Masaba Masaba a vibrant web series

 Masaba Masaba an autobiographic web series, first of its kind to hit screen through Netflix. An out of the box concept to cover an aspect of mom – daughter duo, played by acclaimed fashion designer Masaba Gupta and her mom Neena Gupta, the most versatile actor. Beautiful part of Season 1 is that, it has just covered only one phase of Masaba and Neena’s life, so there’s scope for multiple seasons of the series to cover various other facets.

Beautiful six episodes web series, of season 1 is currently out on Netflix, to enthrall the audiences with the challenges faced by people and the way certain people come out of it.  Both Masaba and Neena were facing different kinds of challenges in their life’s and they didn’t knew how to come out of the it. But they were determined to turn tables towards them once again and regain their glory to success. Whether they did it or not? Can see be answered in the series only, so better watch it to discover it in person.

The most intriguing part of the series is the narration of the story, which gave equal importance to all character in the series, which is little rare in web series. As I wasn’t even bored, for a moment while watching the series or felt this particular scene was not required. The character played by Tanuj Virwani  as Manav was the shortest in the series yet had an impactful role. The icing on the cake, was the presence of this cute little girl, with those curly hairs and amazing outfits. She was very much identical to Masaba, despite not uttering a word all throughout the series, except at the most crucial juncture of the story. I loved her screen presence more than anyone else in the series. Again something very new and innovative, I have not seen it any web series so far.

Neena Gupta is a seasoned actor who has graced screens for several decades and even today, her onscreen charm is impeccable but Masaba Gupta was the surprise package in the series. In one way I can say that Masaba Masaba, was the debut of Masaba Gupta as an actor, she was just herself, the way she may be in her real life. The banter of the mother daughter on screen is another reason, one should watch the series at least once.

I also liked the character played by Smaran Sahu as Jogi apart from the adorable doll, he was rustic and natural in the character played and had multiple shades which open up gradually during the series without any gray shades. He played a positive and motivational character.

While watching Masaba Masaba, I felt even Instagram was also a character in the series as it played very important role in the life’s of the protagonists. Instagram was like their daily dairy where they shared everything about them without any filters, both Masaba and Neena used Instagram to share their happiness and sorrows, at times it was even used for promotional purposes too. Without Instagram, story line would have missed many major incidents of their life.

To conclude I would say, Masaba Masaba will just lighten up your spirits in just 03 hours, you will not regret watching once for sure..

Few unforgettable memories from lockdown

During lockdown many incidents which rocked the nation, few were pleasant while others were not pleasant. Then there were few instances which surprised people as they were rare gestures, unthinkable of normally. Few things which caught my attention are listed below

Repeat telecast of shows

Corona pandemic forced producers to halt shooting of TV shows and movies midway to ensure the safety of crew. This affected the daily shows, as they ran out episodes in few days’ time, hence all TV channels came up with the idea of repeat telecast of their popular shows. This clicked with masses too, as they got an opportunity to revisit their favorite show and were able to stay at home, as instructed by the government. This phenomenal lead to the return of the few most iconic shows back to the television screens, some garnered good TRPs also for the channels.

Doordarshan topped TRP charts

Before pandemic and lockdown, TRP charts were dominated by channels like StarPLus, Zee TV, Color TV and Sony TV. But pandemic brought in a pleasant surprise for Doordarshan, which ruled the chart decades ago, was once again in top league as it broke all TRP records till date.  This happened due to the telecast of their most iconic shows “ Ramayan and Mahabharat”. Viewership of these decade old shows was at all-time high and this gave new lease of life to all artists of the show too. Most actors from these iconic are now more active on social media platforms than before.

Switch from Private to Government hospitals

Given to chance to select between government and private hospital, people will prefer private hospital over the latter. But corona pandemic has forced people to prefer government hospital over private, as they are well equipped to handle covid positive patients and the treatment is also free. For the first time private hospitals, are wary of admitting people to their hospitals especially covid positive. This has forced people to take refuge in government hospital, where doctors and nurses welcome them with smiles on their faces.

Movie screening shift from cinema halls to OTT platforms

Pleasure of watching movies on big screen with snacks at a movie theater is phenomenal but with corona pandemic in place, no movies will be released in theater or multiplexes anytime soon. Taking stock of the current situation, producers are now releasing their movies in OTT platforms like Amazon prime, Netflix and Hotstar. This has been done to reduce the loss incurred by producers due to non-release of movies in theatres. It even led to huge hue and cry amongst theater and multiplexes but they were forced to abide by the decision of the producers.

Neighborhood shops over supermarkets

Lockdown restricted movement of people to their favorite supermarket and they were forced to depend on their neighborhood shops for their grocery shopping.  I am a big fan of supermarket but during lockdown, I was forced to visit my neighborhood shop for my groceries and veggies purchase. Even now I prefer to buy few things from neighborhood shops only, for the rest visit supermarket.

Lockdown friends

It may sound weird but Yes, I made few friends during lockdown phase. They aren’t new people, I had their contact details all this while in my phonebook but never got the opportunity to talk to them at peace. During lockdown, I reached out to most people in my phonebook with whom I almost lost touch and I was able to connect well with few of them. Sometimes all it takes, is just a “Hi” to connect someone and I am happy, I did that. These friends will always be special to me, as they were with me during my most horrific times.

Now we are in unlock phase and I hope we continue this way only. I don’t want to witness a situation like “Lockdown” ever again in my lifetime.

