Lockdown stories: How a Vizagite is finding joy in little things indoors

As the whole country has been under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, people are restricted to stay at their respective homes. Following suit, most of the households in Visakhapatnam are observing self-isolation. Yo! Vizag brings you the stories of Vizagites during the lockdown. Throwing light on her takeaways from the outbreak, Sandhya Godey from Vizag, shares her story. 

Vizag lockdown stories ft. Sandhya Godey:

“Ever since COVID-19 struck the world, life hasn’t been the same for most of us. We have gone from slight interest, when it was limited to Wuhan, to shock and disbelief as the body count rapidly went from double digits to triple then four and then to five digits. The tiny virus spun its web around the entire world.

By the time it reached the Indian shores, we were lucky to learn from countries that were already dealing with the high rates of community transmission.

Tough as it must have been, the Indian Government took the extreme step of putting the country under lockdown except for essential services. The test run of conducting the Janata Curfew gave all of us an idea of things to come. The “Five minutes at 5 pm” to applaud and appreciate the health care professionals, government officials, police force, and other professionals working in the frontline, was a great idea to bring awareness of the magnitude of the pandemic. I stopped my maid midway through the loud clanging of the spoon against a steel plate to ask her why she was doing this. Very sweetly she told me that she had heard a WhatsApp forward that said that the clanging would stop the virus from entering our home. I quickly educated her on the objective of the five minutes of applause. I felt the clanging was more forceful and louder after that! 

Once the call for lockdown came, it only made sense to follow instructions. All our office staff were asked to stay home after giving their salary advances as they needed to stock up their homes with basic food and other essential items. By then, I had already set up wash stations at several points in and outside the home. My super senior citizen mother-in-law lives with us. I invited my mother to my place for better care and control. For my mother-in-law, who needs round-the-clock nursing care, I requested one of the nurses to move into our home to minimise the risk of infection. Then I sat down with the nursing help, and my domestic help, and explained the severity of the virus, its mode of transmission, the high fatalities around the world, and the risks involved in going out of the house. I informed my domestic helpers, who live in quarters attached to my home, that I would take care of the daily food requirements for their entire family for as long as this lockdown period lasted.

I stocked up on rice, dal, vegetables and fruits and locked the main gate. I now know that one of my maids doesn’t like potlakaya (snake gourd), another likes brinjal only if it’s fried, and the nurse likes her food spicy and oily.

My mother keeps herself busy with her Art of Living kriyas and other such stuff. I have convinced her that forward messages are not necessarily true. My closets have all been sorted out. My husband is dividing his time between all the rooms in the house doing whatever he does. Zoom and Netflix have their uses. I have convinced one of my students to take classes over the phone and make use of this downtime. My main gate is still locked.

I enjoy the calmness around me, the dirt-free environment, the meaningful conversations, and the slow pace of life. I have certainly become more mindful about the decisions I make now. Witnessing the flocks of birds fly every dawn and dusk, the butterflies fluttering about in my garden, I feel blessed for having everything and everyone in my life. Whatever it is and whoever they are”.

A scientific manager by profession, Sandhya is the founder of “Speaking Chalk”, a 50 member voluntary effort to teach life skills and spoken English to underprivileged children. She won the Eastern Bhoomika Iconic Woman’s award in 2018 and has been the Chairperson of the Waltair club ladies committee for the past two years. She is also the secretary for the Women’s wing of Visakhapatnam Chamber of Commerce and one of the founding members of Vizag Junior Literary Fest.

As we bring you this special series of lockdown stories of Vizagites, share how you have been coping up with the current scenario. The comment section below is just for you! 🙂