LOCKDOWN: whose dictionary meaning is, the confining of prisoners to their cells, typically in order to regain control during a riot.
A microscopic virus, a flu and today, most tragically, the entire world has come to a standstill and every individual across the globe knows and has experienced the meaning of LOCKDOWN. All of us, the entire world has come to a halt on a single platform.
Quarantine, gave me a lot of time to think, ponder and explore this deep routed bitter truth of life. The same land, where man was fighting over cast, creed and religion. Where many were trying to prove their superiority, today social distancing has made every single person untouchable. No amount of money, status or contacts can come in handy. This epidemic has equally pulled down everybody.
Today no one can leave the house without wearing a mask. Gone are the days when girls and boys took pride in boosting their beauty.
चार दिन की ज़िंदगी और सामान सो बरस का!
Everything that we accumulated out of want and desire, is now rotting in closed cupboards.
Had any of us ever imagined that a time will come, when your own home will become your prison? When you would be allowed to leave the house only for a limited time? When things will be available only for a couple of hours?
Yesterday my husband went to the supermarket at 12 in the night. Because he was given that time slot to come and make his purchases. Needless to say, in lieu of avoiding crowd, supermarkets are now open 24/7 with a fixed one hour to come and do your shopping.
Most of the people are working from home. Schools have started online teaching. Only the most compulsive sectors that is medical, food and education, only they are working full-time in these dreary circumstances. Thanks a ton to them.
We are living the most unbelievable and frightening phase of our life with the fear, that will we be alive to narrate this horrifying history to our grandchildren?
Life has twisted and turned, taking on a very cruel face and will never be the same again.
People have reached their saturation point of staying in confinement, some without work and many in financial crises.
Each day brings the news of an increased number of cases. Many freshly diagnosed and some not living anymore. Our very survival is endangered. Like dinosaurs, is man going to become extinct?
खुदा की लाठी में आवाज़ नहीं होती! God’s ways work silently. It’s like we are fighting a war without weapons. It’s like, lockdown is the new way of life.
Friends, it’s probably the first time that I have written an article which is filled with so much negativity. But, most of what I have pointed out, is the truth, the fact of today’s existence.
We are all trying our best to stay calm, composed, busy and positive. Praying hard for a better tomorrow. And pushing our hopes, keeping them alive so that every morning we have something good to look forward to.
I hope and pray that we all live to sigh over today and look back and say,
“Thank God! Gone are those dreadful days!”
Shamim Merchant
