Corona Lockdown day 5

The morning had been lovely, bright sun streaming through the windows. It was a wonderful day, no one can imagine the horrors of COVID death counts in the newspaper looking at the day outside. Milk came, after complaining that we had no milk for a few days I got milk from two separate vendors. Turns out I did not cancel my earlier subscription so they delivered as well as the new place.

So the kitchen looked like it had been hit by a milk storm, all the packets were sprawled across the room and I was a little distressed since I had to defrost the earlier packets then replace the new ones to freeze plus to add on to it one of the packets had decided to give me another task (As if I needed one!) by tearing open in the fridge and spilling all over! This I tell you is one of the most frustrating tasks to clean spilled milk in the fridge, the person who came up with the proverb 'No use crying over spilt milk' clearly hasn't cleaned one. I have as I am sure all of you will have things that I absolutely detest, so let me list it out in no particular order:

1. Searching for lost things or an item of particular clothing (Really I know I brought a packet of masala but don't remember where I put them, next thing I am searching the entire cupboard only to find it sitting right there in front of me in all its glory)
2. Cleaning spilled oil/milk/anything sticky (I once had my cooker burst open like a Diwali cracker and spill all the choley it was cooking on to every little corner in the kitchen, including painting the ceiling!)
3. Getting up as soon as you sit down after a lot of work (remembering that you forgot your phone in an upstairs room)
4. Thinking about that last piece of pizza sitting in the fridge which you want to devour while watching your favorite show only to realize that your sibling got to it first and all you have is an empty box!
5. Very low WiFi when you sat down to enjoy some mindless internet!

Coming back to my day, the stores near our area have started to open up for a few hours everyday and there is a list of timings that you have to consider while going out. We were pretty much stocked up so spent the day at home. Meanwhile, my Instagram has stories from all across celebrities and friends alike who are cooking different things and posting them online. Which is interesting since most of them had only traveling posts or political posts and now its Masterchef World.

Also, I recently found out what Netflix and Chill actually means and it really blew my mind.

Me: So my friend says that she would have really enjoyed her lockdown period if her kids weren't there, actually if she was all alone
G: I understand, you have to keep them constantly occupied
Me: yeah and she was saying that there had been an instance which was reported that two women who had been on holiday in Miami are stuck there for the lockdown and she said it would have been ideal if she was one of those women.
G: So do you feel the same?
Me: I mean if you are alone in a lockdown. you have the time of the world. You can actually Netflix and Chill
G *bursts laughing* : How will you Netflix and Chill alone?... wait do you know what it actually means?
Me: Yeah..duh... Seeing Netflix and relaxing..
G *Opens his phone to show the connotations of the phrase*
Me*horrified at my lack of updated slang* Gosh I don't remember how many inappropriate times I have used this phrase.

So those of you like me can google and see what it actually means.

Corona Lockdown: Day 4 (House warming)

They say that anything to become a habit takes 21 days, well I want to see that me keeping up with my blog becomes a habit or not. I wanted to share a little bit about my house. This took a lot of planning to build and a lot of effort to make it stand as to how it is today.

I wanted a traditional house initially, that was the brief to the architect. What I had in mind was something like a Kerala house with the slanting roof. But that was not possible for various reasons. So we made a modern looking house with a lot of natural materials like wood and stone to set an earthy tone to the house. Since I love Indian sculpture and art and I do own quite a bit of artifact, I wanted the house to be in sync with that as well.

My home is partially done now, meaning that the majority of the work is finished but the personal touch with the interiors is still pending. I am told that this will take a few years down the lane. But overall I am very happy with the outcome. Three things that we were very particular about:

1. Ventilation: G was very particular that we relied on natural air circulation and no air conditioning for our house. He believed that earlier all the houses in the villages were very cool even in peak summers because of cross ventilation and the thoughtful way in which it was built. So we had visited a few houses and checked how it still remained cool when it was really hot outside. He also researched cooling tiles for the roof and even very tiny details as to where we should put in sunshades, which rooms would need the heat etc.

2. Natural Light: You can call our house a glasshouse since almost every wall has a window. This was done so that we get a lot of natural lighting. We don't need to switch on the lights till six in the evening and with the windows and cross ventilation going, we don't require fan as well at times. Our architect was perplexed with the number of windows and fans we needed but in retrospect this has been the best decision. I often argued with G that I wanted more walls to hang my paintings for which he said you can do mosaic painting on the windows and he should be thankful I did not act upon that!

3. Aesthetically pleasing: This has been my highlight throughout. I wanted a beautiful and well-designed home. Every little thing from the light fittings to the doorknobs, we have made sure that it is pleasing to the eyes. Each window should overlook something beautiful. I got a mural artist to paint the walls of my landscape area only because I wanted a tulsi plant to be there but the walls looked bare. At the risk of sounding vain, I can say that each morning I feel I have woken up at a resort.