From Lockdown 1.0 to Unlock 1.0

After experiencing 4 versions of lockdown with lot restriction and hardships, government has finally introduced unlock 1.0 version to bring the economy back to tracks. Starting June 1^st 2020, strategies of unlock has been implemented to ease major chuck of restrictions barring few to get people‘s life back to normal. Can we lead the same life, we led before lockdown 1.0? I doubt we can

Lockdown 1.0 was announced in the nick of time and people had no time to either understand or embrace lockdown, I was no exception either as it was my first experience of lockdown like many others. I was under the assumption that life will be back to normal after lockdown 1.0 but I was totally wrong.

Lockdown 1.0 was the scariest for me as I was all alone in my flat and I didn’t know how to deal with it? First, it was announced all of a sudden and I didn’t know what’s in store for me, as there was lot of confusion due to lack of clarity on the entire situation. What I feared the most that I may not be able to get veggies and my drinking water can, clubbed with the feeling of being under house arrest.

First week was very difficult for me especially during evening time till I started to sit in the balcony for an hour to ease off anxiety. Fortunately I had milk and a vegetable shop, just next to my building so I didn’t had to worry about them but was really skeptical to step out of my building to buy them. By second week I had no option but to come out of my building to buy milk and vegetables.

Towards of end of lockdown 1.0, I had adjusted with the current situation and made changes in my life style too. So when lockdown 2.0 was announced I was least effected, as I knew it would happen and the learning’s of lockdown 1.0 came handy to me.  I ordered grocery from Flipkart as I was about run out of few of them and visit to any supermarket to buy them was a distant dream then.

Then lockdown 3.0 came with some relaxations and few shops opened in my locality, major attraction of 3.0 was the opening up of liquor shop. Huge queues were seen in front of liquor shops for almost a week and stocks were replenished quickly to meet the growing demand. Life started to get normal in this lockdown as nearby vegetable market opened again, with more vendors and options for vegetables this time.

Finally lockdown 4.0 was announced which gave more respite to people and shops. All shops were thrown open for people along with considerable ease in movement of people within the city. It was in this version of lockdown that I visited supermarket to buy some house hold stuff. I still remember how terrified I was, to step out of house to buy things but I had no option,  as I was not convinced, with the offering of online stores so visit was mandatory.  This trip eased my fear to a great extent but also forced me to believe that, I have to live with corona now.

During these four versions of lockdown, countries economy was badly hit and the way forward was grim too, due the virus situation and steep rise in cases. Government had also run out of money to meet the growing demand of treatment of corona positive patient’s in hospitals. More versions of lockdown will only add to the misery of the people and nothing else, so government decided to initiate the process to revive the economy.

Unlock 1.0 was the first step towards revival of Indian economy and to reinstate normalcy back to people’s life. There are still few restrictions which people have to abide by like masks in public places, use of sanitizers and physical distancing ruling the chart.

I waited all this while for unlock 1.0 but today when it has become a reality and I am still scared to step out of my house except for necessities. I don’t think life will ever be normal unless vaccine is found and people are injected with it. Corona induced fear and stigma is hard to leave the minds of people anytime soon is what I think.

Irresistible offers on groceries at Flipkart

I have been buying groceries from DMart and veggies from More all this while before the implementation of lockdown in India, while most of my friends resorted to online platform I was happy visiting stores and buying things myself. I felt connected to my purchases, if they are hand-picked by me. It may sound weird but I am like that.

But with lockdown in place, I doubt I can visit any of those supermarkets soon so I decided to buy groceries online like my friends. Since it was my first online grocery shopping expedition so I decided do some research online to grab some amazing deals online as DMart has pampered us with their irresistible deals through their retail stores all this while.

Soon I figured out that Flipkart is offering great deals in grocery purchases, they were almost similar to DMart’s offer, this revelation was little shocking for me, so I decided to test it myself. I added all grocery items required by me to the cart and when I was about to place my order an, offer caught my attention which was too good to be true. It was for 1rs, I can buy 1kg rice and 500gms toor dal each but I can only buy 1 quality of each of them so I bought them for 2rs flat.

(We have buy groceries minimum for 500rs for Flipkart to deliver it to us. If we order above 1000rs delivery is free else need to pay 50rs towards delivery charges)

I ordered all the items on Friday 1^st may 2020 late evening, after spending almost an hour in identifying best offers for my purchases. In order to complete the order I had to make the payment in advance, which I did promptly and my order was processed with the delivery date being 4^th May 2020. I was given the option to select delivery slot and I opted for 7.30 am – 12.30 am slot.

On 4^th May 2020, sharp at 8 am I received a call from my Flipkart delivery agent enquiring about the address and he requested me to stand at the entrance of my building with carry bags to collect the items. After 10 mins delivery van came in front of my building and the delivery guy push a cart towards him and filled my bags with the items ordered by me.

Back in my room, I checked all my items with the order placed by me, it was perfect.  I wanted to check the quality of items I ordered for 1rs in specific and I was surprised to see the price tags on them, they all were highly priced. Both rice and dal came in good packing with product information along with seller’s details. I should say this was best offer I have got so far from any online platform.

I wanted cornflakes of a particular brand and I was unable to find it at most online shopping portals and the ones which had them did give any lucrative offers but I found same brand’s cornflakes at 50% discount in flipkart, another striking deal.

I was so mesmerized by the amazing deals and prompt delivery by Flipkart, that I informed most of friends about Flipkart’s amazing offers clubbed with my personal experience, that my friends decided to check Flipkart once before placing their grocery orders.

