A year ago on March 17, 2020, the city of Mumbai was shut down due to the pandemic. A week later, the entire of India was put under a lockdown. In this one year, the virus pushed humanity in awkward directions: many existing values, concepts and practices have been altered and new ones have emerged. At the School of Environment and Architecture, we started collecting stories of these altered / newly emerged values, concepts and practices and called it COVID Glossary – a compilation of terms by which humanity was engaging with the virus and its times. Put together by 200 people from SEA over the past year, this glossary records the fragilities, the agilities, the resistance and other things that characterize us as human beings.
AABA
He was not important to anybody, he was never counted in the population survey, he never went for voting. He used to spend his entire day on a footpath. I just saw him some or the other day while playing on the ground. We used to play and he used watch us from a distance.…
Keep readingANTICIPATION OF THE UNKNOWN
A feeling very close to anticipation has riddled me throughout this period, irrespective of whatever I was going through. At some point it was the return to a normal, at another it was a vaccine, or even the worst I had ever seen. When a screen becomes your window and things happen so unexpectedly, it…
Keep readingANXIETY OF RESUMING JOBS
This too shall pass away.. A month after the complete lockdown was announced my mother got a call from her boss saying that the laboratory would be resuming as usual from the next day. When she broke the news out to us there was complete silence. The first thing I said after the silent pause…
Keep readingAWARENESS
RC: Yahaaa pe subah morning mein ek awareness van chalta hain, woh announce kartein jaata hain agar thode thide symptoms hain aapko, agar halka sa sardi zukhaam hain, ya mild fever aa raha hain toh aap test karane mat jao, home quarantine ho jao, isolate ho jao. Matlab, yehi symptoms hain, bilkul smell aur taste…
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ARCHITECTURE JOBS DURING LOCKDOWN
In a seemingly contradictory turn there appears to be considerable…
ART WORKSHOPS
Started taking workshops online in my free time. Made my…
A BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION
Experience of Covid is very different for each and everyone. The people who live in small villages or towns or in big cities have very different experiences of Covid. I live in Palghar. I used to travel from Palghar to Borivali everyday. So I was not getting time to spend with my family. But from 22 march lockdown started and everyone stuck into their houses. From 22 march to I guess April ending we didn’t…
A PERTURBATION OF A ROUTINE
Everyone has stopped moving, commuting, travelling of their daily tracks. A small halt of this lockdown has brought many changes in our daily practices, which was once a social life for me has become an anti-social one. It’s common to look at social media as a medium for communication and comfort for many in this pandemic, but not for me. I stopped the use of social media since a long time, and I believe it helped me in this pandemic. It allowed me to think and not consume. For once I realized how much work my mother did in our…
ADAPTING AND ADJUSTING TO HOME ARREST
From listening to the barks and chirps to the screams of ‘kuch toh kaam kar’! From fighting and irritating everyone to bearing the virtual ignorance, From sudden calls so unexpected to hearing the non-stop caller tune of “Corona virus ya covid 19 se aaj pura desh ladh raha hai. Par yaad rahe hume bimaari se padhna hai bimaar se nahi.” and then fixing time to talk, From singing and dancing around to frustrated and bored, From niche mat jao to arey mask toh lagao, From khana mangvatey hai to khud pakkao aur khao From constantly hogging to ‘ab bhuk nahi…
ALIEN FROM MUMBAI
I came back to my home town just a few days before lockdown with some clothes and thought of having happy and nice time with my family and closed ones. After resting for a while at home I went out for walk, seeing my neighbors standing there I thought they would greet me nicely but noo, instead they told me you have travelled from Mumbai and you should stay inside and stop spreading virus (as if I was corona positive…
BALCONY SHENANIGANS
Balcony spaces have become the new spot for activities, which earlier fell under the outdoor…
ANXIOUS MINDS TALKING
The amount of stress and anxiety which shoot up due to all the fear and myths of COVID 19 was insane. The rapid spread of COVID and the potential of large numbers of people exposed to it, and the impact with the seriousness which it got on our life changed our everyday routine and contributed to a particularly high anxiety level. The fear even when one touched something outdoors and be tensed for the next…
BEHAVIORAL CHANGE
So, I didn’t experience many changes in my street where I lived. Since the place is not largely crowded as if you are sitting outside on a veranda and looking on the street you’ll notice that nothing has changed. There’s nothing like a pandemic situation or a lockdown. However, this situation changes within two months cause the first case was found. Then everything had become strict. The stores are all closed for many days, transportation…
ATTUNING TO MYSOPHOBIA
The world was in fear of the entire covid situation in the beginning, but with months passing by humans tend to accept and adapt to changes, decreasing the fear gradually. But for my dad this fear multiplied at an extent of him developing a phobia for it. As a symptom OCD gets exhibited in literally his every action like repeatedly washing hands, re-sanitizing same surfaces to be double sure, overdoubting every precaution and hence overdoing…
BONDING WITH FAMILY MEMBERS AND HOUSEHOLD WORKS
Before the time of Covid, I and even my family members had no time to engage with each other as all were busy in their work but in this Covid situation the engagement or the conversation within the family members have increased. Even earlier mom used to do all the household work basically all the things related to cooking but…
BLURRED IDEA OF PRIVACY
With the pandemic, all life activities have been confined to our homes. While many used it to make up for the time when they fell short of spending it with their families, for some it seemed almost as a requirement to use it to bond. Amidst all of this, the idea of privacy, somehow got overlooked. With the space of time, the chaos of overlooked privacy arose, more than before. Although we ha a personal space physically, idea of having…
BLURRING BOUNDARIES
Earlier there were two worlds the outside and the inside, The outside here refers to things beyond our homes-the schools, colleges, temples, markets and other public spaces. The lockdown forced us to rethink the idea of home where everything got assimilated inside the four borders of the house. Also interesting to note is the people started claiming spaces where the windows were always coveted. Our entire world got confined to…
BLACK MARKET
My uncle’s oxygen was decreasing and the doctor suggested immediate hospitalization. We must have contacted more than 15-20 hospitals from Kandivali to Andheri but everyone refused the availability of a bed. After a contact via my friend’s uncle we got him admitted. The doctor prescribed Remdesivir injection immediately. All of us had decided to cover…
BLACK MARKETEERING
A: I have a friend, who’s a pharmacist so she was telling me ke remdesiver hain..distributors ke through aata hain….. Ki woh joh black mein aa raha hain woh distributors se through aa raha hai. So I have another friend who isn’t properly, so what he has contacts with a distributor ke paas se woh…
CENTRALISED SYSTEMS
PS: yes yes.. basically, that’s, that’s another, that’s another, but also that all existing in the system, but what I’m saying is these are older systems which are functioning. See what is what is important to understand things like like today, mera kaafi baar jadga hota hain ….. Kaafi log bolte hain ki Bombay mien…
COLLAPSING OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY
The country that boasted of being the world’s pharmacy in March discovers a month later not only are the ‘Made in India’ vaccines short in supply but also that there wasn’t enough basic oxygen requirements fulfilled to deal with the second deadly wave. India was called Hanuman that will avail the world with the Jaadui…
CHANGES
The fear of Corona inculcated some covid Habits in our daily life like exercising or yoga, taking bath after coming from outside, doing gargle with turmeric water, taking steam, drinking kadha, sanitizing at the door before entering in the house, vitamin C, turmeric milk and many more things. It not only made us conscious about our habits but also about spaces and people around us. Temporary working space in the corners of the house so it doesn’t interrupt rest of…
CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT
As everything came to a halt all of a sudden, one would think that things were going to slow down. Everyone’s in their homes, people will take time off to cherish what they have, spend time with what they are and just be, for sometime. Not really though, as days progressed, we started looking for newer and newer ways to spend time, pass time, kill time. Looking at it from a Macro scale, I would often think of the pandemic…
CHANGING PERSPECTIVE
This lockdown has slowed down time for me. Especially when there is no work or lectures. This slowing of time made me start observing various different things throughout the day. All these different things are of various different scales and…
CHANGING PROTAGONISTS
Being a movie buff, the lockdown gave me an opportunity to explore several films, which I had been wanting to watch for a long time, but didn’t have the time to. One day, I was lost in the wonders of…
AGGLOMERATION
The current pandemic brought in something a lot of us had never experienced, a nationwide lockdown. With that came in a lot of shops being closed down and long queues to buy essential supplies. There was a lot of panic…
CAUGHT IN A TIME WARP!
