My first road trip from Bangalore to Kerala

I have been driving bike and car, for more than a decade, still I prefer someone else to drive vehicle so that I can sit next to them. My friends were always against this habit of mine but would always give up, the fight with me and take the driving seat. I enjoy sitting next to my friends but if situation arise, I will drive but it has to be the last resort.

Some of my friends had warned me that if there’s situation, when I have to go for long drive, what will I do then? My response was, I will hire a driver. But never in my weirdest dream did I think, I will counter a situation, when I will be forced to undertake a road trip due to family emergency. I was petrified with fear the moment I learned about the road trip and I didn’t have any other option other than the road trip. So with a mixed baggage of emotion, I decided to go ahead with the road trip.

When I started my journey from Bangalore, my legs were trembling with fear and I wanted to go back to my room. Even the roads which I took on daily basis were no less than highways for me but I was determined to reach my first destination, my friend’s house in Salem. That was my only motivating power which kept me going.

I was little nostalgic when I crossed Karnataka border and entered Tamil Nadu, as I was leaving the city after an year’s gap, due to pandemic. Since it was my first road trip, my friends hap kept few systems in place to track my location and also for distress help. So in a way I was not alone in my journey, all my friends were travelling with me, love you guys for your unconditional support and always be the way how you are.

I was under stressful driving till I reached my first stopover in krishnagiri, I got out of the car there, swapped my shoes to slippers (was finding it difficult to drive), drank some water, informed my friends about my stopover and enjoyed the beauty of the place for some time. (My friends had done some research about such stopovers and informed me, so it was easy for me to stop, there for some time and relax).

My journey after this stopover was little smooth as the initial fear had vanished by now and I was confident about my drive forward. My other accomplice during my long and monotonous journey was my pen drive which had few songs, since it was an unplanned journey, I didn’t get time to add songs. I had few songs handy in my laptop which I transferred them promptly to my pen drive. I felt music was therapeutic as it kept me calm and composed while driving, without diverting my attention. 

Every kilometer covered by me brought little smile on my face as the distance was reducing and it instilled little more confidence in me, that I can do it. My joy had no bounds when I reached my friend’s house at Salem, I was much behind schedule but he was happy to see me. I could clearly see a sense of pride in his eyes on my achievement. Then we had lunch together after a long time and spent rest of the day in planning my journey for the next day, as I had to cover around 450 kms in a single day.

My friend suggested the best route for me, after analyzing multiple options Google and said that I should begin my day at 6 am nest day, so that I can reach home at least by 6 pm (inclusive of all breaks). Full 12 hour’s drive, had send shivers down my spine but my friends were confident that I will achieve this rare mile stone like a cake walk. God knows from where they so get much confidence about me, when I was doubtful about myself.

Next day, I left my friend’s house exactly at 6 am and got glued to my phone screen for the location ahead. By 10 am I entered Kerala border through Walayar check post but I still had, a long distance to cover as per Google maps. I had my breakfast there.

Kerala has many single lane roads so I had to be cautious while driving, as I am accustomed to driving on two or three lane roads. This in turn reduced my driving speed and increased travel time. By 2 pm I reached Cochin and was starving too. So had my lunch at a restaurant in Cochin, food was good. I still had four more hour’s drive left to reach home.

Again I started my drive through the roads of kerala to reach Konni, my hometown. At one place, nearly 30 kms away from Konni, I got confused with maps, fortunately I found police patrol vehicle there. I went to them and asked the way to Konni and they guided me the route.  After that I didn’t stop anywhere till I reached my destination..

Finally by 6 pm, I drove the car into my house and got out of it, to end the road trip journey and begin quarantine journey for next 7 days.

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.