Few of them called me back to say “Thanks” as they were able to get good offers at Flipkart and have saved money, through which they will treat me once the lockdown ceases. Most of my friends tried the 1rs offer out of curiosity can are happy with products delivered to them.

Big thanks to Flipkart, for pampering us with amazing deals during this pandemic situation, when they are overburdened with orders along with logistical issues. Special thanks, to Flipkart’s delivery team who is on road endangering their lives for our safety and for us to remain at home only.

How to overcome the stigma attached to Corona?

Corona pandemic has brought the whole world to stand still with countries across globe in lockdown mode, in order to contain the spread of virus and also to reduce the rate of fatalities. But while executing lockdown and forcing people to adhere the norm, governments failed to impart proper education to the masses about corona and few things attached to it, as a result of people developed their own theories which has now become stigma attached to covid patients and for the people treating them. I would call it failure of communication machinery while focusing only on one aspect ie controlling the spread of the disease but ignoring the aspect of educating people about the disease too.

This stigmatic situation has lead to lot of problems, like doctors and nurses treating covid patients were not welcomed back to their houses, some nurses were even forced to vacate their accommodation. But government agencies and few Samaritans came to the rescue of health workers and offered them shelter and food. Now government has collaborated with hotels and lodges for the accommodation along with food for health workers. Doctors and nurses can stay here peacefully without any threat to their lives.

Due to the humiliation of covid 19, people are reluctant to come forward to testing or share their contact tracking details with health official because they fear for the well-being of the members, they have come in contact with and this is posing as a big challenge for the agencies.

A doctor, who died in line of duty while treating Covid patients in Chennai, was denied burial in his locality and he was buried at far off place mush against his last wish. Now this doctor’s wife has appealed to the state government as well as the Supreme Court to honor the last wish of her deceased husband. Even crematoriums are refusing to cremate dead bodies of covid patients, another challenge for authorities.

Even people who have defeated Covid and are back home, their neighbors or society members are still reluctant to talk or keep any kind of contact with them, as if they don’t exist for them. This is also posing as a challenge for the authorities.

It is now that the government has realized about the challenges faced by them due to the stigma attached to covid and its lack of awareness among masses, coupled with lot of other issues which may crop up over time. Officials have now decided to address this issue on priority to stop the growth of covid stigma along with disease.

Recently a high rise apartment in Mumbai shed off the stigma of covid patient and welcomed a covid recovered patient back to their society amidst clapping and even shared the video on social media. While doing so, the norm of physical distancing was adhered to, as precaution is better than cure.

Now with plasma therapy in place, I think more people will shed their inhibition towards covid recovered patients as people will need the blood of cured patients to beat the disease which can bring some respite to people fighting the disease. Even the survival stories of cured patients will be inspirational for all those who are fighting with the disease in hospitals.

Corona patients have already suffered a lot because of the disease now they want our love and compassion, so let’s give it to them in abundance. So together let’s just shed out the stigma attached to covid and spread love and harmony in these testing times.

Life in rural and urban India during lockdown

People usually want to live in big cities where they have easy access to amenities through which they can lead a comfortable life, in comparison to villages where life is still lagging behind when compared to cities. But lockdown has reversed the thought of people residing in urban area towards rural parts of the country, wondering HOW? Let me tell brief it through few pointers

Living space

I live in my modest apartment in Bangalore and my only connect to outside world is through my balcony, every day I spend an hour in evening sitting there to experience nature.

My parents back in Kerala can walk around the house or the road just in front of house and can enjoy nature to the fullest. They have more access to greenery and fresh air than me, I so wish at times that I could be with them during lockdown.

Stepping out of home

Since Big Basket ditched me, I have to step out of my house once in a week to stock up veggies for the week, in order to follow the norms of lockdown and stop the spread of virus.

My parents haven’t stepped out of their house to buy veggies as they have grown some in our house and rest are given to them by their neighbors, which are also home grown. They have access to organic veggies which I don’t have and I have less option for veggies too here in Bangalore.

Spread of Virus

Cases are increasing in cities due population congestion, as people stay in close proximity with each other which increases the chances of spreading the virus.

Cases are declining in rural India and in places, life has returned to normalcy in comparison to their counterparts in urban India.  Pathanamthitta was one of the worst affected districts during corona outbreak in Kerala, has now returned to normalcy. Pathanamthitta graduated from red zone to orange zone and is slowly progressing towards green zone.

Containment Zones

Containment zones are places, where people have been detected by Covid 19 and their localities have been sealed to control the spread of virus

.

Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Bhopal are few of the cities where containment zones have been created and more cities are joining this list with each passing week.

I doubt anyone of us have heard about containment zones in rural areas, I hope it continues that way.

Jobs stability

None of us can predict what awaits us after lockdown is lifted but few people in cities might lose their job or have to undergo pay cut.

In villages many people are self-employed so chances of them loosing job is very fragile.

When lockdown was announced people rushed to their home towns rather from hometown to cities that itself tells the tale.

Dissimilarities between Bigg Boss and Lockdown

Most of us are an avid fan of the reality show Bigg Boss, where few people stay in a luxurious house for over 90 days and do certain tasks ordered by Bigg Boss to entertain the audience. During their stay in house, these celebs are cut off from the rest of the world and have to do all household chores by themselves. Weekly elimination is conducted based on the performance of the participants and only one person emerges as the winner of the show. Since lockdown was announced many people considered it to be similar to the reality show but there are lots of dissimilarity between the two like.

