On Way Back Home…

On 14 April 20 evening, the reluctant car owner of my house agreed to let me drive in the evening. I don’t undermine his concerns which were valid- 1) it wasn’t essential, so why to go out amidst lockdown and 2) I still don’t have a driver’s license – put together, it was enough to irk a disciplined Army man. But I pestered, who won’t need a change after day long of twiddling thumbs while looking at names against black background on screen also hearing unidentifiable voices during back- to -back online meetings on zoom and ECHO.

Eventually, I got the car keys, pressed an icon and the unlock sound squawked suddenly, shattering the lockdown silence in my society premises.

Left foot on the clutch and right trying to handle the break and accelerator, reverse gear, they say is the most difficult one for a beginner. Few meters back and then rolling the steering right in first gear, I paved my way through the most challenging window towards hitting the road, the boom-barrier, just before the main-gate. Its angle really confuses me and I thank God each time I successfully pass through it. Even though mundane, for me it was important to describe the process of hitting the road for two reasons- I wanted to show off my knowledge of driving (comes naturally to all beginners) and second- doing something that we are forbidden to do has its own charm. Moreover, when so many people are still being asked to go to offices while facing the same risk as anybody going out, then lets assume that I was also driving back from office.

I had driven hardly for few minutes and on a sliding road, we heard someone screaming from behind. They were two men holding an airbag with each of their hands on both sides and walking slowly against the weight of the bag. My husband asked me to stop once he heard the voice. Since the car was on a slope and in order to slow down, I switched on first gear, it stopped. I tried balancing the accelerator, clutch and gear but as soon as the right foot was lifted from the break to touch the accelerator, the car was sliding backwards. In the meanwhile, the two walking men had reached us.  Sense of Moral Policing awakened and for once I thought of lecturing them on how irresponsible they were that they were not staying at home to support the lockdown. However, before I could start, one of them said ‘sir, please Punjab jane ke rasta bataiye. Jo rasta mujhe pata hai wahan se Police nahi jane de rahi’ (sir, could you please help me with the direction from here to go to Punjab, the route that I know has been barred by Police’. And then he informed us that he is a cook in a restaurant in Gurgaon. During the lockdown like all others, the restaurant where he worked is closed. He was hoping that the lock-down will be lifted tomorrow (15 April) and managed for past so many days in whatever money he had saved. But since lockdown has been extended till 03 May, he is completely broke and has barely anything left to survive. All that he could think of was to go home- that’s the only though that comforts him and nothing else.

I was saddened when I heard this man. While I was working on COVID-19 specific and sensitive messages for Migrant population all day long and had heard about strategies to help them and read advisories for Migrant population, when I actually saw one narrating his story, I thought ‘does all that we were doing, addresses what he just described?’ Will you, I or anyone in his situation have the bandwidth to abide the rules of the lockdown when our bodies are battling hunger-pangs? Will we care to pay attention to maintain 1 meter distance when all we are longing for is a caring touch of a loved one? I don’t think so. We will perhaps do the same as this gentleman was doing, pick our bags and start walking aimlessly until we find a way back home. Nonetheless, we hesitantly offered him some money with the disclaimer that its not out of pity but for our own peace of mind. He hesitated but later accepted it reluctantly. He started walking again with one handle of the luggage in his hand and the other in his friend’s.

Meanwhile, successfully managing to pull the sliding car up on the slope, I applied first gear and slowly shifted to second and reached the main gate of our society. Accepted the boom-bar challenge, reached parking, reverse gear and then first. I parked, stopped and the lock sound of the car once again squawked, shattering the silence of my society that evening.