To say the last few months have been surreal would be a serious understatement. It’s almost like we all shut our eyes one day and opened them in an unknown parallel universe where everything is topsy-turvy.
In the world before Covid-19, if you went to work with a sore throat and fever, you would be hailed as a dedicated trooper; today, it is an act of terror! That’s assuming you could get to work at all, as in our topsy-turvy parallel universe, WFH is the order of the day. Wearing a mask and entering a bank could get you arrested in the world as we knew it, but today you cannot enter a bank without a mask! The same kids who earlier begged for screen time are being forced by parents and schools to spend hours in front of the screen! The list of early notions that have been upended is too long to list.
During the early days in this parallel universe, I was scared and worried about everything. A couple of sneezes had me moving to the guest bedroom as I didn’t want to risk infecting Mr. Stonethrower. The first thing I did every morning was to check the Covid-19 count in the world, in India, in Maharashtra, in Mumbai, and in my local HW ward. I would obsessively repeat this several times a day. The only conversations we seemed to have on the phone and on WhatsApp groups were grim stories of positive cases, dire warnings, home cures, gloom, and doom.
Maharashtra was and is the most affected state in India and we cowered at the thought. We blamed our state government for mishandling the pandemic, we despaired at the inept BMC and sneered when the BMC Commissioner was replaced. The new commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal took charge and while he seemed to make all the right noises, none of us were very convinced. I am embarrassed to say, Chahal’s mantra of ‘chasing the virus’ left us cold and skeptical. Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, we murmured. Pictures and videos of the dismal state in Covid-19 hospitals left us aghast and everybody agreed it was better to suffer at home than risk going to a hospital in these times.
Slowly, we learned to adjust to this parallel universe. We wore masks when we stepped out, we washed our hands and sanitized everything in sight, we used e-commerce platforms more, we turned to zoom to work, socialise, pray, and even mourn. All very strange, but this was our new normal.
As days turned to weeks and weeks became months, we stopped obsessing about Covid-19 numbers. China’s incursion into Ladakh, Shushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate suicide, the Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan, Pilot vs Ghelot, yet another curfew in Kashmir…all these distractions took our mind off what should have been our main enemy – COVID-19.
Yes, the number of positive cases was still impossibly high. Yes, I noticed when we became the country with the third-highest positive Covid-19 cases in the world. Yes, I worried when we had more positive cases per day than any country in the world! But life went on.
As I type this, India has become the centre of Covid-19, with the maximum number of daily cases, and there are no signs of the curve flattening, unlike in most other countries. The thaalis, taalis, papads, and diyas have obviously not worked! India has crossed the 2 million mark in terms of the number of cases and is now recording more than 60,000 daily infections. Data also seems to suggest that things are unlikely to improve in the near term. Given the magnitude of the problem, it seems strange that no one in the government is saying anything about it, as though the problem does not exist or has not grown to proportions previously unimagined. No daily briefing, no announcements on ‘doubling rate’ (which actually offer a glimmer of hope) and it is not clear who is in charge. State governments appear to be fending for themselves with little or no help from the centre and it seems there is no national plan to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. With the economy in doldrums and no vaccine in sight I would think Covid-19 management should be more of a priority for the government than headline management.
But I digress. Just as I was lulled into a semi-complacency where I believed we were taking all the right precautions and Covid-19 wasn’t going to invade our self-contained little bubble, one of our security guards – let’s call him JP – announced that he was feeling very tired and had severe diarrhoea.
A bit of background – when the nationwide lockdown was announced, our security guards like security guards all around the country, found themselves stuck in the building premises. While different buildings and societies dealt with this in their own way, the amazing ladies in our small building immediately formed a WhatsApp group and figured ways to provide clothes, bedding, toiletries, tea, and most importantly home-cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the watchmen. A rota system was quickly established and it continues to this day. The watchmen in turn organised themselves and have kept us safe and sane through these four odd months and have willingly taken on the additional roles of errand boy, garbage collector, sweeper, delivery man, cheque depositor, instruction taker, handyman, and heaven knows what else. We owe them a debt of gratitude.
