Week 1 – March 9th – things started going south. Fast.
First Italy and Iran hit the roof. Case after case started piling up.
One Italian tourist was quarantined in Jaipur. Along with him the people he came in contact with. Another Indian who travelled from Italy and landed in Delhi – he went around and infected a few.
I heard murmurs of – oh this is all a conspiracy to quell the CAA protests that are happening. This virus wont come to India. Saw Whatsapp forwards of how this virus does not last in hot weather.
By Wednesday couple of cases in Karnataka got identified. In Bangalore. Rumour mills were working over time.
Someone from Dell had tested positive. Some 2606 humans have come in contact – the newspaper said. Wow – we could calculate with so much precision?!
Thursday schools in Bangalore started closing. Parents wanted schools to close without exams. I was little confused. Just last week I had started the drill of making Prithvi study. He was reading one chapter a day in History. He finds it hardest to memorise the dates, or the family lineage of the Kings.
I was relieved. Now the drill will be only in September. Phoo!
Thursday he came home with all his books. His 6th grade was over. Vacation starts now – 3 full months. Or might be more?
I get a call from one of our investors – as of tonight ( Thursday night 12 mid night ) – all international flights are going to be stopped.
San had a return booked for Friday. I called her and said you come tonight. Being Bootstrapped all the while – she tried calling the airlines to reschedule the flight. She was going for a meeting and was distracted – said will book later. Had to convince her to let the return flight go but book a new one. Also cleartrip had a message that on cancellation they will refund. Prices hadn’t soared yet. We are still waiting for the refund btw ( Mar 22 ).
She relented, and booked her for Thursday night. She would land morning 2:30 AM on Friday.
India had banned entry of all Indian borns who are now Foreign nationals. Apparently Indian Citizens would still be let in. San was fine – but now she could work on Friday – otherwise it would have gone in travel.
5 years go, same day we were in a Goa beach. I have this journaling app – Day One – which sends these this day long time ago messages. Wish could go to Goa and sit there in a beach shack right now. Hmmmm..
Meanwhile, in our tech team we kept debating whether to work from home the next day – Friday – just a trial run to see if our team can work from home. Discussed with a few but many were against it. We were working on couple of releases and lot of interaction was needed.
I let it go – so tomorrow, Friday we will work as usual.
Friday, I woke up at 4:00 AM and saw the message from San that she is out and is waiting. I did not want her to take the airport bus – which she typically takes or an Uber.
During this week read a lot about Social Distancing. There were so many forwards and they clearly explained the importance of not infecting others or being infected – just by keeping away from as many people as possible.
By traveling by bus – San has the chance of risking infection – what if someone from Italy just sat before her – or if she is infected, she should not spread it in the bus.
I reached around 6AM, picked her from the curb and we reached back home. She said in airport they did a thorough screening – 2 rounds of checks – they checked her temperature and also enquired where all she has been. She had to fill a form. A week later she will get an automated IVR call to check if she has symptoms. Someone had painstakingly entered all the data – and that too accurately.
San decided to self quarantine for 2 weeks.
Our maid and cook decided not to come. Someone advised them that if someone has travelled international the risk of them contracting the virus is higher.
My mother was a bit upset but we felt that it is practical.
Saturday we took stock of things. We discussed a lot about the power of social distancing and how it is important for all of us to act responsibly. We called for a meeting of Team Leads and we decided to announce work from home for the coming week.