There are a lot of other things that we paid attention to like making a place for everything, where we store our brooms or a dedicated medicine cabinet. To avoid clutter. We still have a lot of landscaping to do which we would gradually come to.

I would share some pictures soon! Coming back to my day, it was pretty much the same as any other. I did manage to finish a few of my pending work which was good start. A few series that we saw recently and liked it:

1. Special OPS (Hotstar): This G watched and he said that it was good and gripping. I do intend to watch it later though.
2. Locke and Key (Netflix): This I really liked, it was fast-paced, fantasy and apparently based on a comic book (which I have downloaded for a read as well). I like this genre a lot so this was very refreshing!
3. Asur (Voot): Was a very good thriller, I liked the screenplay and the pace of the story. On the downside, I felt that they played it safe with the mythology part of it, But overall really good
4. She (Netflix): I liked the beginning of it, but the characterization is quite bizarre and poor. It is an okay watch.

So I spoke with my mum during the day about a tv series that they have all started watching again:

Amma: They are screening Mahabharat and Ramayana again in DD. The old one, the original one. It's really nice, you can see it.
Me: The 'Main samay hoon' one?
Amma: Correct that one. We all have started watching it again.
Me: Great! you can relive the olden days then
Amma: Yes! Wait I will tell you the channel number...*goes on to give the channel number and explaining when it is aired*
Me: Okay will try and catch it online.

I did not mention it to her that maybe they are going to stop all their beloved SUN TV serials by 31st March. My parents and second parents(Chacha and Chachi) all watch SUN TV regularly, though Pappa and Chacha (As we call Mama, since our cousins used to call him that) will not admit being loyal viewers, even though they have been caught numerous times binge-watching these serials on their own. I am sure this newly casted old series will keep them busy for a while.

Another day passes by, I hope the next day is more productive than today.

Corona Lock down Day 2 & 3

Day 2

It is unusually quiet, the regular noise from the construction workers next door is now gone, most of them had vacated just before the lockdown. Around five of them are there still and we can occasionally hear their triumph when they win the round of cards. Apart from that, we have some lovely view of birds in the morning and a makeshift lilypond, the plot next to our house is covered with water and now there are several lily pods sprouting up.

Without the maid, we have a busy morning. After taking care of the regular cooking and cleaning of the kitchen. I do a bit of a Jigsaw puzzle which is relaxing. In the morning I got a distressed call from my best friend in Ahemadabad. She is with her two little boys and husband.

NZ: I am so tired! I am always tired. I complete all my chores by 4 and then again the boys get hungry by 5 and I am in the kitchen again!
Me: Really? Well currently I think that's almost everyone's situation. Maybe you can plan it out better so that you are not in the Kitchen all day! Try and mix-match your breakfast and Lunch. Like I make Pongal and Sambar and use the same Sambar with Rice at Lunch along with a vegetable.
NZ: hmm.. but I need to make chappati and also some rice. *in detail explained to me her schedule* I should have got my maid before my lockdown! So that she is there with us these 21 days
Me*laughing*: Well! We realize how important things that we take for granted are!
NZ: I went to buy vegetables today and they were all in a sorry state. It seems that the vegetables are not getting restocked! I hope this doesn't continue

Well it is a frighting thought, milk hasn't come yet again today. I had a series of calling people again today and finding out who can deliver milk for us. I managed to get a number from our neighbor, the milkman said that he would come for delivering milk and that was a relief. I did have frozen milk but that would last another day or two.

My little niece wanted me to make a chocolate cake and after checking if we had most of the ingredients, we decided that we can afford to make cupcakes using buttermilk since I did not have condensed milk which I use as a replacement for eggs. The cupcake came out surprisingly well and we devoured it with hot chai at noon. We skipped making the icing since our resources are limited and we wanted to ration it out.

G: Do you know of any interesting series that we could watch together?
Me: I heard from our friend's WhatsApp group that ASUR in Voot is good. We could try that maybe? It's crime a thriller with mythology.
G: Sure. Let's see that one.
Me: Yes it would be a break from your deary series Blue Bloods.

Blue Bloods is what G is currently watching (obsessively), He really likes it but I can't share the same emotion. It lacks the pace for me maybe or that I haven't really given it a chance. We did see a few episodes of Asur and I really found it interesting. Very gripping. I made a mental note to tell my mother about it since she loves this genre.

The rest of the day sunk into the monotony of routine. I felt the guilt pull of not having worked the entire day. I made a resolution to at least start working the next day.

DAY 3

Milk arrived! That became the highlight in the morning. So after dipping the milk packets in the washing liquid mixed with water for 21 secs till all the germs are washed, the security brought it up for us. I washed it again before restocking our fridge. The routine followed with me making lunch and breakfast.

