Lockdown experience
The Beginning... Life seems to have undergone a Fourier transform. Imaginary has become real, what used to be real can only be imagined now. I had always imagined sitting on the hanging verandah outside our bedroom at three pm on a working day and reading a book. I can do it now. I can look at clouds, a cow idly grazing on the lane opposite to our house, and measure the time it took the evening to descend. Or play cricket on the roof. Touch screens to hold hands. Adapt. Somehow. Now... I have witnessed human beings becoming daily numbers. Numbers I have obsessively played with, analysed, predicted. Not once thinking that I too could become one of them, which someone else would analyse. Me. Or my son, or daughter or my dear friends. The feeling of immortality still hasn't deserted me. Maybe most of us, still. Is this called hope? Or the unyielding human spirit? Maybe both. Perhaps stupidity as well. Meanwhile, we adapt. I have adapted. I recognize people from their eyes. In spite of masks. I wear one too. Masks are irritating, but good. They force you to look at eyes deeply. And look for stories that lay hidden. Till now.
Prof. Ayan Banerjee
Lock-down is now way more common and connected to our lives; however, work must go on for livelihood. While this lock-down was going on, a virus was doing a quite similar job of trapping as myself. Though during the Lock-down, there were works, family, nature, and cooking to enjoy a whole day, but being an experimentalist, I have missed the lab. Moreover, it has snapped away many lives, many peoples’ jobs, destroyed the global economy, etc. Whatever it is, I am waiting to be as mobile as I was before and to be free from this virus.
Souvik Sil
The Beginning... Corona exposes the ground reality in many fields for life on this planet. Computers enable the privileged to work from home, but most Indians are trying really hard to survive this pandemic. We, the hostellers of IISER Kolkata are regularly updating with facts of COVID-19 and engaging ourselves with extracurricular activities besides research work. I need to finish two paper works in this period. Also I am enjoying the natural beauty of this campus and freezing them in my camera. Most interestingly, I have learnt bird-photography a lot on my own. Besides -reading books, discussing various matters such as politics, etc. are the dynamics in my life which helps me pass time.
Avijit Kundu
Living through the lockdown enforced due to the coronavirus pandemic has provided me a chance to introspect about our busy mundane lifestyle. As a young scientist, I feel that it is good to do blue sky research but it is equally important to devote some time to applications oriented research which can have a direct impact on the lives of common people and ameliorate human suffering at affordable cost. We should also spend some time close to nature especially during early mornings as it can be a rewarding experience and also help to reboot our natural body clock.
Amar Deo Chandra
I welcomed 2020 wholeheartedly with new hopes but it brought with it bags, full of miseries, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, lamentation and separation. I never imagined this and was in shock for some time. The wheel of progress and prosperity has come to almost standstill and the fighters who used to ride it are struggling hard for survival and begging for help. Poor and helpless people have become an object of ridicule. Counting and asking death toll has become a regular morning chit-chat. Uncertainty in normalcy is the only certainty. But I am still hopeful that 2020 might have kept something better for us in its store.
Roshan Tiwari
Prior to the Lockdown, people’s involvement in their work was comparable to a fast train destined to its endpoint without any stops. The urge to do something had bypassed the questions of why and what, and the desire for new relationships had blurred old and deep relationships – just as a house appears invisible on a foggy winter night. The intervention of human beings in the livelihood of other creatures is against the tolerance of mother nature, which confined the all-encompassing human ego into a small walled island, prohibiting it from leaving the island and making it realize that the virus that is so tiny and cannot be seen by the naked eye has made whole mankind kneel down in front of it to beg for their life.
Ram Nandan Kumar
Although the beginning of the year 2020 was filled with high hopes, but the series of lockdown to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 revealed another picture of India. In this lockdown period, I expected massive awareness and mutual cooperation throughout the nation. But with utmost disappointment I observed that neither our leaders nor the so-called educated people or common people have minimum knowledge, responsibility, willingness to tackle this situation. The poor infrastructure in health sector, lack of proper planning and poor research and industrial facilities increased the misery a thousand times. I hope vaccine for COVID-19 will be discovered very soon and by that time please maintain the highest level of personal hygiene regularly.
Sauvik Roy
Every problem has a solution hidden in it. The quest for science is never limited to the four boundaries of the lab. As long as we have our fully functional brain, it has questions and the ability to solve them. Although everything outside is chaotic, we can try working on bringing peace to our mind through various activities. This is a great time to work on our long term buried hobbies apart from our professional life. We have lots of time to ponder about the research we are doing. And at last let’s be sensitive to all unfortunate people suffering from this pandemic, be it the patients, or the underprivileged ones. Acting-wise and sensible can help reduce the harsh effects of this pandemic.
Anita Pahi
We all are in a apocalyptic situation due to sudden outbreak of the virus. Confined home, minimal social contact and all kind of preventive measures have restricted our free flow to a certain extent. These restrictions may be capable of making us depressed and can create emotional imbalance. But there will always be some reasons to smile: the clear blue sky, the unseasonal winter chill in late April and overwhelming silence are the gifts we have been given due to this outbreak. It feels like the late evening showers are constantly trying to clean out the remaining toxicity of the environment as well as the inertness of our mind. We should think that we are not stuck at home, rather we are safe at home. After some days, normalcy will be restored definitely and we will be able to go back to our previous routine in a more refreshed manner.
Biswajit Das
Finally the lockdown is at its end. The rate of people getting affected has passed but I am not worried anymore. It seems counterintuitive to call myself educated now. The war of right and wrong has finally settled. The debates on what we should do has mostly converged to what can be done. I have finally realised the source of my problems is me only, nobody else. It looks as if there has been a cyclone in everybody’s life and has uprooted everything which was not firm to the ground. Everybody is friend now since even friend can carry the death himself. So there is no idea of friend and foe. Now it seems I have finally accepted the situation or have completely ignored it.
Anandev Ranjan
I always wondered what it would be like to do theory; you don't need a lab and can do it anywhere in the world! Well, 2020 made me say adieu to my beloved setup at IISER and concentrate more on that. I didn't know enough biology to search for an antidote, so I engaged my screen time looking at human lives turn into mere numbers. My Ph.D. at Georgia Tech got deferred to 2021. I took some time to learn ML, reorganize my data, write some manuscripts, and attend lots of webinars. India faced a huge blow; people lost jobs and family and went to bed hungry. Life became a hard-sphere model with a 6 feet radius, and meetings became screen times only. Humans were not designed to live in this Fermionic state; we crave to be Bosons, all condensed together, happy. Maybe one day we will again, perhaps in 2021, I hope.
Raunak Dey
Six months down memory lane, we were in a complete different world- to which 'lock-down' is frictional, only possible in fancy Hollywood movies. And now, we have seen unimaginable changes over the past six months. For someone like me, whose life was scheduled to undergo a transition from bachelor to married, from PhD to Postdoc, this new reality has forced to readjust the timelines of the goals. While the consequences are mostly depressing for me, this sudden change in the pace of life has also added some unpredictable positive vibes- a lifetime experience to cherish. At the peak of lock-down, three months ago, I would not dare to write this summary sitting in a train, traveling from North Germany to South, towards my new destination with my wife alongside- feels like winning over the depressing lock-down.