Tag: Life In Quarantine

‘Life In Hot Spot Is Tough, Going To Work Makes It Worse’

By LokMarg

Himanshu Saxena, resident of a hot spot zone in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, goes to work at a bank daily. Saxena says he lives in constant fear of contracting Covid-19

I live in the Chaurasi Ghanta area of Moradabad. The area is close to a hot spot, Nawabpura, which was in the news recently for attack on the police and medical team isn’t very far off from where I stay. Moradabad has seen a drastic increase in coronavirus cases recently.

Living in a hotspot is indeed tough. The rules for movement are very strict. Even if you want to take your mind off coronavirus for a single minute, you can’t. You know that you are living in a high-danger zone and every day you have to find your courage again and again to be able to go to work.

ALSO READ: ‘Even Women Were Throwing Stones At Med Team’

Since I work in a bank, unlike other people I can’t work from home and I have to go to work every day at Gandhi Nagar. So, you can say people like us have suffered a double blow. We suffer because of lack of services and are constantly exposed to the virus because we go to work every day.

When I come back from work, I have to take full precaution that I do not touch my family members without first taking a bath properly. Earlier we all used to sit together as a family in the evenings and laugh with each other. That has stopped. With not being able to meet friends and neighbours and limited interactions with our own family members as well, we hope this ends soon. I totally respect social distancing though.

We spend a lot of time updating ourselves on the current local news. The good thing is that people in my area cooperate with the police and the medical teams and listen to them as well as give their inputs.

ALSO READ: ‘Choked Toilets, Smelly Bedsheets; Quarantine Was Jail’

I hope the situation improves soon and our lives can go back to normal. This living in constant fear, the spectre of coronavirus hanging over everyone’s head all the time, has gone on for too long now.

At the bank, ensuring that the many welfare schemes started by the central and state governments are reaching the poor through the bank is a tall order. We can’t afford to slack off for even a minute, because someone’s life or livelihood might depend on it. My father runs a government PDS (Public Distribution Scheme) shop, so both of us come under the category of essential service provider ourselves. He also has to go to work every day.

With both of us out for work daily, our family is completely dependent on the other essential service providers for fruits, vegetables, milk etc. Despite all the precautions, we still fear about coming in contact with strangers and worry about how many hands the fruits and vegetables might have been transferred through.

Quarantine

‘Choked Toilets, Smelly Bedsheets; Quarantine Was A Jail’

By LokMarg

Ria Nanda, an air hostess with a private airliner, had a horrifying experience when she was kept under quarantine at a Hostel in Kasna area of Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Nanda recounts the poor conditions in detail

I am a flight attendant and, I had to travel to Thailand on work. Upon my return, I stayed in Mumbai for a couple of days. This was the period when the Coronavirus situation was turning grim by the day and state governments began to screen flyers seriously. When I reached home in Noida, thanks to my travel history, I was sent to a quarantine center even though I showed no symptoms.

Fourteen members of my family and extended family were also put at this facility, erstwhile a government boys’ hostel in Kasna area. The place was filthy to say the least. Washrooms were smelly, Asian commodes were choked, windows and walls had spit stains. The linen was dirty and they wouldn’t change the bedsheets for two-three days. Our experience was horrifying.

ALSO READ: ‘Locked Inside, We Are Going Nuts’

After spending a couple of days there, I decided to raise my voice against the problems and shot videos of inside and sent it to my friends. As the videos reached the administration, some policemen came shouting inside the unit and asked for our mobile phones. They rudely scolded us for shooting videos and snatched phones from some of those they suspected of having shot the film.

We also craved for decent food. The staff deployed was unruly and the cleaners could be seen spitting here and there. Despite numerous complaints, nothing moved. After four days of trauma, things got a little better and some sanitization started. However, the condition of toilets remained the same. The algae on the floor made it dangerous for us to step in.

ALSO READ: ‘Hold Your Nerves During Isolation’

While the test reports were awaited, we repeatedly requested the authorities to shift us to some better place, even home quarantine, but it fell on deaf ears. Finally, nearly a week after we were quarantined, the test reports came negative and we were released from the centre. It was like leaving a jail. We hugged each other and rushed home.

I believe the government must take care of those who are being quarantined. The facilities at these centers are minimal. They lack basic amenities, even cleanliness. What if a person, who is not infected to Coronavirus, falls sick due to substandard hygiene?

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There must be a humanitarian approach in putting people in quarantine. The government cannot treat quarantined people like criminals. My father, mother and all members of extended family suffered due to this. We are taking all precautions to avoid contamination from CoViD-19 but if the government doesn’t take care of the quarantine facilities, our efforts will go in vain. We all have to fight this pandemic together, after all.