Amidst the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus in various parts of the world, Manish and I were sitting at our desks. He was making a few test cases for a module of a hybrid website. Intermittently, chatting with his colleagues on Skype, he dropped a message in a company’s group and rested his head on the desk.
His message read, “COVID-19 has spread across the nations. India is in the first phase of its transmission. Working at office, we’re safe. We need to sanitize our hands frequently and keep at least 1-metre distance from people who are…”
I knew why he forwarded that message. I looked at him sleeping and smiled at his wittiness. Almost, every person in the office had seen that message, but no one dared to send something before HR. Out of nowhere, a notification popped up on my screen – “Abhay has sent a message”. I was shocked when I saw the message. I imagined HR gnashing her ultra-white teeth while looking at the message. It was a link that was directed to a pornography website.
“Shit!” I heard this word on the silent floor. I checked the group again, and the message was gone. He'd removed the message. Everyone was behaving as though nothing had happened. After a short while, Abhay got off from his seat and immediately left the floor.
“Lode lag gaye iske toh.” I got a message from Manish. He was yawning at his desk.
At 5 pm, I received an email from HR. Having been sent to all, the email had important guidelines concerning the novel coronavirus.
I pondered working from home and somewhat rebelled against the forced upon decision. I instantly messaged Manish – “Me to aaunga office. Room par bore hi hona hai. Corona ki maa kaa…,”
He looked at me and smiled.
A notice was issued that as of 20th March 2020, each employee had to do work from home. We needed some forms to fill since the company had a standard procedure for allowing employees to work from home. We had a few days left.
Somehow, the day passed, and a few more days too. It was the 19th March 2020. Manish and Abhay weren’t in a mood to do official work. They had been playing table tennis since they came to office. While working on a website, I took some breaks and played a few matches with them.
Arey! I almost forgot to tell you that Abhay was my roommate. We shared 1BHK in a decent colony where you could smell joints being smoked. After completing nine hours, Manish along with Abhay went to score some hash whereas I was ordered to buy some alcohol and chakna. Our room wasn’t far away from our office. It’d take only fifteen minutes to reach there on foot. I was smiling for no reason since I was thinking about retrouvailles. As I was going past a shop, I saw the shop owner coughing and selling items to customers. I saw a few people wearing masks on their faces. There were slightly a fewer people on the roads, and a strange calmness surrounding the city made me think about the oncoming storm. Manish and Abhay partying together were more than a storm. I hoped they wouldn’t go crazy like the last time when they kept on drinking until they passed out on the floor of our room beside their puke affected region. I’d cleaned their pukes and carried them to bed.
I reached my room. It was sultry inside the room. I turned on the air conditioner and crashed on my bed. I woke up to my phone ring. It was my girlfriend’s call. Immediately after I picked her call, she started updating me on the state of the outbreak. She was scared and told me, “You know there are approximately 150 patients infected with the novel coronavirus in India.” I understood her fear and bought some multivitamins capsules because she asked me to. Walking to my room from a grocery shop, I was carrying chakna and an emergency stockpile comprising water bottles, rolling papers, cigarettes, lighter chocolates, and packets of munchies. Abhay and Manish were already in the room when I reached there. Just like I assumed, they had already rolled a joint. Manish passed me the joint. I lit it. I swear I had never smoked anything like that. Thus, each one of us got high just after taking four drags. Abhay started laughing hysterically as he recalled his meeting with HR after his heroic effort of sending a link to a porn site. Although he’d shared the incident with us many times, still he mentioned it with the same excitement every time.
During our small party, I got a call from my girlfriend. Like always, before I could say hello, she started speaking, “You know Modi has announced about Janta Curfew. It’s like a lockdown. People have been asked to stay at home on 22nd March.” She showed her concern and like a good caretaker, she gave me a long list of precautionary measures to follow during this isolation period. Like always, I listened to her with only half an ear. I went back to my friends. Abhay was rolling the fourth joint. We were already very high. I couldn’t imagine where the fourth one would take us. Abhay passed the joint. This was the third time that I was lighting a joint.
I took drags and passed the burning torch to Manish. Although he seemed nauseated, he took the joint and sucked the roach hard. He leaned back and stayed for a while. Within a second, he fell on his back. Abhay laughed hysterically for a minute, and I gave him company by laughing harder. Abhay felt something odd when Manish didn’t move even after two minutes.
“Oye Bhand insan! Uth be!” Abhay jolted Manish, but he didn’t respond.
Abhay took the joint from his hands and inhaled the dense smoke. I was sure he was experiencing euphoria. He passed the joint to me.
I held it and said, “We should check on Manish.”
“Let him sleep for a while,” Abhay replied.
I nodded with a thought about Manish running inside my head. I knew it was going to be a bad trip. I kept on smoking. Suddenly, I saw Manish having difficulty in breathing. I hoped it was all a dream. I closed my eyes. Soon, I felt that I’m falling backward. I was convinced myself that I was just having a bad trip and let myself fall. I felt that I was falling freely. Tied to a chair, I’m falling into a void. I was going deeper and deeper.
Undoubtedly, it was a bad dream. I rubbed my head and opened my eyes. Being covered in a blanket, I was lying on the floor. I pushed myself up and saw Manish and Abhay as they were on the floor. I got up immediately and shook Abhay. He didn’t respond. I pulled Manish’s leg. He didn’t respond either. My heart started beating faster. I couldn’t think of anything, and I used to think that I knew a solution to every problem. I thought I needed to smoke a cigarette. At once, I took a cigarette and went to the balcony of the room. Our room was on the top floor of a building. I lit the cigarette. Out of nowhere, on the roads, I saw a caravan of army trucks and ambulances entering our society. I was completely shocked. There were more than a hundred health workers and army men. I closed my eyes and thought that it was just a bad trip and it was not real.
It was real.
I could hear the voices of doctors giving instructions to army men and healthcare workers. It was mayhem. I called an emergency helpline number. The call got disconnected. I tried again. Disconnected. I got a call from my girlfriend. Like always, she started speaking the moment I picked her call.
“I’ve been trying for hours. Now I've got connected.”
I was shocked by her saying that. She added, “You know there’s a complete lockdown. More than 50 thousand people have died. Government has deployed armies in cities. How’s the condition there?”
Before I could answer her question, the call was disconnected. I tried calling her back, but I got a busy tone. I saw several bodies being carried on stretchers when I was seeking help from healthcare workers. I told them about Manish and Abhay, but they didn’t listen and tranquilised me.
I woke up in a hall full of infected people. Everyone was covered in a different kind of sheet. We’ve been masked and placed inside transparent boxes. There was a small screen inside the box. Updated news on the novel coronavirus was running on the screen.
A reporter said, “The virus has evolved and taken completely advanced form. More than 10 million people in the world have been infected by this newly-formed strain. The outbreak of the virus has certainly created havoc. According to reports, the transmission of the virus is going to increase in the coming weeks. It has been assumed by the biologists that the virus will evolve again.”
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