Kahani!!

once upon a time in 2019, virus outbreak news is on the front paper of almost every newspaper.

In India, it becomes more popular in March’2020 as the number of cases was became significant in India at that time.

Date: 19’th March

Modi announces Janta Curfew on 22 March

Date: 20’th March 

Till today everything was under control but in the morning I heard the news of a major virus outbreak in my hometown i.e. Bhilwara as a doctor of one hospital found positive. I immediately called home and instructed them to be in isolation or self lockdown instead of waiting for Janta curfew or lockdown. At 2:30 PM I got a mild fever. Got cross-checked by two of the colleagues. The moment they touched my arm they were like corona corona. They instantaneously sanitized their hands and sent me home.

As I knew I don’t have any travel history or any international client so I was damn sure this isn’t corona but as doubt is raised so it should get resolved. As its the beginning of the pandemic, no one was clear about the rules like fever patients will be hospitalized or not. So I didn’t go to see a doctor.

I tried to get medicine delivered online but due to janta curfew announcement they were so busy that’s why they were declining online orders or delaying online orders so, I booked a cab to nearby market to have normal medicine and most importantly sanitizer. The first pharmacy shop I was about to enter displayed a notice on its entrance door which reads “If you have any symptoms don’t come inside Make online Order”. After reading this notice I knew from my previous experiences that if I will go inside, I will not be able to speak properly cause when I’m doing something which is prohibited then my voice sounds like dead voice( सहमी हुई सी आवाज). So due to fear of getting caught, I started searching for another pharmacy. This pharmacy has no warning so I entered and ordered medicine like paracetamol, combiflame, dcold and sanitizer too. In my mind, I was thinking that seeing my order if they ask if I’m having symptoms then what will I reply so in addition to the current order I added some medicine which are not related to virus at all. Luckily they didn’t ask anything and I came back to my flat safely. 

Date : 21st March 2020 onwards

Two days of high tension passed and all symptoms were gone. Now I was feeling better.

I had two flat mates. One of the flat-mate was stuck in Allahabad and one went to Home. So luckily or unfortunately I was alone this time.  As the number of cases raised Government announces complete lockdown but as my company comes under Essential Services Provider we cant have WFH(work from home) daily so I had to go office on alternate basis or after every two days if required.

I love to cook from childhood but never knew that life will give me a chance so early. As cases were raised I asked our maid not to come and ensured no salary deduction(as our beloved PM requested). She denied at first, keep saying you are alone, ok you cook I will do the dishes etc. etc. etc. but as I am in fear of virus spread, I strictly denied all requests by her.    

As we had a stock of food for three members in flat and as you know two were not there so I don’t have to panic for the food stocking. All I had to do is lock the flat,  isolate from all the things/person who spread negative news( i.e. by uninstalling all the news application from mobile, muting stories on whatsapp etc.) and wait for the situation to get normalised.

Days passed, lockdown extended, I’m still alone, stuck in flat. But I was loving it(off-course pandemic excluded) because for the ambivert person like me who consist of more introvert part and less extrovert part this situation is like icing on a cake for introvert part of me. For almost 2 months I followed same routine.

Daily Routine:

1) woke up by 9:30 AM 

2) Work till 12:30 PM

3) Lunch preparation and  having lunch by 2:30 PM

4) Work till 06:00 PM

5) Dinner preparation and having dinner by 8:30 PM

6) Web series (most time Mahabharat on Hotstar)

7) Sleep

This time period of two month made me believe that if required I can do all household activities such as brooming, mopping, food inventory, cooking, dusting, dishes etc.) which I previously believed that its a tough nut to crack.

In this time period I also get allergic to water yes water. Hand skin was getting peeled off. Whenever I touch water fingers got shrink. Even when eating liquid sabji or dal fingers got shrink. This is same thing which happen when we stay in water for a long period.

Date:23/05/2020

Life was moving smoothly till today night. In night I experienced mild pain in bladder. I did same thing which any normal or you can say most people will do. I decided to get sleep and look after pain in morning keeping in mind that sleep will act as a system(brain) restart which resolve most of the problems.

Date: 24/05/2020

But this restart didn’t helped me. Pain was still bothering me. I was scared cause 2-3 days ago one of my colleague had same pain and in end diagnosed as stone. Why scared? cause no matter what’s the problem I had to go to my hometown.

I informed about this pain to my parents. And instantaneously they shared various home remedies to resolve this pain like drink raw milk about 1 litre or drink  1 litre water in a go so that if its a stone pain then it will get released while urinating and problem will be resolved. Nothing worked, in a 2 BHK flat I was moving here and there hoping decrease in pain. Nothing happened.