What is 1am and what is 1pm? What is a Sunday and what is a Monday? What is even the present? It feels as if I’m stuck in a never ending loop and living the same day over and over again for the past 9 months. There is undoubtedly nothing…
CHANGE IN THE BEHAVIOUR
My father got a heath leave from his duty two months ago, and his behaviour and involvement in this house has increased. Not only my father, me and my brother have also engaged in all the activities which my mother use to do. In the morning, from sweeping to help…
CONNECTED DISCONNECT
This lockdown period has brought all of us to rely on the digital medium to connect with our colleagues, friends, and social circles. Distances have collapsed and the interactions across the globe have increased. Communication now happens across buildings, neighbourhoods, cities and even countries with a flash of a second…
COVID AFTERMATHS
Corona pandemic had a drastic change on not only me but it really affected my day to day life too. Hearing about the effects of this disease on the people with low immunity, I was the one really taken care of in my entire family. I being a person with…
CONTACT WITH THE WORLD : HUDDLING TOGETHER
Webinars, Making sense together
CURSE AND A BOON
Covid came to us as a curse and a boon. Undoubtedly, the harm that Covid caused to lives and economy was tremendous but we should never forget, every coin indeed has two sides. Covid taught us to look back at our past, understand our present and work for our future. It connected us to the world but in a very different way. People found different ways of experiencing life at home. Screens and windows were the medium to experience the world. The screens helped us to meet our friends and families, whereas the windows showed us the reality. The reality…
CONTACT WITH THE WORLD : NEW FRIENDSHIPS
While the immediate physical context shrunk, the world came closer. We were now talking to peers from across the world in webinars, online juries, online workshops, biennale walk-throughs etc. on ideas of space, justice, life and living. One was not restrained by travel budgets time schedules etc. This may open up ideas of new kinds…
CONTACT WITH THE WORLD: CROSS CONNECTIONS
Thesis Reviews for final year students were conducted online and Zoom links shared on social media and relayed live on YouTube. While this allowed invited discussants from different parts of the country and the world to participate, it also opened up pedagogical discussions to a diverse public like never before. While Zoom recorded an audience…
CONTACT WITH THE WORLD: SMUDGING BOUNDARIES
SEA City, a Fortnightly lecture series, which were a local affair at the school, open to public has a small budget that invited mostly scholars and practitioners from Mumbai and a few from the country, The event was attended by people from the city but many were deterred by traffic jams in Mumbai and the…
CORPOREAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL REALITIES
This picture is quite allegorical of several aspects that have become central during this period of lock down during COVID 19. An old USB extension chord I purchased about three years ago was “brought back to life” during COVID since my new laptop has only two USB sockets. The extension – designed to look like a man whose limbs taken on the extra USB extensions, was my rescue for multitasking and connecting more than two…
COVID E-TAILING
As the lockdown continues, we are able to notice second-order effects leading to important shifts in the buying behavior of the consumer. Consumer spending is shifting to essentials, health, and hygiene products. Planned purchases are being put on a hold for the time being, and saving cash as much as possible is being prioritized. As consumers are asked to stay indoors, most of the shopping is carried out online. Medicine and grocery shopping are seeing a huge increase in sales,…
CLAIMED SPACES AND EXTENSIONS
As the lockdown kept on extending, people were stuck economically due to the sudden change. To cope up with the situation people started claiming spaces on the footpaths and their neighbourhood. Some of them sold vegetables from their villages. While some made bags and masks. Some houses where altered to food stalls. As people had a fear to eat from outside.People…
COVID AND ROUTINE-
The most significant change that Covid lead was that before it struck, there was no discrete way of doing something or any specific routine that was supposed to follow every time you step out of the house or return. For example: after returning home I remember my mother say “ Do not sit anywhere or touch anything and wash your…
COVID CORRUPTION
Covid has affected the economy of the whole world, but like every time only poor people were suffering. There was no food for them to eat, water to drink all this was horrible. At that time many people came ahead to help them by providing them food, drinking water & clothes. The bus stands in my town were transformed to booths from were the poor…
CORONA ECLIPSE
Novel coronavirus has changed our life completely. It has slowed down the day to day activities and has impacted on the minds of human beings in such a way that they will never come out of this. World has come closer to fight against this virus but humans started moving apart due to this constant fear. Not only it impacted human lives, but also the…
COVID PRAYERS
During the pandemic, we also experienced cyclones and locusts attacks. The Bible hints at locusts attacks being a sign that the world may soon come to an end. Whatsapp forwards with verses from the bible stating the same started circulating around. My grandmother is convinced that the end is near and keeps nudging us to pray so that our souls…
COVID TIMES
If someone told me on 31st Dec 2019, that the world would change in 2020, I would have laughed at them. But that is exactly what happened and the sad fact is that corona doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. However, every situation has pros and cons. In my case, it gave me a chance to learn something new in life, cooking. Checking out recipes on youtube became an addition to the already…
‘DON’T WORRY! BAPPA IS HERE!’
On a random day, at a random time during the Ganesh festival, on a random ride down in the lift, a middle aged woman entered the lift from the fourth floor and randomly proclaimed that ‘the virus is gone! Don’t worry! Bappa is here!’. She got off at 3rd floor and I continued my elevator ride till the ground floor. Instagram…
COMMUNITY SERVICE AND AID
JG: Firstly, my society I mean, of course, this example is itself in a Jain society and they were complete in itself, woh outside world se relation thoda ….kam hain jain …jain societies ka..but jab first cases aa rahe the building mein… my father started providing food, juice and everything and yeh tabhi nahi hua..…
Keep readingDEATHS AND CREMATORIUMS
PS: Actually you’ll can…..y’all can , if there are people who have faced systemic breakdowns where you find that the state is you know.. the states system is really crumbling… not not able to handle… if you’ll have ….does anybody have… Did anybody feel something like that? That is state system is really kind of…
DISINFECTANT CLOUD
Soon after the lockdown was announced in early 2020, white clouds of disinfectant descended onto our streets and lanes. March, April, May is also a time of the mosquitoes – and grey vans ventured out into the city leaving behind tufts of fluffy, white, opaque fog. But these are not odorless clouds. After each “cloud…
Keep readingDIVERSION TO OTHER PUBLIC ACTIVITIES
Instead of preparing for the health emergencies the ruling government had diverted its attention where thousands of people were gathering for the election rallies and bathing in the Kumbh Mela. These series of political rallies saw thousands of people gathering in parts of West Bengal state. People also stood in long queues to cast their…
Keep readingDISTRACTIONS
The virus, at the beginning bought a sudden abundance of free time. And while it was initially treated by some as a time to follow the hundreds of hobbies you could not before, and to complete the multiple half done projects; this zest for life was eventually lost to the…
DWELLING ON HABITS
I considered this time during the year as some time for myself. I started reading new and more and more books which were ‘to be read’ since many years. I started with few of the books in my library, books brought by the other members of the family, and now…
DUCT-TAPED, GLUED, STITCHED
The letter narrates how distracted, clueless, hopeless tech firms are in these times. It also expresses the frustration that one faces with the maintenance/reparation as these tech giants lack resources now and have promised to be open only on certain days. Many might be hesitant about the idea of stepping out to get their broken appliances/gadgets/objects repaired or calling a technician for the same. Hence, they try to adjust and make things work.
