Trains, buses and planes are out of operation. Salons, spas and barber shops are closed . Even during hours of brief relaxation most of the shops stay closed because nobody needs the stuff they have on sale. Garments , shoes and beauty-aids are no one's priority.
It is a very horrifying spell of uncertainties as no one is sure about what is going to happen next. Will it ever be possible to roam around with the same abandon as we did before the arrival of this fiendish virus?
Cars duly parked and gathering dust! Petrol and diesel not required! Nicely ironed trousers and shirts waiting in the wardrobe , while I very conveniently make do with kurtas-n- pyjamas ! Money in good supply , but there is nowhere to spend ! Leisure in good measure, but there can't be any holidaying! Traffic-free streets , but can't use them for a walk!
God being kind that finances are no handicap, my new-found wisdom tells me that air to breathe, water to drink and wash , and some kind of food , a bed and a roof overhead are the only things we really need to tide over a tough and trying spell like the one forced on all by the Coronavirus. Around the time lockdown-1 was announced last month , I was about to visit the salon for a haircut, but out of caution I decided to wait for better days. The crown is so rich with lopsided growth now and there is no help.The lesson is that such mundane things can wait. After all, there are no hair-cuts in the world of nature.
Earlier I could never relish my morning tea without a newspaper before me. Now , for forty days there have been no newspapers and yet the world goes on. No domestic bits of help and yet the walls and floors are cleaner than before. The laundry yields brighter results and the kitchen sink is never stacked with stuff for rinsing. Corona regime has taught us that real needs are always very few ! All else is only greed !
Shall we be considered welcome guests even within the extended families in near future? Shall the well-to-do still think of building large estates ? For now, the clouds are so dark that it seems the things will never be the same for years.
(The writer is a Hoshiarpur-based retired college principal)