In a Lockdown: Kasaragod Diaries
10/04/2020
The 17th day of the lockdown in the world’s largest democracy was hot. I saw an article about Boris Johnson getting recovered from COVID-19 in The Hindu daily. Yesterday, I called my grandmother. She is a sexagenarian who is against smartphones. When asked why she wouldn’t change her old Nokia cell phone, she says with that iconic laugh of hers, ‘that new technology is irritating for me, besides for a person under whose feet the 6-foot soil is near, I cannot afford that much luxury’. But she laments, ‘I am afraid of my children’s future in Modi’s India….’
Kasaragod is the third most affected district in India, with above 150 reported cases. It is the northernmost district of Kerala. For the last 17 days, my wife and I were in our rented house, approximately 6 hours from our native place. My wife, who quit her job six months before due to a variety of reasons, seems more pleasant these days, and once she said,
‘I am happier these days because you are here, looking at me, earlier I used to feel alone in this house, and I had to wait a whole day to see you after 9 am.’
Then with a sigh, she continues, ‘we could have gone to our native home….’
With public transport and trains canceled, there was no way to go back.
At 9:30 am, I heard our gates opening, and I saw the black dog that was chained wagging her tail and the white and brown younger one running towards an old septuagenarian who was on his way to our compound.
When he walked towards the trees surrounding our rented house, I saw their leaves moving with the wind feeling their beloved farmer’s presence.
Our rented house has a water supply from a bore well source. As bore well water is doubtful to get contaminated by microbes, we used to drink the water without any treatment. However, later we installed a Reverse Osmosis equipped water purifier in our rented house owing to the water’s hardness. It started misbehaving when the lockdown started rendering us without purified water. When I called the maintenance guy, he told me that Unilever had suspended their water services due to lockdown. Hence, in the evening, it became my routine to go to our septuagenarian neighbor’s home, which is 150 meters down the hill, to collect a bucket of water for drinking purposes. After getting the bucket of water to my house yesterday, my wife started laughing,
‘Anyway, my husband would be getting back his six-pack as the lockdown gets over.’
I went back to return the bucket to my neighbor.
‘I don’t know what we will do about the cashew nuts and coconuts?’ his sexagenarian wife asked, looking at me.
I shook my head helplessly.
‘For how long will the lockdown last?’ asked his wife.
‘I don’t know Kasaragod won’t be open till April 14th’, I said.
‘Why did those people from Dubai spread this? We all are suffering because of them’, his wife said.
‘He was worried that he would be caught with the smuggled goods that he escaped from airport authorities without the checkup for COVID-19’, I said.
‘Cursed man!’ exclaimed the wife.
‘The Muslims here are bad people,’ said my neighbor.
‘It’s their ignorance caused due to lack of education and misleading religious leaders immersed in sloth and gluttony; they believe money is everything in life,’ I said, ‘this is the reason why BJP is on the rise in Kasaragod district.’
‘You were staying somewhere near that Chithari River previously, right?’ asked our neighbor.
‘Yes, in Poochakkad,’ I said.
‘You won’t find any Muslim there with a government job. When asked about their job, all would say in unison, Gulf!.’
‘As if staying in the gulf for some time is a qualification.’ I said, laughing.
‘It’s time for Pinarayi Vijayan’s speech,’ said his wife, Lakshmi, and went inside their home hastily.
‘Ok, I am going.’ I said.
‘Do you have any plans to get settled here, Muhammed?’ asked our neighbor Gopal.
‘Let us see,’ I said, smiling.
The twilight was darkening, and the Asian Koel sang his tune, searching for his beloved.
‘Your mother called,’ said my wife when I returned to my rented house.
‘Why is she calling every day?’ I asked.
‘All of them are worried about us.’
‘I don’t understand. Why are our families worried? We have gone through immense mental trauma previously. Do you remember Poochakkad?’
‘That is true, but now everybody is watching about the COVID-19 situation in the media, and Kasaragod is in the spotlight, so naturally, they will be worried.’
‘You are right.’ I said, remembering a famous statement,
“Lives that we have not experienced are just folklores to us.”
