Lockdown-5
is round the corner to keep us guessing if it will see more restrictions or
liberalizations. Meanwhile we shall re-visit the series of Lockdowns that we
braved.
Lockdown-4
permitted morning walks and hairdresser-shops to open. With a liberated feeling
each one jumped out of his house as though released from cave-life. Some have
gone slim, some maintain status quo, a few show signs of prosperity.
Though
masked, I could guess somewhat who’s who. Nonetheless I adopted the principle:
Greet everyone regardless, man. It’s better to greet an unknown than miss the
known. Luckily, some unknown walkers partly unmasked themselves to convey me
the mistaken identity. I cashed on it to
make new friends with them too.
The
prehistoric look with long uncut, disheveled hair bothered many. Self-help took
centre stage. Some gave the hairdresser a run for his money. For some the
result was as though rats had a field day on their head the previous night. The
play-safe made a Yul Brynner cabbage cut, while the baldies, for once thanked
God for their destiny. My heart however went out to the hairdresser who had confided
in me that, as an alternative, the community also specialized in playing tavil or nadaswaram for festivals. I complimented him for having a standby.
Alas, neither of his arts could come handy, with no festivals around, either.
Other
areas that self-help embraced included floor-sweeeping, washing clothes,
dishwashing…Residents who preferred convenience chose to consult Telegram for the
cheap and best dishwasher in town. Regardless, requests for car-jumpstart
equipment and nearest air-filling station occupied the top spot in Telegram.
On the
home front, residents spent more time on TV, not for Covid update, but surfing
Netflix, Prime, Airtel Xstream… For once they got value for money. Instead of
‘how many movies you saw’, the norm now is, ‘how many times you saw the same
movie?” Paucity of films, of course.
Side by
side, things have been going out of order systematically. I can bet I have
replaced the maximum number of electrical switches. About six or seven are now delicately
balanced, awaiting replacement. I am seriously thinking of buying switches in
bulk. For Sobha builders, for their “Lessons Learned” meet on SFV, the top
contenders would be faulty switches and bursting pipelines.
The
absence of ironing-man didn’t make a major impact. Less pairs of trousers,
shirts and other pressed clothes saw the light of the day with Work From Home
ruling the roost. Conversely, more of the fed-up-wearing garments, earmarked
for a flood or tsunami donation, staged a comeback.
In
societal life, token system came into being at Easyday, starting from 7.30 am. Sharp
at 7.30 if you ring, you are 6 or 7 (there are people waiting right in front of
me, sir, assures the Clubhouse security staff). At 7.39, if you are lucky your
number can be 46 of 47. I bet Easyday had more customers during Lockdown than
normal days. Good for them. Meanwhile, online ordering residents learnt to live
with getting Colgate for Dantkant, or vice versa, though this was more
pronounced in oil brands. Time will tell if the relationship with those
Konanakunte shops is just a marriage of convenience or long lasting.
Speaking
for myself, my first venture post-liberalization was to visit my sister in
law’s place in Cedar for board and card games. We had taught them these, but
returned home defeated hands down at their hands. Moral: Not everyone is grateful.
With
regular practice during Lockdown, I can now recite Rudram, Chamakam…at nearly
Purohit’s speed, though that is not in itself a qualification. Because, at such
fast pace even Gods themselves can’t make out whom the purohit is hailing, and
none might attend thinking it is for the other.
Meanwhile
I am trying to get a grip of the difference between containment zone, sealed
zone, and red zone, orange zone, and what have you.
