What it is to be in a pahadi lockdown?
A nest of my own, with walls of my color.
Snow covered peaks in front a strong cup of coffee brewing next to me.
Quietly do I sit and be on my own.
There be peace and bliss of my own.
Such a perfect setting have I always wanted to read until my eyes pain, or to write a book until the last chapter remain!
Well always wanted, and then here I get it, so did the rest of the world.
However, am still fortunate enough because when most of the population is struggling to a have a balcony or a window to look at the sky. I have seven layers of mountains unfolding in front, morning sunrise and evening rains. Indeed a perfect setting!
I had issued four books, hoping to finish them all. Penned down article heads to write them down. And bookmarked a couple of DIYs. Now lemme tell you what I actually did. Read the cover page of the book and posted it on my status. Scribbled two pages and re-quoted an old excerpt. Net limit being 2 GB a day. Well I do not consume all of it. It’s just too so slow to buffer a DIY.
So what remains are those 25 downloaded songs played 25 times a day!
My cinnamon, cardamom and ginger stock have exhausted. I even woke up late and couldn’t grab some milk at the grocers. So today were three mugs of green tea. Simple isint! Opening the box, taking out a tea bag, tearing it off and putting it in my mug. By my fourth the process got so mechanized that instead of brewing the tea bag I ended up dipping a “dhoop batti” stick inside.
My stray pet 'Diamond' is also upset with me. For I am no longer feeding him with the bakery biscuits that I disliked and he loved. My designer chapattis no longer interest him and he has begun practicing social distancing from me.
Yeah! That’s what it is about. These are the times of social distancing and here we are on day three of lockdown. As they say, somebody pressed the pause button.
So what it is to be locked down in the mountains. My little pahadi town is a population density too low to see people crowded anywhere. A person coming from any city, finds the place empty, wondering if people have gone away for a while. I remember reaction of outsiders, expressing, “Where is everyone?”
Even a super busy day appear quiet here to a person coming from a city! Think how it must be looking now when its official to stay indoors.
Now what does an ideal day here looks like, under such a situation?
The morning hours are no different than the previous days, they are still the same. Everyone on their roofs or terraces drying clothes, sipping tea or reading newspaper. People here have a culture of drying everything out in the sun to prevent any dampness. These days they are quite free so everything inside comes outside on the terraces. Clothes to quilts, mattresses, shoes, pulses and grains, containers, toys to books. You name a thing and its drying up here on my roof. To my shock day before yesterday my neighbour had their LED placed inverted on the roof!
Now this is a mammoth task to keep you occupied the entire day. First you take out everything that’s inside. Wipe the floor, cook breakfast and eat, dry yourself on the mattresses you laid outside earlier: hashtag take a power nap. And as the noon descends place everything indoors and settle it down. Once done take a nap on the settled mattress.
Well it is the routine after the noon nap that has gone widely affected. There is another beautiful culture in the pahadi town, and it is in most of the other such towns and villages. It is that everyone is outdoors in the evening. And everyone is with their gang. Men with their group of friends, women with their gang and kids playing with their age group. That’s when the town comes alive. Until it gets dark, people remain outdoors playing, walking or just hanging around. Lockdown have limited people to their balconies and terraces.
They do have coffee and mountain view, but barely are they writing or reading a book. Something a person viewing from a city life must have imagined doing.
It has been the third day of complete lockdown here and I see people getting restless. What do they worry about? Is it the fear of getting sick?
But then my neighbour just said, “we wont get affected with any of the Corona.”
My confused look made him add more. “Arey we have 33 crore devi devta, if one God is behind one pahadi, it is enough to save everyone.”
Okay, so that was his logic, lemme sync all the information I just received.
He further added, “Since you are also a pahadi now, don’t worry. Have this methi paratha, methi and flour both are homegrown in pahadi hawa (fresh air).”
Guess for few it’s not the disease, but it’s not just three days of lockdown worrying them either. Officially the town was shut since Monday, but repercussions began to reflect since two weeks. As cities close, pahadi life gets shut too. Vehicles do not come uphill, nor do the daily need goods. The place in no time will be short of basic grocery items. Worries do differ, inadequate medical facilities, survival accessories, kids stuck in cities or a stagnant economy. But this is no different a situation than other places in a world.
But then what is different here is that despite the quietness and emptiness in the town, none fear isolation.
None! Not the one with family or the one living alone. There is life and love for each one here. A non pahadi doesn’t fear being isolated if conditions become worse.
Indeed, I didn’t write, read or did a DIY. My net is stuck with no Facebook or Instagram installed on my phone. But I was merrily occupied learning handstand, playing carom with the next door kid on a shared roof or enjoying the pahadi tales.
And right now, I just got served with a nice adrak wali chai from my landlady.
Undoubtedly, all you need is a loving heart if you get lockedown in a pahadi town.
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