Housemates

In Bigg Boss contestants share the house will people who are complete strangers to us and have no clue about their personality or habits. It leads to adjustment issues and fights which sometime blow out of proportion.

In lockdown we are in our houses with our family members whom we know well which enhance out comfort level and reduce chances of fights.

Connectivity with outside world

In Bigg Boss house participants don’t have access to mobile phone, TV or newspaper, so they aren’t aware about happening of outside world.

In lockdown we have access to mobile phone, TV and newspaper which keeps us updated about the happenings of the pandemic globally as well with our family and friends.

In-house supply of essential commodities

All essential commodities like groceries, veggies, fruits required by the inmates for a week is provided by Bigg Boss free of cost in Bigg Boss house.

During lockdown people can either rely on online delivery or step out to nearest grocery shops to buy essential commodities and YES they have to pay for these purchases.

24*7 under camera

Bigg Boss house have numerous cameras which captures all activities of house members during their stay in that house, even when they are sleeping.

I doubt anyone of us would have installed CCTV to cover all activities being conducted in our house, if so, bedroom will be spared for sure.

Get paid

All inmates of Bigg Boss house are paid a fixed amount to for their presence in the house.

During lockdown we are not being paid anything additional other than salaries credited by the employer of salaried class.  Businessmen and freelancers are surviving on their saving as the economy has come to standstill now.

So be cautious next time, when you compare lockdown to stay in Bigg Boss house.

Challenges of Migrant workers

From the moment lockdown has been announced in India, migrant workers are one who have been most affected by it. Initially nation wasn’t aware of their plight but when news channels featured their stories, we came to know about their challenges which were not only nerve gripping but emotionally draining too. Thousands of laborers took to the roads to march to their hometowns, which were hundreds of kilometers away, as they didn’t had money and food to survive through the lockdown period. For them death was inevitable either by Covid or by starvation, hence the exodus of migrant workers began.

Taking stock of situation government agencies flung into action to provide both food and shelter to migrant workers, NGOs across India too came out in support of migrant workers to provide them with meals. Joined efforts of both government and NGOs yielded result and exodus of migrant workers stopped. But after the extension of lockdown, things took ugly turn when migrant workers took to the roads in Mumbai, Gujarat and other parts of the country. Migrant workers are being criticized widely in social media for their act but let’s take moment to understand the reason of their act and then reach to any conclusion.

Food

Without food and water neither human beings nor animals will survive for long, that’s one of the concerns of migrant workers as they aren’t sure of whether they will get their next meal or not? Migrant workers are being fed with two meals a day, one in afternoon then at night, that too with no assurance when it will stop. There are times when some of them retire to bed empty stomach too.

If migrant workers are assured of seamless supply of food and water all throughout the lockdown period, things will be better for them as their major concern for survival will come to an end.

Wages

Most migrant workers are paid wages on daily basis, i.e. they get money only for the days they are at work and not for non-working days. Now with lockdown in place migrant workers are not sure, will they be paid wages or not? Most of them have run out of their savings now, while others don’t even have single penny with them. With no surety about wages or revival of work, workers are worried about their livelihood and of their family members who are dependent on them for monetary support.

If clear guidelines are passed to the migrant workers about what lies ahead for them after the lockdown, focusing mainly on their wages and chances of employment, anxiety of workers will be reduced considerably.

Shelter

With lockdown in place, many migrant workers have taken refuge in under construction buildings or in make shift arrangement done by their employers. But all these places lack electricity, sanitation and hygiene which irritates the laborers more and they do the unexpected by getting on to the roads.   

If migrant workers are provided better living conditions, then they might stay back at their place.

This is the time when we should try to spread harmony among masses and not hatred, migrant workers also form a part of it. So let’s all of us join our hands together to comfort the plight of migrant workers to make them feel more safe and secure in which ever city they are.

My first visit to Supermarket during lockdown

Before PAN India lockdown I bought most of the groceries to sustain for a month barring few things, which I thought could be purchased later on as usual. So now during lockdown I am having a smooth sail and with a veggie shop close to my place, I don’t have to think much about them either along with milk.

But there are few things which I can’t get at the shops near my house, which made it important for me to visit the nearest supermarket close to my place.  I ran out of sauces, spices, coffee powder and few other item kitchen items. With no other option in hand I decided to visit the supermarket, for a change ditched my vehicle and went on foot, it will suffice for my cardio too.

Towards the entrance of the supermarket, there were few people standing in queue, all following the norms of physical distancing. All of them were in their face mask and gloves, for a moment all seemed like surgeons barring their white aprons. Staff at supermarket allowed very few people to go inside and do the purchases at a time. I think it’s due to crisis situation now that people were quick with their purchases and were out of the facility.

Before my entry to the store, I was asked to sanitize my hand and get in, for a moment I couldn’t believe I was in a supermarket. My last visit to supermarket was a day before the lockdown, very long period for a person like me, who frequents supermarket often, once a week is mandatory.

Most things had run out of stock at the store, like Maggi, frozen peas, ice cream, butter, brown bread and sauces, I think production and distribution issue. For a moment I thought my visit to the place had gone vain, till I found 250ml bottles of sauces, it was great relief for me. I picked one bottle each of chilli and tomata sauce, along with some biscuits, spices and curd. I didn’t find soya sauce, Maggie and brown bread, was little disappointed but in this situation can’t complain about it.

At the billing counter, I witnessed few people have stacked their trollies with things as if the store won’t open the next day, panic buying. I think I was the only person to buy bare minimum things actually required by me currently.  After clearing the bill, I exited the facility to walk back home to be in quarantine again. All throughout my entry and exit to the store, I maintain physical distancing and didn’t even talk to anyone at store, except staff for some guidance.