But what I noticed or observed that if I want to plot time domain signal of this pain then its a digital signal with 25% duty cycle. isn’t this a unique way to express pain.😀😎    

Tried everything, nothing worked so finally I called my team lead to ask if I can go to my hometown. He permitted, and in reply I said then arrange taxi and permission for travel as lockdown is still imposed. First we tried to get permission of intra state travel from e-portal created by govt. and waited for their response.

Date:25/05/2020

No response received so we decided to get it from DM by visiting his office directly in early-morning next day. Meanwhile I consulted doctor for the pain as it is still there via online mode. Took medicine and by the evening pain was gone but my plan to go hometown was still on cause problem need to be diagnosed.

Date:26/05/2020

Got permission from DM. Left for hometown i.e Bhilwara around 11am and reached at 11pm. Anyone coming from other state had to go to hospital for testing before going home. I did same.

Date: 27/05/2020 to 31/7/2020

As pain was gone, so I didn’t went to doctor but for allergy of water I consulted doctor.

For this period I stayed at Home. This is the longest time period for which I stayed at home since I left home for engineering.

Daily Routine:

1) woke up at 11-12 Am

2) Lunch at 1:00 PM

3) learning new skills(professional)

4) office work(Although I was on leave😎)

5) Dinner at 7:30 PM

6) Game time/tv time

7) Sleep

Date: 1/8/2020 to 7/12/2020

I had to join office again due to some circumstances but my allergy to water was not resolved completely, but yes condition was improved so parents allowed me to join back. Since I came from home after spending 2 months during which I never went out from Home coming back to Delhi was so scary as pandemic is not over yet.

For few starting months of this period I used to be so precautionary like using face shield, using surgical gloves,not eating outside food even when cook didn’t came, going outside home only to attend office etc. But as time passes by I was getting used to this NEW NORMAL and fear also started to follow decreasing trend.

Date: 8/12/2020 to 8/4/2021

8 December 2020 is the first time after so long I went out for the birthday party of my roommate. From this day onward till 8 April 2021 fear of pandemic was there but very less. So New Normal mode was on.

On 8th April evening I decided to not go office tomorrow but by the night my decision changed as some work was required to be completed by 9 th April.

Date: 9 April 2021

Went to office, by the first half work was completed but I started feeling fatigue By the end of the second half I was so tired. In those 4 hrs of second half I did nothing just took rest. In evening noticed rise in body temperature. All of a sudden the fear of pandemic which became negligible started following exponential increasing trend. By the night fever was confirmed and in morning cold, cough and body pain accompanied him. Now it’s 90 % confirm that I am infected by that virus. So I self isolated my self from roommates and most importantly NEWS and social media.😂

Fever gone after two days but other symptoms were there. Later on after two days body pain was gone too but cold and cough still there. On 12 April I decided to get tested so that no doubt will be there. I booked home sample collection from application. Sample pickup was scheduled on 15 April as there is sudden increase in demand of rtpcr test. I was in isolation and symptoms were less so I thought it’s ok to wait rather than going outside for test.

Meanwhile I started taking medicine like zinc tablet, vitamin c tablet etc. On 15 April I waited for the sample collection till scheduled pickup time but no one came. I called the lab and they said sorry for the inconvenience we have to reschedule this in next 3 days. Are you willing to do so? I disconnected call. And raised refund request on application. But my three days waiting for test wasted. Now what, I can’t go outside so I had to book test again on different application this time. On the other hand pressure of test and report was building up from office side. They were thinking like I am enjoying my leaves. It’s not there fault, no one will believe my story of why test is delayed. Cause in Delhi there are so many options. One mistake I made is that I didn’t confirmed from lab that whether they will collect sample or not. If you have an unpleasant experience while doing something then you will be extremely careful whilst trying it again. This time I booked test from 3 different application. But unlike previously I called lab or customer care to confirm whether they will collect sample on schedule time or not. One application confirmed this so I cancelled remaining two booked test.

On 16th April home sample collected in afternoon. As report is generally generated within 24 hrs . But my fate wanted something fun. Again pressure building up from office, now for test report but I don’t have it even after 24 hrs of sample collection. They can’t do anything, I can’t do anything. We had only one option i.e to wait. 48 hrs passed but report still not received. Office colleagues were like from where you had booked for sample collection. Ask them, call them, make necessary efforts to get report. In same night I received the report. Although I knew result will be positive but receiving confirmation is shocking😲.

Now official quarantine/isolation started. In a room of size 10×8 feet without AC, without cooler it’s like kaala paani saja only difference is size of cell. Thanks to thunderstorm which occurred around date 11-12 which caused to decrease in overall temperature for nearly 10 days. In last 2-3 days I had to bear the scorching heat.

Daily Routine in quarantine:

1) Wake up at 11:30 AM

2) Lunch around 2:30

3) Sleep for 2hr approx

4) Learning new skills(professional)

5) Dinner

6) Web series(GOT, bhabhi ji ghar pe hai😂)

7) Sleep

So this is how my past financial year passed…………….

Thanks🙏