), amid the crisis, taking a huge risk.

I feel extremely privileged to have a roof to live under and a loving family with me.

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #6

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Never did I think that one day I would have to make a strict timetable of sorts to ‘watch and consume news updates’.

Apparently my grandpa feels like watching COVID-19 related news so much each day that we barely get to watch anything else on our television!

How does your family take in the news updates?

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #5

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It’s funny but I’m amazed at how I can still recognise people well, in spite of half their faces being covered by masks.

But what’s peculiar is that I’ve realized it only now, how much I have relied on the lip movements of others, to understand when I miss a word or two while listening.

Now that those lips are hidden under the masks, the only other thing we can expect is to speak louder and clearer.

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #4

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” गजब का है दिन, सोचो जरा
ये दीवानापन, देखो जरा
तुम हो अकेले, हम भी अकेले
मजा आ रहा है, कसम से, कसम से “

Someone in our neighbourhood is trying to make our Sunday afternoon pleasant by singing such old Hindi melodies on the karaoke. I cannot see the person who’s singing, but the selection of his songs are enough to let the Bollywood buffs come spilling out from inside all of us. We’ve heard him sing earlier in the last week, a couple or more times, during our dinner. But today his volume was a teeny bit higher so we could hear him even more clearly.

Do you have any such stories of lockdown in your neighbourhood- wherein you notice people around you are doing something that’s out of the ordinary?

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.

Quarantine Musings #3

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  • Well hello, Mr. Crow! Now you remember…

Oh look who visited me after a long, long time the other day! I wonder if he read my recent post: Quarantine Musings #1. He even stayed on my window a good 20 minutes or so, as if to ask my whereabouts during these times. I forgave him for not visiting me earlier (hahaha!) and also fed him a morsel of rice and a piece of chapati.

— Suri

What are Quarantine Musings? Just some random, trivial, light-hearted (or maybe even deep?) thoughts that pass through my mind during these lockdown days.