This visit to the supermarket will always be memorable to me, it was one of most unique experience of my life so far which I don’t want to counter again. Second thing was all customers treated fellow human beings as aliens which were weird but necessary during lockdown.

Innovative home quarantined ways adopted by my parents in hometown

PAN India lockdown has brought lot of changes in the lives of people, as all of us are trying innovative ways to keep up engaged than just lying on bed. No one can lie on bed for long time especially when people have led a busy life, parents are worst effected during this lockdown. Firstly they are concerned about their children who are in far off places and secondly they want to spend time productively than just being tuned to TV.

Due to lockdown my parents are unable to go out frequently as they used to go before, thanks to the imposition of travel restriction.  But my neighborhood is very helpful towards my parents, as a result of which I am able to spend my days peacefully here in Bangalore. My neighbors buy veggies, medicines or any other thing needed by my parents, a good neighborhood is always a boon.

This is the season for jackfruits in Kerala and with lockdown in place, people who have jackfruit trees are sharing the seasonal produce with their neighbors. My parents often get jackfruit from our neighbors but due to non-availability of fish they don’t prepare the traditional jackfruit recipe of the state. Even they can’t finish these jackfruits by themselves in one go and it can’t be preserved for long due to its perishable nature.

Then my parents decided to make jackfruit chips, as it has long shelf life if preserved properly and it consumes good amount of time to make it and it will keep them busy for a long time, especially during afternoon times. Most difficult part in the entire process is first to de seeding the fruit and then slicing them down uniformly. My dad is an expert in the entire, he doesn’t need anyone’s help, if required he can perform the task all by himself. But mom and I pitch in the de seeding process and the slowest amongst us in me, as I rarely do it and not used to the process but enjoy relishing upon the recipes.

These days whenever I call them they are usually busy preparing jackfruit chips and it serves as their evening snacks for tea, so they don’t buy snacks from shops now. My parents are the not the only one to make these chips but most elderly people in our neighborhood is doing the same now, few who have banana plantation are making banana chips too.

I am really happy for my parents and the neighborhood for the innovative way adopted by them to make jackfruit or banana chips at home during their quarantined period. Skills mastered by them during their youth days have come to their rescue at these testing times and important aspect of it is that, they are indoors most of the time, which is a great sigh of relief for me.

I have requested my parents to pack the chips safely for me till I meet them next as I love jackfruit chips, my all-time favorite snacks. I hope till the end of quarantine period they make good amount of chips for me and my friends.

Challenging times during lock-down

To fight the pandemic of Corona virus, 21 days nationwide lockdown was announced in India, it was the need of the hour to control the situation and to reduce the rate of fatalities. Challenging one but with no other option people decided to abide by the norm for safety of oneself and their loved ones, whether close or far away.

But there are few instances when people are in challenging situations to take calls owing to emergency situation in family, like someone’s demise or someone breathing his/her last breath. Everyone wants to pay final rites to the departed soul or see their loved ones before final adieu.

One of my mom’s friend’s brother expired in Kerala two days ago, after being bed ridden for long time. His only son (Rohan) is in Gujarat and my mom’s friend is in Uttar Pradesh with her family. Rohan tried to get pass to reach Kerala to perform final rites of his father, as a result of which dead body was shifted to mortuary.

Yesterday, when I called my mom to check, whether Rohan was able to reach Kerala or not?  My mom informed that Rohan has decided not attend his father’s funeral as there are lot of challenges in his path like, he has to travel through 3 states to Kerala and in current situation, he will put in home quarantine for 14 days mandatorily, only then he can perform the final rites and all this while his dad’s body will be in morgue.

Taking stock of these situations Rohan took the most unthinkable decision one can imagine of including me, which was to cremate his dad at the earliest without his physical presence there. He has entrusted this responsibility to his family members back in home town to ensure things go smoothly with just one request, ie to connect with him during video call in order to witness cremation proceedings.

I have no words to describe his act of bravery, well thought about decision but extremely difficult to execute it, at least I don’t have the endurance to do something like this and I hope am not in a situation like this either.

This is another side of lockdown where people are being forced to take emotionally dreadful decisions, I can just pray to the almighty to give courage to such people to sail through such testing times and together we defeat Corona.

Let’s not forget NGOs warriors

Lockdown in India has affected the lives of many people adversely, worst are the daily wagers, who earn and eat on daily basis. Now with no job and money in hand they are forced to fight a battle against starvation too along with corona.  Many people weren’t aware about their plight until NDTV brought their stories before the nation.

Nation was so moved by the plight of these people, who were forced to be without food that both government and NGOs thronged in to action to ensure, no one goes to bed without food.  Many NGOs took up the responsibility to provide food the needy abiding by the norms of the administration.

There were challenges before the NGOs before they could venture out to support the needy people, first of course was funds, then grocery, data of people, resources for both delivery as well as for cooking. Funds were collected through facebook postings and WhatsApp share, since all payments were digital. it was directly credited to the account of NGOs.

Once funds were arranged NGOs were able to procure grocery easily but the biggest challenge for them was to find helping hands to prepare food, pack food and deliver them to the needy people. When the cause is to serve manhood, there’s nothing stopping you, same was the case with NGOs too, since most people were at home with no worthy activities to get involved in, they extended their support to these NGOs.

