Mask on

 Following is a real conversation I had with my clerk on Covid and masks!

Me: Now that I have given you the money you asked for can you please complete the work on time? The clients are super anxious.

Devraj: Sure ma’am. Have faith in me.

Me: Okay. Bye!

(Me moving to the parking lot)

Devraj: Ma’am will you please take my advice on an unrelated matter. In work you are my senior but in life I am much senior to you…

Me: Sure sir.

(making a mental checklist of all the things I messed up in the last month)

Devraj: Don’t wear a mask ma’am. It is bad for your health

*ok that is not there on any sane checklist*

Me: (laughed nervously) what?!

Devraj: See my lips they have become allergic where the masks have cut.

Me: You must have tied in too tightly. Get one your size. Do you want to die of corona?!

Devraj: Ma’am don’t take it the wrong way but I don’t believe in corona. Have you seen it with your eyes.

Me: Sir! It is not something you can choose to believe in like god. It is science actual facts. Do you think our government which you admit is useless will go to such lengths to protect us from a non existent virus.

Devraj: It is all a scam ma’am. Just another way to take money from the poor and stop us from working.

Me: (trying to find a way to make him understand) Sir, I know the last one year has been very difficult income wise. But isn’t it the same reason you should be more cautious. I know you have 4 children to take care of. Wearing a mask is just the cheapest way to keep you safe from the virus.

Devraj: There is no virus ma’am. It is just common cold. People with asthma always have breathing problem. This is all unnecessary hype.

Me: Sir, my own mother had corona a few months back. She didn’t even have the symptoms you were talking of. But there were some parameters in her blood test like IL6 which were triple what they should be. If we had left it unchecked she had a definite chance of stroke or heart attack.

Devraj: (mumbling to himself) I didn’t read about this side effect anywhere.

Me: …..and even assuming corona is some hyped up common cold, if you enter a hospital be assured that you will be charged a bomb and you would have wished you wore that 20 Rs mask.

Devraj: but public hospitals..

Me: No buts. I know you are going to say government hospitals are free. I also know how you and a lot of people including my own grandmother feel that you won’t come back alive if you go into one. That is by the way very untrue. The corporation took excellent care of us when my mom was unwell and we all had to home isolate.

Full on monologue mode now

I know you have every reason to mistrust the institutions in this country. The politicians, the hospitals, the country. But believe me when I say corona is real. And Also if you don’t wear a mask in front of me or remove it while talking I will not give you any more work. Your belief should not hurt me!

Devraj: Okay ma’am. Since you are saying so much I will wear a mask from now on.

Me: Also wear it to cover your nose not your chin. I am saying this because I care about your life. You are moving in the Courts every day and meeting 100s of people who think like this. Protect yourself!

Devraj: Okay ma’am. Mask on from now on. Thank you.

Me: No I should Thank you!

 

Ludo Queen

So in lieu of my recent continued obsession with the game ‘Ludo King’, I have come to the conclusion that life is very similar to a game of  Ludo. Most people think it is the oversimplistic Snakes and ladders and a few would like to think that it is a complicated game of chess. The fact is that while in Snakes and Ladders we have ZERO control of the game and we are essentially leaving it to chance , in chess we are the masters of our own destiny. Neither situation really reflects life as it is.

 

Life like I said is a game of Ludo. It is the culmination of a seemingly predictable algorithm coupled with pure roll of the dice and strategic movement of your tokens. There are 2 ways to play it – either aggressively look to take out your opponent’s tokens to move forward or play the safe game and focus on the moves which will lead you to not be killed. It is fight or flee all over again. But again it is a question of responding to what the situation demands of you. Sometimes if you chicken out of taking the token which is right in front of you , others might start attacking you thinking you are a weakling . Or sometimes, while all your tokens are in the safe zone guarded by luck you might get cocky and try to grab what is not yours and end up back in square one.

 

So don’t be a cock or a chicken. Be your own wonderful self! Trust your instinct always. The gut always seems to process past defeats in a better fashion than your logical brain .

Earn your coins , enjoy the journey however tumultuous it gets. If all your tokens are back in the hut , don’t give up automatically. Atleast in the algorithm based universe perseverance has a price. Remember, giving up never has no upside! Also remember that this is just some elaborate game and it makes no sense to take it so seriously. Death might just be the end of a simulation for all we know. Okay. I am going to stop typing now :P

 

(365 words)

Karpagam gardens

So , I went on a walk today.

Roads which  once bustled with robust activity

The Covid addled streets were empty.

I was in search of a pharmacy

Which sells Coca Cola.

Yes , I am well aware of the irony.

 

As I was walking in the main road

I saw an ambulance racing past me.

I always worry a bit about my oldest relatives

After I see that despicable life saving vehicle.

Gave a mental prayer.

Alas! A van with an empty ice box followed it.

 

Mood properly ruined,

I whispered curses to myself and

Switched to a tiny lane,

Hoping for calmness rather calamity

In smaller streets.

 

That’s when I heard a loud male voice

Shouting with all his lungs in hindi,

On how she had tortured him for the past 2 months

On very damn thing!

And it reverberated through the streets

Even when I was fast walking away..

 

Now thoroughly pissed with myself

For not just staying home and

Running out of stamina

I reached the end of the street.

There I saw a couple play badminton

Like we are in the middle of some summer holidays

And thought maybe corona IS

A vacation for the rich.

 

My cynical view was somewhat defeated

When I was nearing the pharmacy

And saw this cute cat

Stretching itself in the middle of the road.

Maybe all will be fine if I just chilled a bit

And stop constantly worrying so much?

 

Maybe peace is something to search inwards for

In the turbulent waves of my heart

Rather than in the rosy exteriors of my neigborhood?

Happy with my midstreet epiphany

I bought some aerated slow poison and

delicious diabetic inducing treats

and made my way back home.

 

 

 

 

What once was

  

We are plagued by memories

By what once was

Ours to cherish

But not cherished.

 

To collaborate with &

Not compete against.

To break a for given bond

Without any thought given

Absent mindedly

Like how dusts of disinterest and distance

Began to gather over us

Together.

 

But we are still friends,

Still as dead water.

Of silent tears

Which were (never) cried.

 

I see red

There is no doubt, 

the world is filled with a myriad of nincompoops

Today's world especially. 

I heard a right winger legit swing these words on National Television

"The older generation must sacrifice their lives for the sake of the economy"

NINCOMPOOP! 

I see red everywhere, 

but this sunday morning I have decided to take the all appeasing blue

a bold one nonetheless 

and paint YOU COULD GET CORONA TOO.

Don't be that idiot who thinks 

the virus will swing by you 

and not harm you. 

Not too old

too smart

too insignificant 

for the cornea less corona. 

But you can definitely be too stupid. 

Can't believe this is the gift 

I am getting for my well deserved retirement.

Teaching common sense to the so called well educated generation.

You can balance work with a life only when you have a life.

You might think I am being Captain Obvious

but that has what it has come down to really. 

Simple, rudimentary, life saving instructions

which we somehow are incapable of  listening to it seems!

Maybe I should just use the red paint after all.