The Constant is the New Change

The Constant is the New Change
Published on

The sentence with the words Corona and Covid is the new chant for all, right from the senior to the kindergartener, and why not? The virus has brought a change in each one of our lives, a change which no parent, elder, companion, or teacher could have enforced. Many parents may breathe sighs of relief as their wards are safe at home without causing them anxious moments by staying away late into the night, or driving as if they had to reach the other end of the world. Some eighty days ago I would grab a hand tissue and my cell phone before an evening walk. If it were a drive it would be a frantic search for the driving license in any one of my multiple bags. Nowadays before setting foot into my house compound I look around for the mask, and many a time forego buying an urgent item from a doorstep vendor as the mask would be playing hide and seek.

So now, during Covid times or rather the mask era, this breed gets divided into two lots, the worried and the nonchalant. I am yet to see the worried one - perhaps it is the one with the knitted brows - but the nonchalant I have encountered many a one. The mask is on the chin and the oral shower is turned on every now and then. If ever I see that type amongst vendors I feel the old-revulsion-turned-to-Covid-jitters and I do a rightabout turn from my front door with my money and empty fruit basket. Covid has not disciplined such a strain and the penalty is applied only if a law enforcer sees the breed in action. I read that spitting glasses are being given to patients but a spittoon has been mentioned in the annals of history, and how well it will be put to use in these troubled times will turn into history for the future!

Apart from this the Covid has brought in social distancing, a thing unheard of by us Indians, who thrive in socialising and closetting with one another. While abroad I used to be impressed that people stood at least three feet apart while in queue, whereas here that space would be utilised by two more barging in from the sides.

My! Are we not an out-of-the-box thinking lot? Like ever since the helmet rule has been enforced, we see the helmet dangling from the moped handle, or held by the pillion rider to be plonked on the rider’s head when a law enforcer is spotted, or kept safe in the boot, or worn casually without the clasp. Similarly the mask dangles around the neck and the tight fitting ones frame the chin like a black beard making a funny picture amidst serious times.

Apart from these two glaring changes, there is no change in my life routine since two months. No casual outing change, no visitor change, no travel change, no function attending change, nothing. Each day simply rolls into another one of cooking, offering of prayers, watching TV, reading, writing, and some yoga! The change is noted only when I occasionally call up a near and dear one, and then the topic is invariably the Covid. The changes are only in the vagaries of nature - a day too sunny, a day with pleasant showers, a day when the wind blows in the dry leaves, or a day when the jasmine creeper and the hibiscus plant have sprouted their first flowers. Constant has become the new change.

Herald Goa
www.heraldgoa.in