Once the food was read NGOs had another challenge waiting for them, which was to identify areas where people are stranded without food and non-restrictive movement of their vehicles within city. Since people had pooled in to support NGOs in their cause, they took up this responsibility too, so that food is prepared on priority without thinking about delivery and areas to be delivered.

With the support of masses NGOs got details of people struck at various places across city and NGOs also procured passes for their vehicles to move freely within city limits. With all such details in hand, NGO workers and volunteers ventured into roads to feed food to the needy people. 

During their distribution process they came across people stranded at both railway and bus stations with no support from anyone. For them volunteers from these NGOs were no less than messengers from god, some even that felt their prayers have been answered.

People who went to distribute food to these people on the first day, were so moved by witnessing the difficulty of these under privileged people, that they decided to be available for these people on daily basis till the lockdown period. It really take lot of courage to do that because these volunteers are at very high risk of getting infected by the Covid 19, as they come in contact with lot of people on daily basis and  travel extensively to feed the needy.

Though NGOs are doing their best but I can’t there mention in media or any other channels, which saddens my heart, hence I decided to do my bit by writing about them.

Great work to all NGOs across and their staff for working for serving mankind as always, keep up the good work.

Should cops resort to caning or innovative ideas?

Ever since lockdown has been announced in India, cops have taken over roads of the country to maintain law and order along with physical distancing. But within 2 days news about cops high handedness of became headlines of all leading news channels, newspaper and in social media platform like Twitter, where people vented their anger, tagging all top officials of police department along with PMO and Chief Ministers of respective states. 

Within no time this news spread like fire in jungle, to add fuel to the fire were some of the videos where cops could be seen caning and abusing people were made viral on whatsapp, which made the matter worse. Taking advantage of the situation, people created numerous videos on various applications and shared them through facebook and whatsapp.

There were instances of casualties also due to caning in some parts of the country, as a result of which few cops were suspended and departmental inquiry was initiated against them. If proved guilty, cops may be punished too, as these acts leads to violation of human rights too.

Taking stock of these situations DCPs of few states flung into action and issued orders to the force, not to hit people. Now cops on road were in a dilemma, to figure out innovate ways to keep people thronging road unnecessarily without using sticks.

In Chennai, cops used corona virus structured helmet to scare people away from road and it worked for them, it was applauded by people too. This was very innovate thought by Chennai police to scare people through virus replica, as till date people have seen the virus only in mages not in structural form.

In Kerala, after the initial caning now cops make people to do sit ups, if they are found wandering in the city without valid reasons. When I watched the sit up video recently, it took me back to my school days. I am happy that there is no violence and cops have decided mellow down their anger on masses to handle situation calmly.

Bengaluru police commissioner asked this staff to talk politely with people when on road and not to resort to violence of any kind. He is addressing press on daily basis and taking all preventive measures to avoid any outcry among masses and they cooperate with the administration during these time.

I am happy that now there is no violence on roads now else situation could have gone out of control for the government to manage and the entire purpose of lockdown would have failed drastically.  But thanks to the timely intervention of top brass of police officials they not only managed the situation but also instilled the faith of people in police department once again.

I am against all those people who venture out of their homes unreasonably just to risk their life along with their family members. Action should be taken against them but in a way where they understand their mistake and is ashamed of their deeds, just the way kids are taught in schools.

Challenges of stamped home quarantine people

We have been hearing and reading lot of stories about people who are officially home quarantined venturing out among the masses and endangering lives of thousands of people around them. General public criticize home quarantine stamped people without identifying the reason from them to defy the order of government. I would like to share few challenges faced by such people with a real life incident.

Supply of essential commodities

People suspected of Covid 19 virus are also human beings and have full rights to lead their lives just like any one of us. It is duty of the society to ensure that, home quarantined people are supplied with adequate food and essential commodities so that they don’t venture out to buy them and be harassed by people.

A friend of mine shared the plight of a home quarantine stamped people at his native

An aged man in his 60s had returned to his home town, just before the lockdown after meeting his daughter, he traveled by train for both his to and fro journey. The moment he got down at his station, he was asked by officials to be home quarantined which he agreed to.

But next day he was seen at a super market buying groceries for him, when people noticed the stamp in his hand they immediately altered officials and they reached the spot. When this man was questioned by the officials, his response was, I didn’t had food at home as I am alone now and couldn’t with stand starving for long, hence ventured out. Health official and people were so moved by the plight of this man, that they assured him 3 meals daily all through his stamped home quarantine period. Fortunately for him a neighbor of his volunteered to support him for his meals.

Not all stamped home quarantine people are fortunate like this man.

Attitude of society towards stamped home quarantine people

Societies attitude also play a vital role in ensuring that stamped home quarantine people are at home only. Don’t discriminate them or treat their families as untouchables rather rendered your support to time at their testing time. Check with them about the challenges faced by them and extend your helping hand to them which will make them obliged of their duty towards the society. 

When stamped home quarantine people are ill-treated by their own society they become rebellious and wander out freely to vent their anger which is not good for the society at large.

 Mental agony

Duration of stamped home quarantine is 14 days provided one doesn’t develop any symptoms of Covid 19, else the duration will increase. During this time quarantined people is always under constant mental agony interpreting their journey of the days ahead, as chances of them testing positive for Covid 19 is high in comparison to others. This makes them irritative by nature.

So it is the duty of the people of their surroundings to ensure that they don’t panic, during these times and don’t take any drastic steps. Because we don’t know when a home quarantined person may slip into depression or commit suicide.