ECONOMIC SHIFTS
Pause in the means of financial incomes of individuals led many people to start with new temporary businesses or trades. Similar things happened in the family. Sources of wholesalers selling Sodium Hypochlorite, Sanitisers, Masks, Gloves and other sanitising equipment were…
EXPERIENCE OF PANDEMIC
I recently got tested positive for Covid -19. It wasn’t that serious but I want to share my experience and I want to compare it with what’s happening in metro cities (for example Mumbai) and how government over there is dealing with it. In Mumbai there was no proper facilities…
DOUBLE MUTANT STRAIN
Last year scientists detected a new variant B1617 with two mutations – the E484Q & L452R. This double mutant strain was first detected in Maharashtra. Big religious gatherings, the reopening of most public places and crowded election rallies are being blamed for the uptick. A false sense of normalcy crept in everybody, including the people…
Keep readingDOWN THE MEMORY LANE!
I got a ladder and climbed up on the loft, the least visited space in my home to search for my old cricket bat. I switched on the lights, and saw a chunk of old boxes, furniture and dumped down things up there. The place had become a home for spiders and termites whom I…
EDUCATION SYSTEM
The first of them is the education system, the education system was greatly affected after the first wave was the fixed notion of the classroom found between the four walls which was leading to difficulties. But the simplest option, which came back was to shift online and which was made without any research. So the…
Keep readingEXAMINATION AND EVALUATION
ST: I wanted to speak about that. No, but let’s begin with the marks wala thing, apart from you know, options we can go through, ke kya ho sakta hain… who is or who is a teacher, and recently I was talking to G, when she asked me, my brother is in 12th right now,…
Keep readingEVERYDAY REALISATIONS
The mask has become my new favorite blue jeans, the earphones in the ear to ignore, and the shield for intimate over-expressive expressions of the face. The sufferings of others though made me realize again how privileged and protected I am. It generates guilt that stays there somewhere. For me, we as a family never…
EVERYDAY WAS LIKE SUNDAY
Sitting at home was just boring task for my dad. But mom was very happy as she got 6 more hands to help her right from cleaning house to cooking food- me, my sister and dad helped her. Now we understood how its difficult to manage everything. We tried different recipes, it was just fun.…
EXPANSION
As far as I remember, the lockdown has just opened up. It was the first or the second week, where the medical shops, general stores and the glossary stores were given permission to open. I’d just gone down to take a walk, since being locked up in the four walls made me sick and mad.…
FEAR
After 2 months of lockdown, my kaka started going to work. He works in Saifee hospital but not as a healthcare staff. His work is related to the heating systems of the building. He works in the basement so there was absolutely no contact of the healthcare staff and the patients with him. Regardless, whenever…
EVOLVED PERSONAL DIGITAL ARCHIVES
New folders and organizational methods took space in the laptop with the realization of this not ending anytime soon. Screenshots as a method of archiving.
EXPERIENCE OF THE DOMESTIC
The ideas of power with in the domestic space became more apparent since the ‘lockdown’ locks people into a space which cannot be escaped. This need to ‘escape’ not only makes the idea of home beyond the house much more apparent, but also forces the inhabitants to negotiate spaces as both domestic and work have been brought together. One can ask oneself the spaces women in the house used to inhabit in the house when…
FAMILY MEMBERS TURNED INTO COLLEAGUES:
Staying in a nuclear working family, we all used to stay outside our house for the entire day. We would come home in the evening for the dinner. My house previously was like a rest-house where we would go just to sleep. But now, due to this pandemic, we all are at home entire day, spending time with each other working, eating, resting and gossiping. My home became a multi usage space where we started working during the work hours, playing during the weekends and back bitching about the respective bosses. We started taking lunch and tea breaks, like a…
EXPLORING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
As the pandemic started growing the outreach to certain locations was restricted. As the outreach was not possible it also reduced the scope of gatherings, engaging in outdoor activities, socializing etc for a particular time. After a certain time, the need for these activities showed a rise due to the stagnation of lifestyle. There was a sudden realization that as…
FEELING OVERWHELMED AND LONELY
Before the lockdown started, we all were busy with our lives and often had things in our mind to keep us occupied. Whether it is college, work , journey from home to college, etc. All of a sudden, all of this stopped and our routines changed, and will probably never be the same. I have always had this fear of not keeping myself occupied, maybe because i might get bored or might have thoughts that I shouldn’t be having. In the earlier months, I was glad that we had college to finish our semester 2 and then we eventually started…
FAMILY MEMBERS OF FRONTLINE WORKERS
Ever thought how family members of frontline workers feel like. There is no end to the anxieties of their families and well-wishers who can’t seem to decide what worries them more – the fate of their beloved sons, daughters, husbands and wives fighting the pandemic or the brutality, stigma and public outrage displayed against them…
FREEDOM
During this pandemic many things within myself and my surroundings have changed tremendously. The streets of main road which were busy day and night, loaded with vehicles, dust, smoke are now empty silent. There has been a swap between nature and humans, where more birds can be seen in the sky, animals are seen free…
Keep readingFRUGAL ENTREPRENEURALISM
The pandemic was like a Tsunami that hit our underprepared, underinvested and fragmented public health system. It acted as a venom to the already tanking economy and became all encompassing for our daily wage workers. A dark phase like this needed re-imagination of our systems but unfortunately reactive economic reforms continue to instigate growth and…
Keep readingFRIENDSHIP AND VOLUNTEERISM
RC: So apart from the system… you know the friendship and volunteerism …. Joki… chottey chottey small communities mein hein were created….. Agar hum usko system consider kar sakte hain…toh uske alawa baaki sab fail ho raha hai… i mean … people are trying to help on their own jitna bhi hota hain.. But kisiko…
Keep readingFRIENDSHIPS AND CONFESSIONS
There are somethings I will never forget like the eraser we shared , Your hi’s and sup’s made my eyes glare , All I ever wanted is your happiness It looked so good on you , My soul sleeps in peace and with smile on my face seeing it, I didn’t know what attraction felt…
FRONTLINE WORKERS AND SYSTEMIC BREAKDOWN
ST: I don’t know if my answer is valid or not in this case, but.. I’ll share the experience my father is facing right now. So, in the past couple of months, and then the second wave started to take ….no started increasing… so, he every day he said some another….something happening with the partners…
Keep readingGOVERNANCE AND THE PANDEMIC
And in the midst of.. apart from the reasons stated in the video, Kerala’s better performance can be credited to the extensive powers given to the village Panchayat and district magistrates who administer dispensaries and primary health care centers in their areas. Across the country, entrepreneurs and innovators have devised new apps, robots and regulators…
FEELING OVERWHELMED AND LONELY
Before the lockdown started, we all were busy with our lives and often had things in our mind to keep us occupied. Whether it is college, work , journey from home to college, etc. All of a sudden, all of this stopped and our routines…
GHARE BAIRE
THE HOME AND THE WORLD With the worldwide outburst of the Coronavirus and the nation wide lockdown that followed, many notions of space and time collapsed, giving rise to new spatial meanings and inhabitations. Since all the members of my family are connected to the field of education, the newer modes of communicating and interacting…
FLATMATES = GOOGLE MEET MATES
Having lived with my two roommates and worked with them late night in the first year, it was a lonely experience in the beginning to work at home at night while everyone else slept. As the hours passed, the noise…
GHARGUTI BUSINESS
Losing jobs, starting anew, skillset driving the work and becoming the new ‘job’, a locality starts online businesses and promotions through whatsapp groups, a self sufficient colony gets created. Jewellery Brunch Late Sunday breakfast Cakes, other bakery products Oxidised earrings Nariyal pani from their garden or village home Sarees and bags homestitched Cold stored chicken,…
FOOD DIARY
In the 2020 pandemic the notions around food changed completely.From our daily shopping of food it became storage of food for some but for some it became calculation of what to eat everyday. 23-03-2020 -It was the first day of lockdown in Goa, before I realised the seriousness of the situation the streets were already dark and dead at 7pm. As I went out to buy groceries the shops were already closed and fewer shops had murmurs around their closed gates. The deadliness of the town was increasing as I changed the location to find grocery for next day, finally…
FORCED ACCEPTANCE
This happened during the month of may, Mr. Parmar who recently shifted in our society on rent, used to work in Mahindra and Mahindra in an IT department on a temporary basis. He was suffering from Tuberculosis, on 15th May his breathing rates were gradually…
GOOGLE MEET – PHYSICAL MEET
“You’re on mute” “Is my screen visible?” “I’m unable to hear, lost my connection. Let me rejoin” “You’re frozen” “Arey, you’re on mute yaar” “Go attend that webinar, Rahul Mehrotra is speaking today” “Arey, wear your mask properly, you’re not mute I can still hear you” “Do you have a sanitizer, can you give it…
EXTENSIONS
Shops extended their boundaries to the outside so as to prevent a person from entering the shop as well as for quick purchase. The space of the shop where people entered, felt the coldness of the air for a bit, calming themselves and buying the products has transformed to just specifying the product they need at the extended front and leave.
