In search of post-pandemic world, Bengalureans come to terms with coronavirus situation in US
As the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States escalates amidst fears that the ensuing week could look like a ‘Pearl Harbor moment’, young Bengalureans in the US are coming to terms with unusual times and leading a life -- less ordinary -- with shelter-in-place restrictions.
Away from home, they are putting on a brave front beneath their masks.
Nikita, a student of Columbia University and doing her PG in Architecture and Urban Design, is a resident of New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US. It is her first time away from home.
“New York being the buzzing city it is, has come to a dead halt right now – a little strange for me to see that through my window,” she says.
“My windows face the road. I live next to the 125th subway station and see the trains pass by. I’ve seen how the number of people in the trains has gone down drastically,” she says.
The only outdoor connection she has now is from her fire escape that is next to one of her windows. “I sit on my fire escape at different points of time and look out. I see that the number of people on the road has reduced. I hear the cheering of health workers that goes on every evening. I hear echoes of voices coming in from really far away -- of people blowing trumpets, playing the drums and hooting for the health workers,” she narrates.
The last time Nikita stepped out was 11 days ago. “But I’ve stocked up on essentials, not overstocked though,’’ she adds.
The lockdown is not in full swing there and she feels there is an urgent need for more stringent measures to keep people home. “There has been no shortage of groceries or veggies. But what I found missing was anti-bacterial wipes, anti-bacterial floor-cleaners and toilet paper, which was a little strange to me.”
She has stocked up on vegetables along with pulses, rice, wheat, different kinds of flour, ready-to-eat food and a lot of frozen food. In a situation where she is unable to move out, she feels she would be able to survive with three meals for at least 20 days with the food she has.
“A more serious lockdown is necessary. I wake up to panic calls and go to bed with panic calls from home. Staying calm in these times is very important,” she says.
Sree Lakshmi Deepak has been living in California for the past four years. A masters-holder in engineering management from the USC, she works in the Bay Area as a software consultant. “California has a shelter in place since March 17. That means we need to be getting out of our houses only for essential activities,” she said.
Her work involved weekly travel to client locations to help with their supply chain projects and implementation.
“I was constantly flying for work and that was the first thing that needed to be stopped. It was becoming more and more dangerous to be exposed to all the major airports in the US and to travel in planes,” Sree Lakshmi says.
“Although our travel life came to a halt, the work is still on. We have all taken to work from home to keep the project alive,” she adds.
“One disadvantage of working from home is it gets very difficult to actually put a hard stop on an eight-hour working day. It extends way further some days. By the time, work is over, we barely have a few hours to actually binge watch Netflix,” she says.
Although she is not too worried about herself, she is concerned about her parents and family. Her weekends have become quieter and she clearly misses her life outside. “And to be able to grab a coffee with a friend. But we understand this is what is expected of us to help prevent the spread of the virus,” she says.
“When we got to know about shelter in place by the state government, we went to our nearby grocery store and got all the essential food items which have a longer shelf life (grains, legumes, canned items). There was a surge in the purchases by the localities,” she remembers.
“There was complete panic. If you were to go later in the evening for a grocery run, you’d not get your daily dairy products/essential vegetables and so on. But in the past week, we have noticed the panic buying and hoarding has reduced,” she says. Like others, she says that the government was a little late to have the shelter in or social distancing order in place.
“There's a lot of anxiety when it comes to thinking about the well-being of our loved ones back home,” says Anurag Unnikrishnan, currently pursuing his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.
“It's frustrating that you can't do much about that. I try to do my best by calling my parents and grandparents every day and going beyond the usual perfunctory conversations,” he says.
“I am constantly thinking about them and checking on them to ensure that they have all that they need to look after themselves during this crisis,” he adds.
A bunch of his fellow schoolmates back home in Bengaluru have formed a network of delivering goods and groceries to the needy. “This eases my anxiety because I know that even though I may not be there to help my close ones, there are kindhearted folks out there who are willing to help those in need,” he said.
He has been inside his home in the US for the past three weeks and he had only stepped out twice in that time. “Both the times were to buy groceries. Nowadays, I look forward to all my grocery trips with childlike excitement,” he said.
Anurag has also been using this time to catch up on coursework and prepare for interviews. He has also started brushing up his Sudoku skills, learning some card tricks and working out at home.
“Also, there's this pressure from social media that we must make use of this time to have some sort of epiphany and do things like establishing the next Facebook. I think it's important that we stick to a routine and maintain healthy mental health over anything else,” he said.
“I would say that the US was very complacent when it came to reacting to the situation. Now that they have woken up, they have ramped up testing which has resulted in an absurd rise in the number of cases.”
“However, the university has handled this situation with aplomb. They didn't wait for the government and were quick to move all classes to an online platform for the rest of the semester,” he says.
Shruthi Tadamiri moved to the US to pursue her MS in 2018 and have lived here since. Currently, a data analyst working at an analytics company in Boston, she said it is tough being away from family because she is an only child and she worries about her parents who are by themselves.
“I am also aware that in the event that I fall sick, I will not have the same support system that I would’ve had if I were with my family,” she says
“I have been working from home for the last three weeks. I try to maintain a similar routine as what I had before the lockdown, focusing on work from 8.30 am to 5 pm,” she says.
Shruthi initially went for walks in the evening while maintaining social distancing, but reduced it as the situation got worse. “This caused me to stretch my work hours to 8-9 pm since I didn’t have anything else to do,” she says.
“The response to the virus by the US government was very mild at first, because of which no proper policies were in place to mitigate the problem. Since the state governments have more power to enforce any necessary restrictions, every state has a varying degree of preparedness and method of coping,” she says.
“The federal government is merely supporting the states but no uniform plan of action is in place for the entire country. This has in turn stressed the healthcare system to a large extent ensuing chaos,” she explains.
Shruthi emphasises the dire need for a nationwide lockdown in the US to contain the virus until a more feasible solution is found. “With business and supply chain being affected I think there’s also a lot of fear of unemployment among many people. I am looking forward to a post-pandemic world. This is something that will keep us all sane,” adds Sree Lakshmi.
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