And now, back to JP and his diarrhoea…
After a round of Imodium and antibiotics (supplemented by a diet of khichdi and rice kanji prepared by our amazing ladies) he was a bit better but in this new worried-about-everything scary parallel universe, we were wary and worried. After a quick round of Google-searching Covid-19 symptoms, it was decided to get all security guards tested.
Easier said than done. Metropolis Labs which is one of the government-approved testing labs gave us the runaround and after many calls and messages and repeated follow-ups, we were told there was no testing slot for the next few days!! As we began to despair, KlinicApp – a relatively new and fast-growing e-diagnostic company that has partnered with government-approved labs like Thyrocare and Metropolis to offer home-based lab tests for Covid-19 came to our rescue. Appointments were quickly fixed for the next morning. A technician arrived on the dot of the time, finished the paperwork, got into the requisite PPE gear and efficiently tested all four watchmen. Just to let you know, to get tested you need an Aadhar [the back and front] and a mobile number.
Then, we waited. The next morning, we received the report for three watchmen but were told JP’s report was pending. 24 hours later we were told he had tested positive and the BMC had been informed. Again, we trembled and waited….
What happened next is truly, truly impressive. A BMC doctor – Dr. Vishnu and his team – arrived at the building. They examined JP, checked the other security guards, reassured all the residents in the building and explained the next steps. They said the 3 watchmen who had been in close contact with JP needed to self-quarantine for 14 days and inform the BMC if they developed any symptoms. The rest of us were deemed low risk and were told we could go about our regular parallel universe lives. They also asked for the name, age, sex and mobile number of all building residents, live-in staff, consultant staff and drivers.
An hour later a BMC ambulance arrived and took JP to the Lilavati Hospital Covid-19 ward. Another hour later BMC staff showed up to put up a ‘Covid-19 infection banner’ in the area JP had been isolated since he took ill. Another hour passed and the BMC sanitizing team arrived and sanitized all public areas of the building including the stairwell, meter room, and elevators with special emphasis on the areas JP had been over the last few days.
All this happened without a single paisa changing hands. No payments, no bribes, no reminders, no follow up. Amazing courtesy, understanding, reassurance, and care. Hat tip!
JP called that evening and every alternate day thereafter to say the facility was neat and clean, the food adequate and good and he was checked by a doctor at least twice a day. If he had any complaint, it was that he was bored and wondered how the building could possibly run without him.
Over the next few days, all families and a few staff in our building received a polite, courteous call from a BMC officer inquiring about our health and checking to make sure nobody was showing any symptoms. All very civilised.
10 days later JP called to say he had been retested and the result was negative. He and we were fortunate that he was largely asymptomatic and had also been tested and treated very early in the lifecycle of the virus – before he could transmit the virus and well before he could develop any complications. In an interview with Bandra Buzz, Dr. Neeta Shukla Assistant Medical Officer (AMO Surveillance) who is overseeing Bandra (West)’s Covid-19 response cell says, “Most patients refuse to go to the hospital until they reach a very critical state. And then, when treatment becomes difficult, they feel that the doctors and hospital staff are to blame, lack of facilities is to blame. Fact is, we have adequate facilities, we have well trained and dedicated staff who are doing the best they can with each patient that comes in. The crucial thing here is that patients and families need to understand that they should not wait until they reach a critical state to seek help”.
JP was discharged later that afternoon with a clean bill of health and advised to take Vitamin B for a few months. That’s it. No fuss. Again, no payment. No bribes. No ‘I know somebody who knows somebody’.
JP is now back in our building and insists on pottering around even though we have insisted he rests for at least another week. With the help of the uber-efficient KlinicApp, we have retested the three quarantined watchmen and I am happy to say they have all tested negative. We also retested JP and his report is currently pending.
Why do I write this? Because I am pleasantly surprised and impressed with the BMC. They have a very, very tough job. Covid-19 has been a seriously challenging battle. Yes, they may have stumbled a bit in the early days, but I think they have got their act together now and are doing an outstanding job. Not just efficient, they have also been very humane and caring. Not words I ever thought I would write about our much-maligned BMC. While we are all quick with our brickbats, I thought it right to give kudos where it was due.
So, all hail our BMC and I pray this remains our only brush with Covid-19.