HALF SALARY
Kitna dena hai usse? Are, mujhe kaise pata hoga, dedo aapko jitna dena hai. Are tumhe kya lagta hai woh batao na. Kitne mahine ka baki hai dena? Aur kitne mahine kaam nahi kiya hai usne? Ho gaye 7 mahine, woh ratnagiri gayi thi lockdown ke ek mahine baad. Abhi ganpati par hi aayi hai. Gao wala tha ussi ka, woh bhi jaa hi raha tha van me, toh isse bhi le gaya tha, warna bata rahi thi 25,000 le rahi the itni si doori ke liye. Entry pass bann gaya uska? Haa woh baaju walon ke yaha aa toh…
GHARGHUTI DECORATIONS- SHARED EXCITEMENT, NERVOUSNESS – VIRTUAL ASSURANCES, WISHES
Sharing things from experiences to nervousness to comforting through drawings or notes without one’s physical presence to an extent where not being on a google meet started to seem not right and made one restless. Somewhere people started sharing more of themselves.
FIRST DAY OF CLASS IN LOCKDOWN
My mom tries to wake me up and I wanted to sleep more, suddenly she said “ Don’t you remember that you have a class today. “I was totally startled and looked for the date. I realized that it was the 1st day of class and I should not be late. After freshening, I took…
GOOD DAYS ARE NEAR!
It just happened in a blink of eye Someone tell me whether it is a lie; Why are we facing such a situation? Of which no one had any imagination; Businesses were shut down Because of lockdown; Government sealed the borders We had no option other than to follow orders; Months by months passed away…
HOME AS A SAFETY BUBBLE
As lockdown becomes the new normal, the home has become a bubble that none of us can escape. It has forced us to engage with the spaces it offers in different ways – home is now the office, the gym, the classroom, the salon, the…
INITIAL LOCKDOWN PHASE
Lockdown made me realized that before this pandemic I have never really lived in my house. The house was just a place where I used to come back to, usually tired and exhausted most of the time, just rest and eat. Most of my life…
HOME IS ALL WE’VE GOT
During the pandemic We had almost stopped using the stairwell. In the evenings we would sit in the backyard, play carrom and cards. we would walk across the garden and use the backdoor most of the time. at one point…
INTERMEDIATE PHASE
When things started getting little liberal and people started going out on streets, what I noticed was there were more men on the streets than there were women or girls out there. Say it was only the men of the house who got the essentials…
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
The second system, which we are talking about, is the healthcare system. While some criticize the government saying that its failure is not just a failure, but it’s a crime against humanity. Others empathise with the government citing that no other government could have shown better results than that is here. So if you look…
HOSPITALIZATION AND MOBILISING NETWORKS
A: Nahi nahi.. My fufa got admitted no.. he got admitted and got 3 beds .. but my fufa and my.. PS: 3 beds for your fufa? A: No one bed for my fufa and one bed for his father and one bed for … so.. My fufa has a sister PS: where… where is…
IMPACTS OF A GLOBAL EMERGENCY
Under the unprecedented global emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world came to a standstill. The pandemic has led to a substantial loss of human life worldwide and posed a challenge to social and economic lives. A large number of companies faced existential threat and the farmers along with the daily wage workers…
HUMANITY VS CORONA
The virus has really challenged humanity. Many people devoted their life for helping people while few people brought in political dimension while dealing with the virus. People died due to corona but many people died due to the fear ,anxiety and by thinking of the consequences of corona.The way a family didn’t get to see…
IDEA OF FAMILY
I usually stay whole day out in college and work as I know that I won’t be able to work at home. I don’t have any specific work space at home and also dadaji restricts me from doing everything. Before lock down, my everyday starts with going to college in the morning and coming back…
IDEA OF GUEST
The idea of guest shaped the home, where the house became a visual object, an image, of the family. This image was a projection of the family’s collectively negotiated idea of ‘presentable’ to the society, which therefore reflected their ideas of society.
IDEA OF TIME
Staying in a joint family it was very evident for me to witness so many mixed reactions from people across all age groups, some happy for not attending school and giving exams, while dada dadi were always restricted and instructed to not go out at any cost while dad the only person who goes down…
IN SEARCH OF A TRUE COLLECTIVE SOCIETY
The Coronavirus has demanded us to look at our behaviour in a way that we are not use to. Human beings often act on their individual interest. However the Covid situation demands for a more collective way of thinking. However it does become difficult to adapt this collective way due to the fact that human beings unconsciously/consciously do things for their personal interests. A very good example would be to only buy what we need.It becomes our sense of duty and morality to act in the interest of society as a whole. Morality in the current society rather than coming from…
INDIA’S BELIEF SYSTEM- A REALITY CHECK
While walking on the street on a Sunday afternoon, I saw a vegetable vendor breaking a coconut to inaugurate his new business. The coconut almost hit a pedestrian, but the person’s reaction was simply a mild reprimand saying “dekh ke se fodo na” followed by shaking of his head. Watching this play out on the street made me realise that India is probably the only country in the world where every person has a belief system. Where a person even like a vegetable vendor will do something auspicious like tying a nimbu mirchi to his cart and breaking a coconut…
IN SEARCH OF DARKNESSES
Living with my family through the lockdown was an experience of being encapsulated within a singular image of being a ‘son’. This image was a continuous disciplinary power that gazed me from a distance, while I slowly negotiated with it, and are settling over time. This settling is a slow changing of the everyday like a spiral, building associations, solidarities through memories, changing through understanding one-another in their nuances. I usually wasn’t with them for a few years you know; living and working in my college; living through the book…
IT’S GROUNDHOG DAY
My brother came back from Australia last night and since then our house has been filled to capacity. 4 humans and 2 dogs and the uncountable invisible forces that got locked within the walls of our apartment. It was the 22nd of March and for the the next 200 days it would still be the 22nd of March. Eyes open, windows open, laptops open, laptop shuts, room door opens, fridge door opens, fridge door shuts,…
KESHAV SRUSHTI VANUSHADHI
My father and a network of ‘swayam sewaks’ are circulating vanushadhis (herbal products from the “jungle”) with their center as Keshav Srushti, Bhayander. I visited a friend of my dad recently, who is a local bag shop owner. He sews and sells his own bag,…
INCREASED URGE FOR MOVEMENT
This phase feels like the never ending phase of my life. Planning for the future is a part of our lives, but when some things actually stop working even after these various plannings and trials we lose hope. This pause has actually made me think about those failures and increased my urge to move on in every aspect. Living in my house after three years for so many months actually helped me think over so many things in various aspects and also this time helped me explore and learn more about myself. This urge to…
KAAM CORONA
The pandemic has changed the working demographic and restructured the paths (daily cycles) of the members of a house. Before COVID, we relied on my mom and housemaid to do the majority of the domestic work. But due to the lockdown, the domestic work is now split between us. Not just our domestic work, our professional work patterns have changed too. I haven’t seen my dad take a day off…
LONGING FOR NEWNESS
After an immense yearning for family time was fulfilled through the lockdown, the longing for unfamiliarity started peaking in. There is only so much you can do or talk to a person about, everyday. Unfamiliarity triggers new thoughts, creates new renderings of the self and as much as familiarity may feel comfortable, unfamiliarity creates an…
INSIDE THE HOUSE OF A COVID POSITIVE PATIENT
what to do next. BMC officers visited us that day and performed COVID test on the whole family. I couldn’t believe the fact that the virus which had killed millions had entered my house. Suddenly my grandfather’s oxygen level started decreasing and he was having problems breathing. But the condition outside was so bad that…
INSURANCE COMPANIES
RS: So another thing which is also happening on the backend, which has come out recently is the ….the insurance companies and I’ve been seeing these closely because my dad is associated with them.. But even their structure is, right now they are… they don’t have anything in their banks so that they’re able to…
LOCKDOWN, PEOPLE AND ACTIVITIES
After finishing my HSC exam on 15th march 2020 I came to daman from Mumbai to spend some days with my family before getting back to Mumbai to prepare for my entrance exams. On 25th march 2020 it was announced that there was going to be a lockdown. My family owns a grocery cum retail…
MASS SURVEILLANCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
As the situation worsens, people are beginning to demand a proper database as the ground reality is not parallel to what is being projected by the government. Video plays “News is coming in, in which the center has told a social media platform to take down posts criticizing the handling of the COVID situation alleging…
IMPROVED HEALTH, PERSONAL HYGIENE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
We have started consciously taking care of our personal hygiene. Every time we touch something we get our hands sanitised, this was never the case before. Food from restaurants or roadside food stalls is also being avoided. This has also lead to families experimenting together with different dishes at home where everyone tired their hands on cooking. Taking care of our health has become important, primarily improving the immune system has become a major concern. People have consciously started understanding…
JOINT, BUT IS IT?
