Black & White World — Lock-down Day 29
By: Pradeep Miriyala
Tags: Corona, India, Covid-19, Lockdown

Black & White World — Lock-down Day 29

Note: This is part of a series of articles I’ve been writing while India is under nationwide lock-down to fight with COVID19 virus. Some are in a form of true diary just recording events, some are in form of general thoughts. Today is Day 29.

Week 1 [Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7]

Week 2 [Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14]

Week 3 [Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21]

Week 4 [Day 22, Day 23, Day 24, Day 25, Day 26, Day 27, Day 28]

The One Month

By yesterday, a full 4 weeks were complete in this series of articles and thus keeping the series age at 1 Month now. A little retrospection, when I started writing on day 1, only thought I had is, I wanted to save my memories of COVID19 lock-down before they fade away quickly. But I think I had moved beyond just recording memories.

A quick glance over 4 weeks:

India on Day 1 of this series (Mar 25), was in a very safe zone with around 600 COVID19 infected patients. But as days passed on, on Day 3/4, Nizamuddin event uncovered which fueled COVID19 spread across nation to several corners.

On Day 1, Some of my friends, relatives, colleagues who have never done work from home before. And organizations mainly related to IT, have sent devices to individuals homes so that business continuity can be achieved. It was tough beginning but by now it was routine for many WFH professionals. Going back to office for work will be toughest thing.

By Day 1, India has already shown signs of panic buying and the trend continued for over a week. The first week has been crucial for all e-commerce companies in India as they have failed miserably during the first week. This was never planned by them. The situation is sudden impulse.

By Day 7 or so, there are various reports related to how pollution levels are getting reduced, several rivers are becoming cleaner than ever in past 20 years, animals enjoying the nature finally and so on.

On similar note, there were reports of horrifying incidents mainly related to migrant labor who have started walking more than 200km to reach their homes as there is no public transport is available. There are also stories of how people tried to smuggle themselves by hiding in food trucks.

Most horrifying incidents above everything else is people attacking health workers across nation. These acts are truly barbaric and the people behind those incidents must be punished.

5 months now in to COVID19 detection and scientists are trying their best to find a cure as early as possible. There are various theories, various hypothesis being formed. Some good news related to COVID19 cure is, human trials have begun in USA and UK. But we never know when the medicine will be available to general public at affordable cost.

While globalization has diminished boundaries between countries, lock-downs were able to reverse globalization to some extent. Several countries (Europe) including India have now put restrictions on FDIs.

The digital technology revolutions that happened over past 15 years have given fruits of success. Today, many people are able to do work from home with little disruptions and little dip in productivity. The digital technologies have made a bold statement, you can’t ignore going digital even if you are into non-digital businesses and affairs. There is a dark side as well, this situation is also a field day for hackers.

Many people including me have now gained a minimum of 2 hours per day as we don’t have to go in traffic to do our work.

The Black and White World

There are numerous poems, stories, motivational stories describing how world is full of vivid colors and world is so beautiful. With everyone of us locked inside what we see mainly are several walls of home.

Home is where family belong and thus home should be more colorful than rest of world.

But I chose to call today’s world as “Black and White” mainly because, today we are interested in only one thing,

You are either COVID19 positive or COVID19 negative

You either stay locked down or You stay isolated in hospital (or a prison)

You either live or You die

Everything else can wait.

Silence of Cities: What happened to vibrant cities and places which are alive for 24 hours a day? People have stopped moving leaving cities as big black roads and glass buildings. Now all action is at home. The homes are probably more vibrant than ever.

What happened to vibrant cities and places which are alive for 24 hours a day? People have stopped moving leaving cities as big black roads and glass buildings. Now all action is at home. The homes are probably more vibrant than ever. Closed Eyes of Entertainment: What happened to all entertainment sources that keep people engaged? Entertainment sources have closed their eyes and there is only darkness for now. Thanks to digital revolution, lot of OTT and console gaming have bought entertainment to home. Home is center of entertainment now.

What happened to all entertainment sources that keep people engaged? Entertainment sources have closed their eyes and there is only darkness for now. Thanks to digital revolution, lot of OTT and console gaming have bought entertainment to home. Home is center of entertainment now. Lost taste of Restaurants: What happened to all tasty food outlets that people wait several hours to get a chance to eat? The time came and hidden talents have come out from many people and unarguably one of them is cooking. Home food won the fight one more time.

The world may be shut down for physical movement, but virtually we have become a little more dynamic than a month ago. People who are reluctant to move to digital world have now moved.

Even after official lock-down, I personally would like to maintain status quo until a cure is found. We never know how many people are silent carriers of virus.

Until world becomes colorful again,

Stay safe…

Stay stronger for we have long path ahead before cure is available…