covid-19 – Page 2 – Abhinav Bhatt

Malady Moods

It’s often a point of debate (please correct me if I am wrong): What’s more painful? Delivery of a baby by a female or a full blown blow at the main point of a male?Nevertheless, we might never know unless you’re a hermaphrodite human (and still be unlucky to get kicked right in the nuts).

Everyone reacts to pain and sickness in different manner. Some who might be suffering more, may react as if nothing is wrong. Some who are mildly affected, may react as if all hell has broken down. If the period gets elongated, the equations might change.

Recent times has given me a good sample of reactions. I guess, people who express their pain and those who hide it, are equal in numbers. What matters is that how much knowledge they gain after the episode. Some learn their lessons, some don’t. And then there are some, who become ‘Experts’.

Which one are you?

10 Notes from last few Days

Constantly running around just for taking Oximeter reading of everyone. Pulse rapidly changing just in anticipation of seeing the right ratings.
Spending loads of time just to figure out which medicine to take when, how many dosages done, how many tablets remaining. Confusion is lessened as almost everyone is being given similar treatment.
Encouraging the sick to stay strong mentally so that healing is quickened. Motivational Speaker reaching greater heights.
Trying to push all negative thoughts out. First from own mind. Then from others.
Getting controlled by others to not go too close to the sick and incessant reminders of washing of hands. Conditioning of mind from last many months fades into oblivion seeing loved ones suffer without their mistake.
Reading blood reports, googling the meaning, figuring out if it is going well or not, and eventually waiting for the Doctor to guide. Googling gives relief but also gives anxiety.
Coordinating with other family folks for all of the above. Everyone supporting one another. Some virtually. Some through walls.

Nobody else can understand what someone goes through when they go through such times. Immunity and see-what-happens attitude go for a toss when this sort of calamity occurs right at your doorstep.

Please wear masks and avoid crowds. This is the way.

Testing Times

I anticipated but didn’t expect that Covid would hit my family. It has. Times are testing now and we have to battle it out.

7 people in my family are positive. 2 of the 7 are in hospital.

Wear your masks right!

I will be back.

Tomorrow would be better

Diwali isn’t the same when the first thing you hear is that half of your family is coping with the C thing. Your stomach feels weird and taste feels weirder when your loved ones suffer. Of course, I won’t be the first one and the last one to feel this as whole humankind of going through this churn of uneasiness and mental upheaval.

Hopefully tomorrow would be better. That’s the message of Diwali too. Next morning should bring happiness and prosperity. Hope is what we have!

“Commenting for better reach”

I am writing from a place of privilege, providence, and a pedestal of good fortune but I just feel sad when I open LinkedIn nowadays. The feed is full of people writing about their untimely exit from their jobs due to the ongoing pandemic. I am not an expert to give any advice to people who were working till March/April but not working anymore. The times are unprecedented and until we get a fully functional vaccine, chances of normalcy are bleak. So, we must keep trying, is all I can say.

However, I do have a word or two for Freshers who had job offers but they haven’t been called to report yet, or even if they hadn’t, they were ready to enter the professional arena this year but things have gone upside down, for no fault of their own. I do have empathy with them as I was in the same boat around 2008. I don’t want to mince words but the reality is simple: this time is worse than that time. I have stated this earlier on this blog too that I had 2 Job Offers when I graduated as a Computer Science Engineer. Thanks to the 2008 recession which did all it could to crush my confidence, I had to wait 21 months to get a proper job I preferred. Again being lucky, I got back the job offer in March 2010 from the same company which had sent me a regret letter before imploding due to a financial crisis of their own in early 2009.

Fitting it like Tetris

There’s a nice mini-series of a Documentary on Netflix called: High Score. The premise of ‘High Score’ is the evolution of video games from the 80s until very recently.

Among other things, the game Tetris is discussed extensively in it. 90’s kids would remember how addictive the game was. The aim was to arrange the falling pieces into their place. Sometimes, they won’t fit logically anywhere and one has to wait for another piece to fall which would fit somewhere and get you some relief and a good score. The game might go on for very long and there might be a period that your out-of-the-place piece will be stuck there with no end in sight while you slowly move towards ‘Game Over’.

https://giphy.com/gifs/tetris-denyse-mitterhofer-dmitterhofer-f7STAwvEml1eIf0FEq

No Words, really!

Yesterday in India, 90,000 Covid-19 positive cases were recorded. That makes India the country with the 2nd highest number of cases in the world. We read the stat counter for Active Cases, Recovered, and Deceased, on a daily basis. All these numbers, figures, and statistics seem to be just ‘distant news’ for us till the time you hear about someone close enough that you realize the gravity of the situation.