Since the lockdown started last year, staying in a joint family was all fun and games in the initial days of it. As the lockdown kept on extending, spending 24 hours with all the family members became somehow difficult not only for me, but also for my family members. Earlier prior the pandemic, even when…
JOURNEY
Who would have thought that the year 2020 will be like this? It not just gave us a novel virus that literally house arrested everyone on this planet along with the lifeline of Mumbai (Even terrorists failed to stop it). These 10 months felt like a blockbuster film that contains all the masala. It started…
KHAKI WARRIORS
You have clapped, clanged utensils, lit diyas during this pandemic. This halt brought many changes in our daily practices being at home. To buttress the government’s efforts to keep people at home to ensure social or physical distancing, various TV channels have entered the retro-race, replaying popular serials of yore .Many of us explored new…
KHETI WADI
It started with janata curfew and is still going on. As in rural areas awareness is less so people aren’t caring much but for me its been very fearful experience seeing people roaming around in lockdown caring about nothing as if Covid is not going to come to villages. As I have been at home…
LOCKDOWN CLASSROOMS: SCREEN SHOTS, SCRIBBLES, CAMERA PANS, ZOOMS
Design Studio discussions need a one to one dialogue. The discussions on experiential qualities of…
LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS PANDEMIC
What was our life like before all this? You have wondered how drastically our thinking changed after the first rumor; for many, it is just one rumor more, for others, it is the fall of something grave. The things we…
LOCKDOWN CRISES
81 year old Arvind Gupte runs a small workshop that makes cutting tools. His workshop is in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. While the unit makes no profit for Arvind, it pays the salaries of three middle aged employees. During the lockdown, as work dried up and employees stopped coming to work because of lockdown…
LOCKDOWN FERVOUR
There has been a lot happening outside our homes while we are in a LOCKDOWN. 1. The Police has been very brutal towards the people not obeying the curfew timings. 2. There has been a lot of panic buying seen among people across the country and this is the first time that big fat supermarkets…
LOCKDOWN SOLIDARITIES
When the lockdown began, 76 year old Anjali Gupte traveled to Dadar to bring her 83 year old relative, Sarla Pradhan who lives alone in a chawl in Mumbai, home. She was worried about Sarla’s social networks being severed because of the lockdown. She decide to ask Sarla to live with them till the lockdown…
LONGING FOR NEWNESS
After an immense yearning for family time was fulfilled through the lockdown, the longing for unfamiliarity started peaking in. There is only so much you can do or talk to a person about, everyday. Unfamiliarity triggers new thoughts, creates new renderings of the self and…
MULTIPLE DISTRACTIONS- NEW DISTANCED FRIENDSHIPS- AT YOUR HOME THROUGH MINE- REAL TIME TEXTING
While the online lectures, meetings from home paved way for new and multiple distractions, the challenge was to connect virtually with new people, and establish friendships, associations with them, without…
LOST DESIRE
It took time to get used to but sooner or later made peace with it, not everything changed some things were quite the same I would say got more contrasting with time. Kitchen became living and living turned into the outside. Bedrooms seem lethargic at first but again got used to it, open spaces calmed the hell down off me. Small arguments turned into tantrums as weeks turned into months. But then there was this moment of clarity , problems which earlier felt impossible to deal with were now just another phase. There was no going back from there, admiring…
LUGGAGE BASED TRAVEL CHOICES
December 2020 Radhe Bhayya, who must be in his 60s, took a train to Banaras with his family to visit his relatives. Like every year, his family prepared loads of mutter kachori to eat during their long train journey along with other meals. He even offered a few kachoris to us. He booked a 2…
MYTH, HACKS AND RUMOURS
During pandemic a lot of fake news and rumours had been spread across. Also to tackle coronavirus, various futile advices and products were being circulated online. Because the fear of covid-19 people started doing or believing all these things and it had a hideous impact on society. So, I would like to share all the…
MARRIAGES DURING COVID
In the month of December, it’s my brother’s wedding. Because of covid there is a limit to the number of members that can be invited. My family added a few more functions, which we usually don’t keep just so that everyone could be invited. all…
MULTIPLE WORK FROM HOME PLACES DISSOLVING GENERIC FUNCTIONS OF ROOMS
When we shifted to this house, we had one living room, one kitchen and two bedrooms, keeping their functions different than each other. But due to lockdown and covid, we all are working from home sitting in the different rooms, and utilizing same rooms with the same functions. now after 8 months of WFH, we…
MODERN INSTITUTIONS
JG: I have one question, these modern institutions are not specifically running through monetary transactions, like those other examples of black market which you mentioned there are other concepts which are happening within these modern institutions. But the main frame if you look at the larger scheme monetary transactions naa..I mean if you look at…
MASS SURVEILLANCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
As the situation worsens, people are beginning to demand a proper database as the ground reality is not parallel to what is being projected by the government. Video plays “News is coming in, in which the center has told a social media platform to take down posts criticizing the handling of the COVID situation alleging…
MUSINGS IN A PANDEMIC
It’s been over a year living with Covid. I used to be so comfortable walking in crowded spaces, feeling happy seeing people go about their day. Perhaps bumping into an old friend and having a conversation; not having to worry about where they came from, whom they had met, how close they stood next to…
MISSING THE OUTDOORS
When WHO announced Covid-19 as pandemic and lockdown was initiated in our country I went to my hometown and started enjoying lockdown. First I enjoyed it a lot but by being at home only I was mentally not good by just watching series and movies. The main thing which I missed a lot was outdoor…
MUMBAI, THE CITY WHICH NEVER SLEEPS
During Covid time in the beginning I thought it will be fun staying at home and attending college online. But as the time went I started getting lazy and tired with this because all the submissions were online and digital, no physical interactions with friends and faculty. Due to staying inside four walls for more…
NAKABANDI
This practice followed by the barricades created a new phase of ‘sancharbandi’ amongst people. This alertness prevented people from roaming without reason.
NEIGHBOURHOOD FAIRS
In the 22 years that I have lived in 1st Road, TPS III, Santacruz East, I have never seen a horse here. An elephant used to enter these street almost 15 years ago when we used to feed it bananas, but never a horse. Children gathered down to ride the horse. The lane between the…
NEW COOK, NEW FOOD, NEW METHODS
When her in – laws came to their house, Vaishali moved to her mother’s place who was staying with them. There wasn’t enough room for everyone to sleep in the house, since most people had back and knee problems. This decision shifted the domestic responsibilities to her husband, with very little time for him to prepare…
NEW DOMESTIC SIGNAGES
The Husain family has been experimenting with placing reminder notes at various places in the home to aid the condition of the grandma’s Short Term Memory Loss (STML). Since most other members of the family are at work (from home) through the day, the notes help grandma navigate her activities independently. The New Normal has created new situations and thus, new notes have found space in the home.
