Getting closer

The month of March started. It was going to be the month that was going to change the entire course of history. It was going to be the month when the world was going to be at a standstill. It was the month when the world froze. It was the month when humans had finally surrendered to the invisible entity which was not either a God or a ghost. Humanity finally surrendered itself to a microbe that was not visible to the naked eyes. That microbe was called SARS-CoV-2 virus.

At the month of March begin the restrictions all over the world had become more stringent. The tests were being carried out on all the travellers irrespect to of whether they had travelled internationally or domestically. Everywhere the discussions towards infections, safety, hazards, and possibility had been started. Corporate have been discussing their business continuity plans mainly thinking about allowing their employees to work from home.

In the first week of March there was the festival of Holi. Due to the growing concerns towards safety and gathering a lot of organisations had cancelled their Holi celebration. A lot of society complexes as well decided to not celebrate Holi on a large scale. The gathering for Holi had been halted. The panic was everywhere.

The panic over the infection was not mainly towards the signs and symptoms of it. People were mainly scared because of the isolation and the quarrentine. The fear of being separated from the family was something that was bothering each and every person. The fear of transmitting the infection to the family members was another major health scare. By this time everyone had realised that the threat is real. The hospitals where getting filled with covid patients. The deaths were all time high. It had actually started looking like the beginning of the pandemic. It had started looking like the beginning of the end.

I was still not as scared as others around me. I still believed that it is going to be a seasonal infection and would go away after a few days. I was still under the impression that an unnecessary hype and panic is being created towards this infection. However the effects of the pandemic were not to be ignored.

The roads had started becoming quieter. People had started avoiding densely populated and crowded areas. The theatres were running empty because the viewers were scared that they may catch the infection in the closed spaces. The supermarkets were being flooded because people were preparing themselves for the upcoming lock downs. The elderly were forbidden to leave their houses and were confined to their homes.

We were in the middle of the March and advisories had started pouring. In my office we wear informed to avoid visiting any ill or old people because we may be the carriers of the infection. It looked like things were getting serious.

However it was date of 22 March 2020 that changed the entire picture. The day of Taali and Thali was marking the beginning of enhanced restrictions.