No office to go to, no trains, no buses, no autorickshaws. It reminded of a strict parent having a NO for anything asked for.
Realisation has dawned on all the family members – the Miss, the Mrs and the Mr. that they have to do their own clothes and step in to own household activities. Division of labour looked somewhat like this :
- The Mr. to stack dried vessels back in to the shelves
- The Mrs. to wash the day’s vessels ; Minimum once a day and maximum twice (this one depended on the mood)
- To ease burden on Mrs., Mr. and Miss. to wash their cups and plates after tea and meals
- Miss was keen to sweep the floor clean and get some exercise in the process
- Mr. responsible for vegetable chopping and ideas for lunch/dinner. Mrs. gladly helped with the meals
- Everyone took responsibility for washing their own clothes. The Miss was sometimes kind to keep her mum in good humour and took to washing her clothes as well
Office work continued and senior folks wanted to publish stories of people who went beyond their normal responsibilities to ensure that clients did not experience any disruption in their operations.
Chennai continued to function normally and this was puzzling. No announcement regarding shops, establishments and offices shutting down. People were working from conference rooms driving business continuity planning activities. Mad scramble for laptops, desktops delivered home and even getting personal laptops being deputed for official duty (data loss measures and security measures being in place).
A close friend was in to self quarantine after returning from the UK. His forearm was stamped at the airport and with his details being noted, the corporation followed through to mark his residence.
Evening was a walk to the local market to pick up some vegetables. The vendors had covered their wares and were in a hurry to complete their transactions.
Lunch was some hot Rasam with Kovakkai curry (Coccinia). A new way of life had started to take root.
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