NEW ENTREPRENEURSHIPS
Ashish is a middle class interior designer cum turnkey contractor for interior design projects. In the lockdown, he lost his business. He started making ends meet by bootlegging cigarettes and selling to his friends for a small commission. Nitin bootlegged cigarettes and alcohol in Andheri. His no. was shared among…
NEW LAYOUT
As the lockdown started, humans were trapped inside their residence. Whole world was summoned inside it. Kitchen started getting used extensively by unexpected members. Living room was outdoor area of the whole house. Most of he day was being spent in the kitchen and the bedroom. Having a bath every time you come from outside…
NEW OFFENCE AND NEW CRIME
The Climate of Mumbai is a tropical, wet and dry climate. Mumbai’s climate can be best described as moderately hot with high level of humidity. Its coastal nature and tropical location ensure temperatures do not fluctuate much throughout the year. People in Mumbai have a regular tendency of fever and cough. It was never a…
NAVIGATING NETWORKS
Covid affected someone close to me, and that’s when it got real. For some context, Z is my childhood best friend. I have known her since we were about four and five years old- and since she is a year younger than me, I always called her my little sister. We grew up like that…
NIMBLE NETWORKS OF CARE AND FRIENDSHIP
PS: That is an interesting question,if one should feel guilty it’s more about you know, and that’s a that’s another thing that’s that’s the second point as to the support systems, which are kind of you know, which are moulding cities and societies and these support systems are under under threat and are crumbling which…
NORMAL TO NEW NORMAL
There has been a transition from normal to new normal. Mask is the first thing that needs to be checked while stepping out of the house. For me lockdown was the time I practiced my hobbies which i was unable to do in previous two years due to studies in junior college. The earlier period…
OXYGEN PLANTS
In October 2020 while India was experiencing its first covid peak the government invited tenders for 150 PSA oxygen plants which are built in to hospital premises but government took eight month just to float the tender. Later 12 plants seems to have been added and its total cost around 201 crore . But Still…
OPEN SPACE OPERATIONS
After the Government introduced the 2 km rule for vehicles, this ground opposite Sunder Nagar in Malad had changed its operations from being a goat grazing space to a container of all the confiscated vehicles flouting the lockdown rules.
OF EPHEMERAL
Lasting for a very short time. At the very beginning of the COVID-19 people assumed that the virus was ephemeral where eventually everything and everyone would resume to their regular mundane lives, instead the virus is still with us and has made the so called ‘Lockdown’ life a mundane life. The temporality of the virus…
OF MULTIPLE VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES_OF SPACE-TIME
The virtual space has opened up a variety of courses to a variety of people. Starting from your mother attending your college lectures to an architecture student attending law webinars. The sense of space-time has changed, earlier when being at two different spaces at the same time was difficult, now it is possible to jump…
POPPING THE BUBBLE
Dynamic to static all of a sudden! Due to this pandemic situation, people are confined to their bubbles. It has become so difficult for everyone to break that bubble and come out and trust people they were fond of before this. Interactions are becoming easy digitally but very difficult in reality . People feel insecure thinking about giving up their personal space and time due to the current situation.Expression of thoughts or ideas have become difficult through other mediums than digital now .But popping that bubble, adjusting to others’ space…
REINFORCED RELATIONS/ CONFLICTS- ESCAPES
The lockdown that came with the virus forced an increased interaction with family, and increased engagement in the home and each others’ affairs. It meant that that escape from each other in a physical and mental capacity became impossible. And therefore was a reinforcement of the relationships we shared, and the conflicts which had earlier…
PORTALS
The balcony becomes a portal for the transaction of goods. Because of the rule that condemns delivery people and non-residents…
SELF AS FIELD
The impossibility / fear of the outside limited ‘field-work’ for academic endeavours. At SEA, the idea of ‘self as the field’ was strategized as a response. In this case, one’s body, house and neighbourhood became the field – and one’s mind became a repository of memories and experiences from where many notes / observations could…
PROP JOY!
During the start of the lockdown, I had first planted a few bottles with money plant on my study table. I would regularly stare at…
“SAFETY-DOOR”
Ninad and his gang were going door to door to collect the usual Ganpati Donation. They stopped at Kale Kaku’s, excited and ready to write the receipt. Kale kaku is a 80 year old widow and an ardent Ganesh Bhakt, every year her donation sums upto the highest amount. But today she opened the main door…
RECONNECT
Baba works abroad . Every year in March baba comes to India for his annual meeting and this year too he came . This was the time when Covid scare had just started. I remember calling baba and telling him to postpone his visit because the airport journey would expose him to the virus, but still he decided to come. After quarantining for 5 days, he attended his meetings and before he could go, the lockdown was announced. With all flights being cancelled, he had no option but to stay with us . While everyone else was uncertain and scared,…
REMINISCING SCHOOL DAYS
Most of us crave to experience school days again which is highly impossible once we pass out. My younger sister is in 9th std in the same school where I studied. Due to covid even schools shifted to virtual platforms. So when my sister started attending school virtually I got to experience and witness few…
REMINISCING HABITS
The pandemic gave me the time to connect back with my body and helped me with the time to get healthier and fitter. When I moved to Mumbai for college I had no idea how to take care of myself without my mom nagging after me and that led to unhealthy eating habits and a rough sleeping schedule without giving my body enough exercise, I kept throwing junk in my body like it was trashcan and when the coronavirus started spreading and killing people, me and my family took it upon ourselves to get into healthy eating habits and a…
RESET
As children we’ve all paused and reset our computer game just so that we would have a better chance of winning. And in broad sense, this pandemic is the reset button that the nature, and maybe each one of us needed. It was about time that humanity as a whole broke the shackles of their pre-programmed, adversity filled, and never-ending ambitious lifestyle, to just live in the moment. And that is what everyone did, when forced to stay inside their homes for such a long time. We went back to where it all began: our home, our family, our relationships,…
STORY THAT IS HARD TO TELL
We all grew up knowing this world won’t stop we always believed that the busy station of Dadar is never gonna halt, we always believed schools colleges offices will never stop we will always see our friends over street corners for dark coffees and cigarettes we never knew this would stop with a virus. Then came the time everything just stopped we just looked at each other where were we going what are we missing what are we losing we phoned, we talked, we messed, we fought, we slapped, someone died someone born. But in these times I learned to…
REMEMBERING HAPPY MOMENTS- 25TH ANNIVERSARY
This pandemic has been tough on a lot of people, mentally and physically. While the world was on a breakdown, starting to collapse, we as a family tried to keep our calm. We tried not to hold anything against each other, because I think we all had that feeling, that these moments could be our…
SANITIZATION
As the lockdown was declared, people started hoarding groceries and the groceries had to be sanitized once they were home. All the packets had to be sanitized. And once while sanitizing a packet of salt. The sanitizer went inside the packet and instead of just the packet being sanitized the whole salt was sanitized.
SANITIZER
Phone..wallet..umm…haan yes sanitizer. A feeling of security amidst the chaos and uncertainty of the pandemic, an easy escape from that long hand washing trip till the washroom and an absolute necessity. You can arrange a phone charger from somewhere but stepping out without a sanitizer? No can’t do.
SECOND WAVE OF COVID 19
India was in a better place in handling the first wave of COVID-19. The World Health Organisation also praised India for successfully containing the spread of the first wave of COVID-19. Till January and February (mid) this year the cases almost reduced to a few thousand throughout the country. But one question that is common…
REDEFINED STRAYS’ NASEEB
Strays in the urban have evolved to accommodate themselves within a human centric landscape. The lockdown resulted in a lot of objects populating the street, left a lot of spaces unoccupied. From timid beings suppressed under vehicles, in niches, now flaunt their presence by blatantly occupying spaces in the open. Ergonomics of spaces catering only to the human body proportions is now tweaked and occupied by other beings. A wave of accident cases due to persons speeding, and large number of poisoning cases due to the disinfectant spray and powder across the city has been disheartening. A new method of…
ROTATIONAL PART-TIME SCHEDULE WORKING PART-TIME THE WHOLE DAY.
