India

Read day 13 The total number of cases in India is touching 5000. One thing that i noticed is that very few people are recovering. Don’t know what are the reasons. The handling of this crisis by the govt agencies have been reasonably good. Of course, there have been and still there are issues but there have been improvement especially in the things related to home delivery of groceries and vegetables, delivery of ration to the needy and providing food to the people who need it the most. Govt agencies as well as other charitable and social organizations have been doing good work on this front. There are still many challenges as our overall system is not so organized and disciplined. So those issues still remain. ...

Read day 12 The number of cases on India is still on increase. The authorities are trying to do all the contact tracing and find the people who could possibly be infected. It is still manageable at these levels. But if the numbers continue to increase like this, the scene is going to get worse. Hope things remain in control. The RO is out of quarantine. It has been cleaned and fixed back. All looks good for now. Let’s see how it goes. ...

Read day 11 Today after many days, went out to get some vegetables. Very few people out there and most of them were wearing some kind of masks. The quality of stuff out there is not so good. May be the limited supply is causing this problem. Otherwise it seems most of the people have adjusted to the need of the times. Society guys have also been trying to enforce the lockdown religiously. Initially, people kind of resisted the idea of not coming out and no walking here and there but now there is hardly anyone seen moving around without an aim. Good for us ! ...

Read day 10 There are so many discussions about how the world is going to change post Covid-19. I don’t think anything is going to change. Of course there are going to be economical and related effects but in a general sense, the world is too ruthless to change. Once the situation becomes normal, everything will be as it was. That is the sad part. In India, the the number of infected people who attended the Tablighi event is increasing. The first part that has gone wrong is that if it was known that such a gathering was there, timely action should have been taken. Now that all of it has happened, people should cooperate and come forward on their own and get tested. Just imagine the havoc it is going to create if all the places where the folks went back to enter the community spread phase. ...

Read day 9 So today evening the UrbanClap guy turned up with the part. Replaced it quickly and it is all good. But now wifey has put the RO in quarantine. So still living on the water ordered from the water delivery guy. I had the impression that Kent stuff was good but this one has turned out to be a pain. Every few months it has an issue. Such shitty stuff. ...

Read day 8 So today was the UrbanClap day and the timing was 1 PM. There were no updates till 1 but then got a call that can we reschedule it to 4:30. I said ok. There is no other option really. Then got a message that it has been rescheduled to 3rd Apr, 9:30 AM. There you go ! But got a call around 4 and that guy actually turned up. Wow ! ...

Read day 7 These Tablighi guys have messed it up big time. There are hundreds of Covid-19 positive cases being reported from the group and it has made total India numbers go past 2000. Now the blame game has started and it would be difficult to know whose mistake it was. But given the kind of mixed crowd that was there, much more alertness was needed. And their behaviour, after they were evacuated, was also in the news for all the not so good reasons. All such mistakes and it will make it increasing difficult for the country to contain the spread. ...

Read day 6 So finally the UrbanClap guy called and said that he will come. Some good news ! But…another call after few hours that he needs to come from Delhi and most of the borders are sealed and no one is being allowed to enter from Delhi to Noida. Back to UrbanClap customer care. They said we will just reschedule it and see if we can get someone from Noida. Rescheduled to 2nd April. Let’s see. ...

Read day 4 The situation of labourers trying to reach their homes is really bad. Centre govt has asked the state govts to put all such people under quarantine and arrange for their stay and food. This again is easier said than done. To track everyone who returned from Delhi and then to arrange accommodation and food for them is a mammoth task. We can only hope that it doesn’t turn into a community spread situation. ...

Read day 3 Due to the lockdown, the daily wagers and migrant labourers are facing really hard times. They have lost the work and there is no income. The only option they have is to try to go back to their hometowns which they are trying to do. Since most of the public transport is not functional, there is a flood of people at various bus stands. Authorities should have kept this point in consideration before announcing the lockdown. I don’t think it would have been possible to completely avoid this but still some planning could have helped. Gatherings of people in thousands increase the risk of community spread but what option do they have ? They need food and a place to live to survive. When you have no source of income and no money in the pocket, how are you going to get this ? It makes their lives even harder. This is really sad. Hope things improve for them. Reminds me of this piece of poetry by Sant Ram Udasi (Sung by Jasbir Jassi) - tu maghda rahi ve soorja kammiyan de vihde ...