The school for which I work has an aquaponics farm and they use the vegetable that the harvest available for the public in their school tuck shop. The vegetables are organic and very fresh. This is very unique to this school, they teach students the different concepts in science through this aquaponics farm. Anyways I got a message that their vegetable is available for purchase and I volunteered to go and get it.

There was a bit of crowd when I arrived but everyone was standing at a 6ft distance, also the vegetables were laid out and one by one each had to go select a vegetable which would be put directly in the bag that you brought from your house. I was happy to see the level of precaution which was taken for vegetable buying. I brought a few veggies to keep stock. Later I swung by the nearby grocer to get few other items. The shop was almost empty in stock and everyone had been wearing a mask. I got a worried call from G, asking if I had mine on at all times and not to touch surfaces.

I remember when I was in school, in an art competition they had asked us to imagine the world in the year 2020 and I had made a drawing with people wearing masks and trees substituted with buildings and of course robots! But it was surreal to see that people were roaming around with a mask and even basic things like shopping had become a scare.

When I reached home, G was standing at the entrance

G: Keep your bags and keys separately. All the groceries that you purchased needs to be in soap water for 21 secs *taking out his stopwatch* But first wash your hand and feet for 21 secs!
Me: Okay, but what about the items that can't be washed, like this tea packet
G: We can keep it in the sun for 12 hours before touching it again. Don't look at me like that, we are supposed to follow all the protocols to be corona free
Me: oh Alright *washing hand and feet and seeing our security bringing a bucket of water for dipping all the products purchased*

After this elaborate cleaning process, I just wanted to relax completing our series Asur in Voot. We managed to binge-watch the series and we loved it, though I personally thought that the ending could have been better. Yet again my work took a back seat. I resolved to do my bit the next day for sure.

I did manage some light drawing, which had an immediate calming effect.

Corona lockdown Day 1

Yes it’s been a while I posted on this site like always life got in the way. The past years have been exciting and busy actually. I have shifted to my new house, so building it and planning for it did take up a lot of my time. I will post about the house in detail and how we planned it out. It’s best to keep it for another day since that’s going to be a long one.

So we are in Chennai and this is day one of our lockdown. Thankfully G is here in Chennai and not in the US this time. Yesterday after the prime minister announced the curfew of 21 days, we had officially started our house arrest. Preceding this however, G has made us buy essentials and cataloged it to make sure we are covered for two months with basic necessities like rice and dhal. Since our house is a little away from the main road, we are finding that milk is not delivered daily and the delivery boy is being stopped and returned on the way. So the available milk packets that I purchased yesterday are in the deep freeze and taken out only for morning coffee and afternoon tea.

G: so were the milk packets delivered this morning?
Me: Nope! So it’s one glass of coffee now and then the next only in the afternoon
G: Ah! I miss those days when my coffee was with me all morning
Me: You mean yesterday?
G: it's ONLY BEEN A DAY!
Me: yep! 20 to go

So as I start cooking I realize that since everyone is at home and would obviously cook, gas consumption would be higher and gas booking and delivery would be a problem pretty soon. So I take out good old induction and use that for daily cooking.

G: Best would be to use a solar cooker, we can build that and use.
Me *distracted* sure.. sure.. build one

In ten minutes I have a list of items to find and provide foil paper, glue, etc. After an hour I have a tried husband and a failed attempt.

Most of my morning went into cooking and cleaning up since there is no maid. I did manage to catch up with my sister in Delhi. She has shifted to my parent's house and is lockdown with them for 21 days

N: You know divorce rates in China have gone up by 40% after their quarantine
Me*rolling eyes* Really! And how do you know that?
N: Google told me. I mean I think that it’s true, I don’t think many people are used to staying in together.
Me: I think they should have had Big Boss now. I mean imagine the plight of people inside when daily essentials become a problem. No evictions
N: Well all the big boss inmates really just jumped from one lockdown to another

Well our conversation was mostly about the situation in Delhi and how they have got their house help to stay with them for these 21 days before the lockdown.

Around evening after enquiring from the neighbor through call and few shops around to gauge the situation to buy milk. We found one shop nearby is open and stocked up with milk. So G said he will venture out and get the milk. I was unsure whether he might be told to do push-ups by the local police. Well we might get fitness free with milk.

So after taking necessary precautions, he ventured out to get milk. Me and my niece who is four were waiting for him in our front garden. My niece was pretty concerned that he is venturing out since she had seen the prime minister's speech with us and knew that we had to be careful.

L: Are you sure he will be alright and corona will not get him?
Me: Don’t worry, he will be careful and be back soon and remember we have to wash our hands regularly.
L: Yes! I don’t like this Corona. I can't go out! Everything is closed!
Me *sighing*: Me neither! but its for our safety.

After a while, G showed up with milk and we were happy that we are sorted with our coffee for the next day.

It is frightening to know what the world is going through, at this time we should stay strong, happy and at home!