A house was never really equipped as a working space, especially in terms of supporting it digitally. Not every member of the family has a device which can facilitate their work from home. Be it work or school curriculum or any other activity, for the time being all are being…
SANITATION PROTOCOLS
There have been other practices like people using ropes for carrying things up and down as vendors weren’t allowed inside buildings, use of sanitization gates at apartment entrances, thermal screening practice etc. The apartments that cannot afford sanitization gates use sanitizer dispensers. People loitering around unnecessarily are made to do sit-ups by the police.
SELF-AWARENESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
During the lockdown I realised how aware one has become of their surroundings, their belongings, their emotions, their life, their work and most importantly themselves. It grew with time, and normally the things which we never gave too much attention to, started to seem so important. Priorities for everyone drastically shifted. In this process, there…
SHORTAGE OF REMDESVIR, OXYGEN CYLINDER AND VACCINES
We see our Social media has become an endless scroll as people around the country post about their search for oxygen cylinder and bed and other medical equipment and drugs. Also we heard and read that even getting recovery from
SHORTAGE OF TESTING KITS
DS: The situation is like that, that two weeks back, when my uncle tested positive for covid, we were struggling for two days to get him tested, so there were no testing kits only, we called around 20 private labs or something who could come homeland get him tested and all of them said that…
SHORTAGE OF TESTING KITS
DS: The situation is like that, that two weeks back, when my uncle tested positive for covid, we were struggling for two days to get him tested, so there were no testing kits only, we called around 20 private labs or something who could come homeland get him tested and all of them said that…
SMALL BUSINESSES
This pandemic forced every person to change. Change their work, change their habits, change themselves. People with small businesses faced major challenges. Many places had their rents waived off, some continued to take them. Self supported businesses changed their products.
SOCIAL DISTANCING AT HOME
RD: Like 10 days back, I just recovered from COVID, so the situation was like that in our family. Each one of us was suffering from covid, me, my mom dad and my brother. So what happened was that like initially before we got our covid test done, one week back we got to know…
SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES AND VIRTUAL EXISTENCE
The pandemic has changed how we work, learn and interact as social distancing guidelines have led to a more virtual existence. The best outcome of this situation has been that the virus has made us aware of valuing food, …..
STATE AND CENTRAL POLITICS
Prakash Javadekar Union Minister says that 4-5 din ka stock toh rehta…
STATE POLICIES
introduce hua hain and it is called Indira Gandhi rasoi yojana. So, where you get eight rupees mein ek person ka food… aath rupay mein khana khau.. safety se khana milta hain wahan pe and dusra abhi shuru hua hain ek mahine pehle… its called jan adhari yojana…matlab… naam suggest karta hain ….
STATUS QUO OF OXYGEN SUPPLY
Video plays “And in the midst of all this, there’s one state that stands up with a surplus of oxygen amid a mounting COVID crisis. No points for guessing that state is Kerala. Kerala has actually increased its oxygen availability by 58% over the last one year. So how is India’s only oxygen surplus state…
STRAY ANIMALS
The global Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly entered our lives and put everything to a stop. It affected the lives of people around the world bringing tension and worries followed by negative thoughts and piles of boredom. Lockdown has definitely affected life’s of not only humans as well as the stray animals. During the lockdown feeding the…
STRENGTHENING SOCIETAL BOUNDARIES
FS: Today only we were talking humarein class mein, yesterday we were talking we were thinking, my parents were saying ke agar vaccine abhi le lenge, toh do we have the time to, if symptoms develop kiye do tin din mein, toh yeh jayega toh possible hain kya we are protected. What happened in…
STRESS AND PRIVILIGE
RC: Doctors ne Inshots mein.. News pe apna photo share kiya hain ppe suit aath ghante ke baad.. Khola tha he was all wet with his sweat only… toh woh image that he shared.. Ke yeh bhi ek struggle hain… ke apne aap ko pure time ek permenant extra skin… jokey unbreathable hain… PS: Its…
SHEHER MEIN GHAR, GHAR MEIN SHEHER
As new immigrants into the city five years ago, hunting a ghar meant using the following filters in order of priority – Needs to fit within a stipulated budget Needs to be on the western line, because western line trains are most efficient we were told Needs to be well connected to the local station…
SHIFT IN THE NATURE OF SPACES
The pandemic has changed the way a certain space was perceived by one before. There is a shift in the number of activities that a space could be used for, making some of them occupied the whole time, whereas the other left vacant the whole day. Also, the usage of that space gets altered, thus…
SHOP HOUSES
The areas around the major markets in Dadar have experienced a new rental demand by men, who, since the shutdown of the railway, have rented beds in small chaalis around the area, where they could come and sleep, and keep their shops open for any small opportunities that they might have, to sell.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
One day while sipping on my tea, enjoying the heavy rains of Mumbai, a mere thought flashed through my mind, the empty roads once filled up with huge trucks carrying loads of construction materials for the ongoing metro construction, the cars and bikes of people rushing towards their prosaic routine had all faded away as…
STOP, LOSS, OR CHANGEOVER
“Hello! How are you doing?” Communication in this turbulent times is very important as sense of uncertainty is assorted into one’s life. Mentally and financially, one’s relationship with the nature is in constant flux today. I happened to receive one such communication. The caller was asking me if I know anyone who is willing to buy gaming setups from him. I was surprised when I heard this because his business was almost 15 years old…
TAKE AWAY FOOD
Eating a Happy Meal on Sundays was a ritual for the Kapoor family as their son loved collecting the free toys that come along. They would sit inside McDonalds and have their Sunday supper. When restaurants were allowed to function again this MNC came up with a takeaway counter outside the store. The restaurants that…
‘SIX FEET APART’
It is the verbal intimacy (more) than the physical that allows both, nurturing and growth for one another. And I somehow have always believed that the latter entails the former.…
STORIES OF FEAR
Since Corona is a virus and therefore it can only be perceived through experiences and stories of somebody else’s experience (until observed under a microscope of course), the fear of the virus and its impact manifested itself from the stories of deaths. But since the fear decreases over a period of time as humanity gets used to the idea, parallel stories of the impact of the pandemic started emerging in my house, where my father started to ask us to have the ’Patanjali kadha’ to improve our immunity or else ‘we will have to use disgusting toilets of the quarantine…
TERRACE OR TREASURE
The lockdown period acted as a major break which everyone needed from there lives but couldn’t get one due to their works. That lockdown period acted as family time and me time in everyone’s life and In this lockdown when everyone was stuck at their homes there came a point when life became miserable in…
TERRACES AS HANGOUT SPACES
At a time when people are locked down at their homes with little opportunity to even head out for a stroll on the road, rooftops have become the latest hangout zones in the city. “Prior to the lockdown, the last time I had come up to the terrace was possible during New Year. But now…
STAY AT (WHICH) HOME
Since lockdown extended every month, it was June 14 when I and my family finally decided to move to our second home in Khandala. With no fixed date/month of returning…
STORY OF CLICKING PICTURES
Since lockdown began, the idea of taking a picture is almost looked as punishable When I was trying to click a picture of my friends while wearing masks and keeping safe distance from each other. A superior Police officer of Charkop police station saw us talking and clicking pictures and took us all to the station and started assuming that we are clicking pictures to make fun of him. He questioned us why did we click a picture, why were we laughing so much. Another incident was when I went on a walk to click pictures for my thesis and…
SURVIVAL
lobal pandemic affected every lives in a different way. While everyone was busy enjoying their lockdown spending time with their families, some poor daily workers were struggling their lives through this pandemic. There was no source of income left.
TESTING POSITIVE
I was Tested for COVID-19 last 12 days. after my home It was in Aurangabad . My test was taken at near home Some labs allow to book appointment, they come home at the scheduled time and collect sample. I was prescribed for a RTPCR test. One of the lab representative came at my door…
THE NEW ROUTINE
Board exams had just come to an end and I could finally go for dinners, trekking, movies and much more with my friends. But al these dreams ended soon with the commencement of the lockdown. At first I was not worried by the lockdown as it was assumed that this would end in a few…
THIS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY!
