I am writing down my experience during Covid. There is a lot of sarcasm, disbelief, vituperative language, and hidden messages in the length and breadth of this write-up.
I use hand sanitisers while on vacations in remote places. On one such occasion, a lady walked up to me and said. " It na bhi delicate hona nahin chaiye" (Read one should not be so delicate). I wonder, how did that lady get through the covid crisis without using a hand rub!!!
When I first heard about Corona Virus, I was in Hassan, having received a transfer order to Dehradun. I didn't even care to Google to know about the disease & It was my reckless assumption that the disease spreads because of the way the Chinese cook their food & the sumptuous diet of reptiles, insects, and other living beings they consume.
Then happened the Trump visit to India. If the disease was as significant as it was made out to be, my belief in the Government told me that the visit would not have been allowed. So I went on with my life, merrily moving around crowded places. Protocol at that time was a requirement to be complied with during VIP visits.
My mother had expired three months back, and after completing that ceremony, I departed for Dehradun. Novel Corona Virus had by then become Covid. The whispers about covid had become a chorus by then. To be safer, I purchased two surgical masks and one bottle of hand sanitiser. I was confident that one out of the two masks would remain unused.
Nobody at the airport was bothered to check whether people were wearing masks or not. This was the case in Bangalore as well as at Delhi Airport.
While boarding the Delhi aircraft, I noticed that a few French citizens were my co-passengers! On landing at Dehradun airport, I noticed no worry about Covid. The French group went ahead of me and their temperatures were scanned using a thermal gun. I thought it was mandatory for all passengers, and I presented myself in front of the scanning officer. I was promptly told that it was only for foreigners. I gave a sarcastic smile and winced about this selective screening.
I did not know much about Covid except that it spreads through the air, and fever is one of the symptoms. The drive from the airport to my guest house conveyed that the Dehradun ki junta cared about Covid less than the Sumerian script.
More in the next part...