These are few of the probable challenges faced by stamped home quarantine people and if we are able solve these challenges, we might instill people to be at home both safely and happily. Because together we can we will overcome this Covid 19 pandemic.

Kudos to NDTV for helping migrant laborers across India

Lockdown of services across India for 21 days was announced suddenly due to fast growing Corona positive cases in India and it came as shock to all Indian citizens. But there were few who were really hit hard by this decision of government and they were the migrants workers spread across country.

The moment they heard this news, first thing which crept into their mind was to head back to their homes reason all of sudden they were rendered jobless and didn’t had the money sustain through the lockdown period. As most of them were daily laborers who earn hand to mouth and this situation was new to them, as this has been implemented for the first time in the country.

To make matter worse all forms of commute like railways, buses and even flight services were stalled during the lockdown period, this added fuel to the fire of the plight of migrant workers. They don’t even have money to pay rent for the month and are not sure how long will it take for them get employed again? Equipped will these problem in hand they decided to march towards their home town irrespective of the distance.

NDTV was first one to draw the attention of the nation towards the plight of migrant workers, as it’s not an easy task to walk hundreds of kilometer, that too without food and water. Some even has kids with them and few were just months old, which made the journey cumbersome but it didn’t deter the spirits of the laborers.

The moment this news was aired by NDTV, nation came together to help the people and they tweeted about it in social media a lot. Thanks to the joint effort of NDTV and the people of India, several state governments came forward to the respite of these people. Now buses have been arranged for all them to ply them back to their hometown and they have been provided with food and water at shelter homes where they are eagerly waiting for their buses.

I read a lot in media that WHY are these workers going back to their home town rather they can stay back in which ever state they are currently as they are risking their life along the ones in their villages or cities.

The answer is these people are worried about their future as they have no means of livelihood to survive in cities now and they are not sure how long with this situation continues to prevail and have no one to rely upon during this crisis. Though state government is trying everything possible to comfort these laborers and their family but in this panic situation all they want is to be at home with their loved ones. It’s more of an emotional calling of this workforce which is forcing them to go back home at any cost.

The most important question which is being missed by people is “Who will feed these people on the 22^nd day” ie the day when PAN India lockdown ceases. Can someone ANSWER this question, I doubt. These workers are actually thinking about their life after the lockdown period, to which none of have an answer.

So let’s not judge them and respect their feeling.

NDTV once again you did a commendable job, you were the flag bearer of this story which is now being covered by all leading news channels, print media and the political circle, which led to quick resolution of the issue.

NDTV, hats off to your team and their unique story coverage in the country

Ways I spend my free time during self-quarantined period Part -2

In my last blog I wrote about few ways which keeps me occupied during the self-quarantined period, continuing the legacy I am going to share few more ways in the second and final part of the blog. All these are my personal tried and tested methods.

Build rapport with family members and friends

In our busy life we don’t get time to sit and talk peacefully with our family members and friends as we have multiple thoughts running in our head then. Now when we have the time, let’s use it connect with our family members and friends and try to cover up for all the time which was devoid to them.

This can be done in 2 ways, for all those of you who are with your family, take time to talk to your family members individually, it will help them to feel connected with you and will help you to build new connections with them again.

For all those of you who are away from your family, you can e-connect with them through phone calls, video calls or any other mediums, I urge all of you to call your parents daily during these time without fail as they will be worried about you all time. A call from you will make them relaxed and consoled during this testing time.

When was the last time, you spoke to your friends at length?  I think months ago, who’s stopping you from calling your friends now to speak your heart out, just like school or college days. Or you can also update the contacts of your school and college friend’s in the alumni network.

Clear files from your laptop and hard drive

There are lot of unwanted files which would have piled up in our laptop and hard drive, since clearing these files takes lot of time and energy it is usually neglected and when we are overburdened we clear files randomly in haste. At times we end up deleting important file too. Use this time to do the herculean task for cleaning files from your electronic devices.

While deleting photos and videos, you can share some interesting clicks in your family group and relish those memories.

Build business connection

Business contacts play a vital role in business expansion and relationship building activities in the long run. Lockdown period can be used by you to connect with professionals in LinkedIn or any other professional website. Professionals will be able to spend more time with you now and you can discuss your proposal at length with them, who knows when situation normalizes you may bag a contract.

Work on your start up idea

Any start up idea need lot of time, research and preparation before presenting it to the investors. This time can be well utilized by you to work on your start up idea as time is enormous and since you are passionate about it so time will never be a constrain especially during your me time.

I hope some of the ways suggested by me is beneficial to you, if so do let me know about it in comments.

Stay home stay safe

Ways I spend my free time during self-quarantined period Part -1

India is under lockdown till April 15^th 2020 to fight the pandemic caused by Corona virus and to emerge winner in the fight against this virus. Together we can and we will, initially it was difficult for me also to stay at home all time and still be engaged. But now I have figured out few ways which keeps boredom away from me, so thought of sharing them with other too.

Web series

Don’t jump into conclusion, hang on till you hear me out completely, I am not talking about the set of new web series being launched on a daily basis rather I am taking about the ones you have already watched. I had watched few web series in hurry and wanted to watch them again peacefully when I am at ease. So I am utilizing this opportunity for the same, few web series which I wanted to watch were “Made in Heaven, Code M, Mission over Mars” to name a few. I watched them again and I enjoyed it thoroughly even more than my first watch.

