The Lockdown Week That Was

Lessons learned so far from Lockdown include that life can go on under any conditions; nothing is indispensable; and there can always be a plan B.

Normal days saw delicacies prepared in one home being exchanged among floor neighbours. In this context we miss Geeta-Hari (3191, now in Dubai). Like in some houses it is music channel that runs 24x7, in their household Food channels reign supreme. And not just watching them; Geeta tries some with success and shares the output with us. Aunty returns such gestures with traditional preparations. In these Lockdown days it is just intercom-call exchange of movies watched.

Yes, the movie-bug bite was more pronounced last week. We watched movies with a vengeance. One was a World War 1 British movie, 1917. Don’t get scared. It has least infantry or artillery actions. A thin storyline - a letter from General to be delivered in time to the Commanding Major in the battlefront not to make the planned major offensive next morning, because the German army’s retreat at the other side a day earlier was a trap. A particular corporal was chosen to deliver the letter because his brother was a Lieutenant in that battlefront battalion and hence the Corporal had a stake in timely delivery. We didn’t just watch the movie, we felt we had to deliver it. It is still not on in Amazon prime I think, but our son in US did a jugad for us. Worth waiting for its release in India. 4.5/5

The other movies that we watched included Survivor (4.5/5), Patriot Game (3.5/5), Equalizer2 (3.5/5), John Q (3.5/5) - the last three featuring Harrison Ford or Denzel Washington who seldom disappoints you.

You specialize only in English movies, uncle? No way. Some of the Indian movies watched were: Jawani Jaaneman, Good Newzz, Luka Chuppi (Hindi); Ayyappanum Koshiyum; Anveshanam, Viyaum Pournamium (Malayalam), and Rachhasi, Katrin Mozhi in Tamil. I would give 3 out of 5 to all. Reason? Anything less than that is dispensed with at the press of a button.

Surely, there is more to it than movies. I undertook (or, was assigned) other projects too. There was a WhatsApp message that the best way to stop pigeons from making a habitat of your balcony is to hang old CD plates. Their glare would keep them away. It worked – for two days. By then they learnt I was making a bewaqoof of them and invaded, this time with family. They made only marginal movements to our attempts to scare them away. We found our earlier experience of selecting 19^th floor to reside repeated. We selected 19th floor to rid ourselves of mosquitoes. But they too have become wiser and have upgraded their techniques. Now they reach still higher floors. Also, they seem to relish blood of higher-floor residents.

Watching movies left, right and centre is not without its side effects. You carry the guilt that you miss your japam. So I made sure to continue Rudram, Chamakam. I shall be sharing my solo chant with my peer group for a critical appraisal. But I have my own doubts if they will be forthright. For them age takes precedence. Nonetheless in the event they decide to break free, a more vigorous chanting is in store for Week Two of Lockdown.

Aunty kept herself busy reading Devi Mahatmyam and Sundara Kandam. She has completed Devi Mahatmyam, and is all set to finish Sundara Kandam on Rama Navami, that is tomorrow.

Side by side, she also made Ribbon pakoda at home, with blank knick-knack shelves in Foodworld staring at us. With one item after the other draining out at home, she had to make-do with sambar powder instead of red chilly powder for its preparation. The ingredients however took a backseat as we ate it watching more intensely movies.