Since my paternal uncle passed away, I was concerned about my father as the only surviving brother. Thankfully, he was fine but my brave trip during the pandemic was a lesson in itself to take care of oneself first and foremost.
Being not sure of travel, I requested some flexibility in my leave which my kind with. I took the test and it was negative. Immediately, I confirmed my travels. I cycled and bought a whole lot of thoughtful presents for friends and family at one go as did not have much time for multiple trips. I had to fill a Air Suvidha form to confirm all my location details in India. At the airport, there were so many administrative checks of an assortment of papers, making travelling with the Maharaja less than royal.
On the brighter side, this was one of the healthiest flights of the world because during the whole 8.5 hours, direct London- Kolkata Air India flight, not a single person sneezed or coughed.
I watched 3 movies non stop, only to take a break for washroom. Alcoholic drinks were served all throughout. I played merry go round with the seats as the flight was half empty. On landing at Kolkata, was subjected to numerous extra forms and checks.
After taking my RT PCR sample, I was counting the bars of the airport ceiling in the waiting room from 6.30 am to 12 noon, when with negative results, I was finally permitted to leave Dum dum airport.
Having last been in India, 3 years back, I had constant throat irritation and suspected infection. Thankfully, my friend had warned me about extremely high air pollution levels. I reconciled to the situation as best as I could and invested in an air purifier for a sound sleep in the later days of my trip.
Meanwhile, my dad banned all cleaners from the house because of fear of infections. I upgraded my room lighting with more voltage bulbs as it was so dark on the ground floor. The old mattress was so hard that I could not sleep the first few night. I shifted to my sisters bed in the adjoining room with the slightly newer mattress. The home food did not suit my palate and I got violently sick. I had to ring a doctor who prescribed a medicine to stop my vomitting. I avoided food for two days. Meanwhile, I made sure my work handover was happening well before I went for official leave.
The time difference ensured that I was awake like an owl- hearing the Azaan, the church bells and the melodiless song of a Hindu temple singer (why cant they take some training?). Even the crows sang sweeter.
had layers of accumulated dirt which was sickly sticky to touch. I invested in a mop so that housekeeper was able to clean the floors. My days in Kolkata were spent putting all the warm clothes in the sun, getting dads house cleaned, sorting things in the house and putting things in order.
My dad did not allow me to leave the house but I insisted on doing bank work to which he finally conceded. I left in morning and had a bath/change of clothes when back. During one of the trips, I bought some much needed floor cleaning liquid, door mat, chilli sauce for chowmein and some Bengali sweets.
Footpaths were being used by two wheelers to park their vehicles and to even live. Footpaths even had big cars parked on them. The polluted air made life miserable and even the Sun tried to shine weakly through but with some difficulty. Hawkers had encroached the roads and the vegetable sellers considered the footpath their private property.
Saraswati pooja was around the corner. Many pandals came up all over the streets. A public holiday meant young men and women dressed in their ethnic wear. It
The white marbles of Victoria memorial hid behind smog and not fog to my unsuspecting friends. Birla Planetarium had a wonderful show on cosmic collisions which was great but a copy of an American program dubbed in Hindi.
