Day 1 of "The Great Indian Lock Down" - 25th March 2020

25th March 2020 - Day 1 of National Lock Down in India.

It was the first day of national lock down in India. And a first of many a things that was going to change my life, my neighborhood, my country and fellow citizens.

I do not understand what is it with me that makes me wake up early on holidays. With a little help from my wife, I was up at 05:00 am in the morning.Normally she would wake up by 7:00 am but today she is up early and had switched on the lights. Weird, right. I was mentally praying that this better stops here, waking up early in the morning. Still a full 21 days to go. Who knows or WHO knows.

Speaking of weirdness, my wife had been acting crazy the whole past week. Before the state lock down announcement on 22nd March, whenever I asked her to exercise precaution, she was like I am over reacting. After first corona related death was announced and lock down was enforced on 22nd March, she went into panic mode. I had to wash or sanitize my hands every time I touched anything or stepped outside the door. She is not letting me go to office and wants me to remain home till the corona crisis is over. Wait...what!!! All wives behave exactly the same. Dear Lord.

Yet she was at peace with the declared duration of lock down. As a seasoned home maker now, she was confident her supplies would comfortably last till 31st March, the local state announced lock down period. All my attempts to stock some more groceries were sternly turned down. She says, we have enough of everything. By God's grace we do have.

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." For men were out there, hoarding stuff for days to come. And therefore I too had to rush to stock some more, before it runs out of store. Here is the list:

Aata (Wheat Flour), Rice, Mustard Oil, Refined Vegetable Oil, Peanuts, Lentils, Maggi Noodles (yes, that's the go to food in survival mode, could get only one pack at store), Sattu, Dried Peas, Mixture Snacks.

My repeated requests to allow me to buy some more potatoes, onions and dry fruits went unheard. For these are "perishable items", we buy when we have to consume. Wish everyone thought the same way.

Coming back to her weirdness. I do not know if it's corona fear getting to the mind or the advanced stage of pregnancy. Yes, we are expecting and that is my real cause of concern. A shut down meant we could not access the medical facilities as easily. Also the risk of corona infection looked like a real possibility. Everyone around us are concerned, highly concerned. Our parents, grand parents, siblings and she herself. Some speak upfront others pray silently. She handles all the concern very very peacefully, with a smile on her face and confidence in her demeanor.

There is another concern in the family, my grand parents. They are almost 80 years old but lively people, have aged gracefully and are living life head on. They have seen epidemics, survived droughts and endured poverty early in their lives. But Corona is a new challenge, with reports of high casualty rate in older persons. Everyone in family is praying and wishing them good health and safety.

With the lock down in force, I am expected to stay home and expected to be fully available for "household chores and cleaning" - full time. Well that's how most people kept themselves engaged, but such an expectation on first day was bit of a shocker. Earlier in the day, I somehow survived refusing to prepare the morning tea. Could not escape for much longer. Day 1 started with hand washing the curtains and bag packs. The list was ready for Day 2 and 3 and so on.

One good thing about the lock down seemed no more hurried breakfast or stale, packed lunch for next 21 days. Having finished the morning meal, it was time to sort out some confusion regarding attending office. So the office colleagues came together on conference call. Under orders of the Union Home Affairs Ministry, we were not exempted as an essential service and had to remain home. However, we decided to remain in touch on-call.

Late in the afternoon, called up my father to inquire his well being and whether he had any difficulties in office or on the way. Yes, the PSU banks remained open as an essential service to the nation and my father was on duty. It was reassuring to know that country side India (which is where majority of India lives, still) is more vigilant and aware. The authorities have come to the hamlet and ensured every ration and grocery shop practiced social distancing. I also advised my father to stock up on everyday essentials and grocery, sent him a list on watsapp, doing my duty as a long distance son. For many sons and daughters like me, this is the way some of us are doing our duties as children of aging parents. Spoke to mother as well. She seemed quite chilled about the groceries and essentials at hand - just like my wife - just like all other housewives - who have been managing the home affairs very very diligently, month after month.

Euphoria of the unexpected holiday had settled by the evening. To make productive use of the period, I decided to lay down some ground rules.

#IndiaFightsCorona #21daysLockdown
Things to do
1. #StayHomeIndia
2. Maintain weekday timings - for getting up and ready - things will "normalize" someday
3. READ & WRITE
4. Clean hard disc & phone memory
5. catchup with family & old pals "on call"
6. Stop misinformation/rumours

— Anant Bibhore (@Be_anant) March 25, 2020

Yeah..that's me...writing down all that came into
 my mind. Date: 25-03-2020

Last I had done such an exercise was may be during graduation days or high school. I guess most of us did so then.

Here is my compliance report for the things to do for Day 1. Look at the list above:
1 - That's the government order and my responsibility, so done.
2 - So far so good, it's the first day today.
3 - And that is how it all started - revival of  the blog.
4 - Will do it, somedday.
5 - While I was yet to call on any friends, received first call on the lock down from an old friend - Dharmendra. So, Thank you for calling.
6 - I remained super active on watsapp, twitter and facebook. It needs a separate chapter to describe it all,

As the day drew to an end, switched back to TV news. Authorities were struggling to streamline delivery of essential services, readying up the medical infrastructure and sending the people who have come out for sundry work back home. There was no respite from increase in number of positive cases or deaths anywhere, domestically or internationally, China being the only exception.

Two things were clear to me - (i) the trajectory of contagion in India seemed no different than other countries to me, despite India having pressed the preventive "lock down" comparatively early and (ii) we were face to face with one of the biggest migration crisis in modern Indian history, may be second only to partition. I had my logic in place for both my beliefs and at some point I have already mentioned these.
(i) The flat curve could pick up anytime because we as a nation are not the complaint ones, we are a democracy and a diverse society. Keeping every one indoors by "carrots and / or stick" seemed extremely difficult.
(ii) Life for poor people has always been difficult, with or without pandemic. With the shut down and loss of livelihoods for daily wage worker, they will eventually run out of resources whatever little they have and seek refuge in comfort of family and friends. The same "family" which many of them had to leave behind in pursuit of livelihoods, the families in their native hinterland.

News had started trickling in that people are trying to somehow get back to their bases. The migration crisis is going to get worse. Domestic flights were still operational till 25th March midnight. While the well to do, wealthy and resourceful - were playing all tricks in the book to return back to their families, spare a thought for what the poor, daily wage earners might be going through. Humans after all, are not just social but also emotional animals and unfortunately emotions are the same in all "human beings".

Let us all wait what future holds for us. For whatever it is there, it is already here and now.