Initially when covid began ,as everyone was scared, so were we . The first one year all of us at my place were distraught with the fear of contracting the deadly virus. Recently when I was just beginning to feel that covid wasn’t a big deal …
TEMPLE RUN
A long wait for temples to open. Senior members have been anxiously waiting for the this day. 16th November 2020 as the temples open, the anxiety continued due to restrictions – No offerings, No entry to children below 10 years and members above 65 years.…
THE COVID TIMES
There’s a shift in structure of home and institutions. Home is acting like a multiverse of all these things together. Online meeting interfaces have taken over classrooms, offices, formal and informal meetings. There’s no relevance of physical setting and respective environments. Overlapping of spaces have…
THE ‘SPECTACLE’-D HOUSEHOLD
“Can you draw the curtains? Can you please reduce the volume? My head is aching, please!” These sentences have been echoed by different voices and have increased in the frequency in the last 3 months. While the nature of work and learning has primarily shifted to screens of mobile phones or laptops, these instances of ‘migraines seem to have become commonplace. A short visit to the ophthalmologist in a commercial complex in Khar, opened up this situation further. The three room clinic had now expanded and fragmented. The ophthalmologist in his hazmat suit has now leased another ‘gala’ on the…
THE NEW DINE-OUT
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many restaurants are only allowed to offer take-outs and no dine-in. Since people cannot eat on the spot of the eateries they go back to their parked car and enjoy their meal.
THE NEW PARTY “ADDA”
So during this pandemic, we were all forbidden to go out to public places, or hangout with our friends. There was now no contrast between weekday and weekend plans. But my father came up with the idea of bringing out…
THE REINCARNATION OF OLD BONDS
A lot of things happened in this lockdown. Life turned upside down like never before. Everything seemed like a dream. However, it left behind some temporary and some permanent changes – some for good, some for bad. My housing society…
THE SOLILOQUY
This covid homestay seemed like a curse at the start but acted like a blessing at some instances. While being lost about being home at the start, I started to get used to it. Starting with many difficulties and then they turning into peace. I was caught up in the dilemma where I started questioning…
THE 14 DAYS
The 14 days of quarantine was the worst possible thing that had happened to me. The feeling of been closed in a place where you are not allowed to go out of a room and no one is allowed to enter the room, where the food and water were left outside of the room, constantly checking the pulse and taking medicines. The start 2-3 days were fine where it seemed to be necessary due to…
THE YEAR 2020
Working 8 hrs for 6 days a week is now a thing of past!!! The excitement of the new year soon became a pandemic fear!! Now we were supposed to stay indoors for like daily!!! The ringing doorbell never haunted us more as we don’t know if the person is a covid carrier or not. Bathing veggies, sanitizing packets, wearing masks and gloves, cleaning the house, cooking, baking, washing utensils, bathing every time after returning…
TIME FOR SELF-REFLECTION
The starting months after lockdown felt like heaven where you could just be free and have so much time to learn so many new things. It was finally like a dream come true- no schedule, no work, sleep how much ever you want- you could just be careless(a word that didn’t hit until after some more months passed by). Gradually even when nobody told me what to do, the need for a schedule just started…
TRANSNATIONAL SHOOTS
A lecture to be delivered in Stuttgart, Germany had to be presented online. The organisers in Germany hired a photographer in Mumbai to make a film and to shoot the lecture to be shown at a hall in Stuttgart following social distancing norms.
THE IDEA OF BEING ‘PRODUCTIVE’
I would like to address how the idea of being productive has changed during the pandemic for me. The pandemic has provided me with an “excess” amount of free time. This excess time is coming out of the time I used to spend travelling to college or just usual time spent outside house. But, for…
TIME FOR SELF BEING
COVID lockdown brought many changes in everyone’s lives. Some were pros while some were cons. For me it was both. I felt as well as saw different things happening around me, though they used to happen earlier but I noticed it now. Like I got…
WASH-ITARIANS
The fear of the unknown ways in which the virus is transmitted through objects created a fear of things brought into the house, especially edibles, since food products have an aspect of time within which it is supposed to be consumed while other products could be kept aside for a few days before consumption. Therefore…
‘UNCAGING ON SUNDAYS’
With the onset of COVID-19 people were confined to their own space, public gatherings were restricted. For me, I wouldn’t socialise with people in person, it was risky but more than that I simply wouldn’t want to. I was convinced that I would survive without any human contact other than my family. But later I…
UNCERTAINTY
The pandemic has changed our approaches, routines and build in a new perspective towards our everyday. It has led to a very minimalistic approach towards buying what is needed rather than what we want. During the lockdown, the things that marked our days- commuting to college, having conversations with friends over coffee-vanished and time took…
URGE TO MEET NEW PEOPLE
Coronavirus was a gift to us in some ways because it brought many positive changes in our lives. Although because of it, I lost my one-year stay in Mumbai. It was a whole new experience for the whole world. Many people got the chance and time of knowing themselves and spend extra time with the…
USE OF SPACE CHANGED
Before covid, every day was spent majorly in bedrooms. Plus we also have a television in the master bedroom and not in the living room. So the living room was the space which wasn’t used at all. After coming back home from work or college, everyone directly goes into their respective bedrooms. But after covid,…
VIRTUAL CHEMISTRY LAB
A few days ago, while talking to my friend on the call, he told me about the college project his group has been working on. It’s the virtual chemistry lab. Developing a chemistry lab program using algorithms. The pandemic enabled them to think of the idea. The purpose of creating such a lab is that…
WHO AM I?
Like every other person in lockdown, I spent my time doing some household chores, watching TV, cooking food, reading, meditiating, etc..etc…. All that was possible staying home, but after a certain point that too became very boring. While the world was experiencing this pandemic and worried about the future, I began self introspecting myself as an individual which I had never thought of before. As the four walls of the house would feel trapped I started…
झाला काय जेवण? कर मग आता आराम
कोविड-१९ च्या परिस्थितीत जेंव्हा भारतात लॉकडाऊन चालू झाला आणि मी सार्वजनिक वाहतूक पण बंद झाली आणि मी मुंबई मध्येच अडकलो त्या वेळी मी आणि माझ्या घरच्यांन्नी फोनद्वारे घेतलेली माझी काळजी आणि मला दिलेल्या नियम आणि सूचना. (माझ्या दिवसाची सुरुवात त्यांच्या त्यांच्या फोन ने व्ह्यायची, आणि प्रत्येक एका तासाला त्यांचा मला फोन यायचा.) सकाळी ८ वाजता : उठलास काय रे ? उठ आता आठ वाजलेत. तोंड धू चाहा बनाव नाष्टा कर. ९ वाजता : उठला नाही का रे अजून परियंत खूप आळशी झाला आहे हा मुलगा. उठ बाबा ज्यास्त झोपल्याने माणूस आळशी बनतो. चल उठ बर आता आणि मस्त पोट भरून…
सत्यानंदः अंतरतः विद्यते
MOVING BACK HOME After staying out town for almost five and a half years now I got a chance to stay with my parents, go to my farm, eat home-cooked food, scroll through old albums. It felt like I am taking a walk in my childhood memory lanes. It’s been ages since I have spent…
VENDING MACHINE
The market practices have reduced to interactions only on the basis of visibility of the products. The counter becomes a zone of contactless transaction, making the role of the shopkeeper reduced to that of a cash collector. The spatiality of the shop is reduced to only the front. The customers prefer this type in the…
WHAT’S NEXT!? WILL WE BE ABLE TO REMEMBER!?
When it is all over, choices will be extreme but the old normal should not become the new normal again. We should remember the clear sky, empty streets, clear rivers, and also that the virus accidentally opened a window to a world that was all…
WHAT’S NORMAL ??
FROM Freedom to Restrictions FROM Crowded to emptiness FROM Normal to newly normal FROM safe to unsafe-safe FROM unsafe to safe FROM Lockdown to unlock FROM Open to close FROM Trying to Doing FROM Doing to Making Things coming to my minds whats normal… The cycle of getting up in…
COVID Glossary 