Hemantha Kalam - 91 'COVID Blues'

It was from the 23^rd March, 2020,  as I remember, that the periodical Lock-down in Chennai, India started to prevent the infection of the dreaded pandemic COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease-2019). It’s now 9 months since I am locked down at home. Since I belong to the endangered category of a senior citizen (it appears that, for once, the country is showing some serious concern for the senior citizens) I am regularly advised not to step out of the house. Children are abroad but they monitor our well being on a daily basis. My mother who is a very senior citizen and my other siblings who are not so senior citizens are just three kilometres away from me but it has been many days since I could meet them at my parents’ place as against my almost daily visits to her or at least as frequently as was possible.

I am summing below as to how I could and had to spend my time at home.

 

It’s now been 270 days

That the wily COVID

Put paid to our jolly ways

Driving me sad and mad

 

To ensure that money

Made its way regular as income

I continued on my

Working, from the home

 

Forgot the shoes

Nor any formals

It’s mostly shorts

And just old T shirts

 

Woke up a bit

But slept a lot

Read and wrote

Without a stop

 

No salon going

No hair cutting

No beard trimming

Whatever, only by self doing

 

There may or may not be

In accounts, enough cash

But, there always are plenty

In the sink, of dishes to wash

 

Masks and gloves

Identity obscured

Sanitisers and disinfectants

Bottles emptied

 

Peeled, cut, diced vegetables, kneaded dough

Whether an expert or not though

Cursing this once forced furlough

Looking all the while for a different shore

 

Newspapers were read

Two days hence

For fear of COVID

Stale though the news

 

Connecting the disconnected and dear ones

On Google Meet or MS Teams

Periodically once

Adjusting to everyone’s times

 

Kindle, Netflix, WhatsApp, YouTube

Technologies much appreciated

Filling the hourglass with story and blurb

Old friends and Chandamama be much obliged

 

Bhutan, Brunei, Eastern Europe et al

Travelled all places in virtual

On Heavy Trucks the Outback of Australia

Satiated my travel appetite as a victual

 

Hundreds of thrillers and Forensic files

Watched the crime to bide the time

Became bored after a while

Watching again and again the same

 

Weary of the rapid advance

Caused by the Goliath COVID

Waiting for a quick deliverance

By a vaccine, hoped to be a David

 

It is time for delivery by nine months

But with the threat of a new strain

There appears no deliverance

Effective vaccine or no vaccine

 

Disease, death, hunger and poverty

All appear to be same for susceptibility

Hope the New Year will bring in sanity

But if only there prevails responsibility

 

May the year 2021 be better for the mankind!

 

So Long!

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya and Nepalese), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic and Sudanese), Shukriya (Urdu), Sthoothiy (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai), Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish), Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea), Malo (Tongan), Vinaka Vaka Levu (Fijian)

 

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India