Movies

Movies like DDLJ, Sholay are the ones which we can watch anytime. I am a big fan of action thriller movies and have a collection of them in my hard drive. Now I am using this self-isolation phase to go through those movies again. If you watch movies of your genre which have already collected you will never bored of it, just try it and let me know about it

Books

I was an avid reader once but due to lack of time, my reading habit declined drastically but I still used to buy books in the hope that one day I might read them. Only time when I read book is while travelling, that time am relatively and devote my self completely to the book in hand.  So in case you too have some books which you haven’t read or have read partially, find those books and go on a reading spree.

I have just mentioned 3 because they keep my busy but I don’t overdo any of them, ie I do them in moderation, watch one web series at time, then a movie and finally the book. This way I keep variations between my activities and I am inclined to repeat another activity when one cycle is complete. 

My gratitude to Indian Railways during Corona times

Corona or Covid 19, I think no one would have heard of term ever but will remember it till their life time now, thanks to the current pandemic situation globally due to this virus. Thousands of people have lost their lives globally and the numbers are just increasing daily. I just hope together we are able to defeat this virus globally by being self-quarantined.

During the initial stages of this outbreak I was at my hometown, that time I wasn’t much aware of the situation because numbers of cases were negligible and situation was under control then. Since my work at home town was not completed I decided to extend my stay by 5 more days. Those 5 five days were very crucial as by then Corona was termed as pandemic by WHO and travel restriction were enforced by the government.

Due to some unavoidable circumstances, I had to travel back to Bengaluru and for the first time I was in the dilemma, whether to travel or not? The situation was more intriguing on the day of travel, till I reached station, I was just waiting for a reason to cancel my travel.

But the moment I reached station, I felt I was in safe hands, they was Covid 19 medical desk at the entrance of station and place was being cleaned by disinfected at regular interval and safety instructions were being announced through speakers. The station had deserted look with bare minimum passengers at the platform and all of them were either masked or had covered their face with handkerchief, first soothing experience.

After sometime train arrived and I board it, to my utter surprise there were hardly any passengers in the coach, including me 10 passengers I believe. I went to my berth and settled my luggage, coach was little different today, as curtains and blankets were removed from AC coaches. All I was offered was a pair of bed sheet and pillow but the temperate was moderated, so it didn’t bother me, so it took some time to get the feel of AC.

I realized that janitor of the coach was making periodic rounds of coach at regular interval, initially it was scary initially but later I got used to it. Then the ticket checker came asked my seat number and glanced over my Id card and went back. He was in mask and gloves, I have never seen them with these additional gears as they are mostly in black coat with white trouser, so was little surprised.

By 8 pm onwards rounds of janitor was intensified and they were accompanied by ticket checkers as I could hear their footsteps till 12.00 am, after that I slept.  Morning when I woke up I realized that the whole drill of periodic rounds by janitor and ticket collector was done to safeguard our interest as we passenger were less in number and were scattered in our seating arrangements. So staffs of Indian Railways made regular rounds, in order to prevent us from any towards incident as we were prone to them in this Corona time.

I would like to my express my heart felt gratitude to all staffs of Indian Railways for thinking so much about us passenger even in this pandemic situation. Thank you and keep up the good work

Social media platforms the most effective tool for escalation management

Brand’s reputation plays a vital role in attracting more customers to itself and reaffirming people’s faith in them in the long run. It plays more important role in service industry which is fragile and easily targeted by people for their service offerings. With advent of large number of e commerce firm’s things have become more complicated now. That’s the reason organizations have started giving more importance to escalation management.

Today most organizations have internal escalation management team to address the concern of their customer efficiently in a short span of time. Organizations try their level best to resolve issues offline so that customers don’t vent their anger online at social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Reason is the large scale visibility of these platforms and its harmful effect on brand value.

Based on my person experience I can say that Twitter is the best platform for quicker resolution of concern and I would like to substantiate my stance by the most recent incident countered by me.

I ordered an item from an e commerce firm on 5^th February 2020 with the probable delivery date as 8^th February 2020. On 8^th Feb, I missed delivery guy’s call and when I called him back after 5 mins, he didn’t respond to my call. I tried to call him 2 -3 times, since he was not responding I decided to wait for his call back.

He is didn’t call me back but I was astonished by an SMS which stated, that the item has been delivered to me and it was collected by me personally. I was furious at the receipt of this SMS as the item was prepaid, I immediately called the customer care to apprise them of the situation and they requested me to wait for some time.

After 24 hrs I called customer care again to check the status of my complain, this time too they requested for more time for resolving the issue. Hence I decided to approach the appellate authority for quicker resolution of issue, here also they requested for more time without divulging exact time frame.

Since there was no response from appellate authority even after 48 hrs, I approached them again, this time too they tried to appease me with same old punch line “give us more time”. I was literally drained out by now, hence I decided to vent my anger on Twitter and the response was amazing.

5 minutes after posting my concern on Twitter, I was asked to DM (direct message) my concern to them on Twitter along with my number which I did promptly. I post my concern on Twitter  by 11 am and by 3 pm I received call from the delivery guy inquiring about my package and address one more time, he apologized for this conduct with an assurance that my package will be delivered to me by 7 pm.

At 7 pm delivery guy called me once again to inform me that he was on his way to deliver my package, in another 5 mins, he was at my palace and handed over the package to me personally this time and apologized for the entire fiasco.

I wondered if I had posted my concern on Twitter initially only, this issue would have been solved on 8^th February 2020 itself. This is not the first time that Twitter has been instrumental in resolving an issue, I have seen similar response in past too and the same has been resonated to me by my friends as well.

So my question is “Why do we need offline platform when online channels are more effective in resolving customer’s woes?”