Lockdown Tales

                       Kahani Ghar Ghar ki in Lockdown

   The year 2020 has really been a bad year for the entire world thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Almost all the countries are affected by the Coronavirus outbreak and the situation is really worsening across the globe. A developed country like the United States of America is affected the most where more than 59,000 people have died so far. USA and Italy have the best healthcare systems in the world yet they are finding it difficult to save their people. India is a developing nation and the second most populated country in the World. More than 1000 people have died in India so far and the cases are increasing rapidly. Due to lockdown, we have managed to flatten the curve to some extent but the situation in the MMR region is really worrisome. In India, Janta Curfew was announced on 22nd March, and on the very next day lockdown, 1.0 started. We are in lockdown 2.0 which will end on 3rd May and there is a great possibility of lockdown 3.0 after that. 

  Unemployment and Poverty in India go hand by hand. The huge population in India is currently relying on the food provided by the State Governments, NGOs, and CSR wings of Corporates. Daily wagers are the most affected people right now. In these uncertain times, most of them are stuck in the states where they migrated for survival. Coronavirus is killing people in slums while those rich people who brought it in India with them during foreign trips have recovered by getting treatments from the best of the Private hospitals in India. Most of them are working from their homes, staying inside their air-conditioned houses, and having a great holiday time. 

   Salaried Middle-class people who can work from home are working from home during the lockdown and those who can't WFH are waiting for the lockdown to get over. They are the ones who are co-operating the Government and following Social distancing seriously whenever they go out to buy Groceries and Vegetables. The middle-class public is worried about their collapsed budgets after a reduction in their salaries. They are worried about the situation in India and venting their anger on Social Media whenever they see videos of mistreatment of People with Covidyodhas. They are concerned about how things are getting managed in hospitals, the safety of doctors and nurses, policemen, and sanitization workers. They are protecting their families and doing everything to increase their immunity.

  The continuous bombardment of Covid-19 news started affecting the mental health of many people during the lockdown. People started showing signs of anxiety, Insomnia, and depression. So they decided to stop tracking Covid-19 related news and focus on staying happy and positive. We saw many people becoming active on Social Media websites during the lockdown. They joined all the WhatsApp groups left by them again to stay in touch with old friends. People started using apps like Zoom and Google Duo to interact with each other. They started attending different online webinars, reading books, upgrading their skills, giving time to their hobbies, cooking different recipes, writing blogs, and so on. Entertainment became the most important part of their lives who didn't have or don't wanted to do anything productive during the lockdown. 

Image source: Wikipedia

   Cheap Internet and Mobiles have revolutionalized the way people get entertained now. Youngsters started watching Tiktok videos, youtube videos of Youtubers. Comedy videos of YouTubers like Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchalani, Amit Bhadana started trending so as rap and hip hop songs by Divine and Emiway. Money Heist's new season was binged watched by Netflix users while Amazon Prime users watched movies like Parasite, Joker, and Shubh Mangalam Zyada Saavdhan. Re-telecast of 80's TV serials Ramayan and Mahabharta increased TRP of Doordarshan. Some also started watching the retelecast of Byomkesh Bakshi, Circus, etc. After receiving such a response, Doordarshan launched a channel Doordarshan Retro to re-telecast all their successful old TV serials. The Kapil Sharma Show, Chala Hawa Yeu Dya videos started flooding the Facebook feeds. Movie Lovers started searching YouTube to see if whether movies they wanted to see are available on YouTube or not. Some even started downloading Torrents of the same. 

Lockdown forced people to stay indoors. In this period they consumed entertainment to the extent that they are feeling restless now and want to move out of their houses like old times. They want to travel to their work, start roaming on streets, and move freely as per their wish again.