Forgive me for my unparliamentary language but I’m totally sick of what’s happening. I’m sure I speak for every human on the planet ( I do not wish to get into conspiracy theories). Covid’s like a bad movie without an end. We’re stuck in a time-warp- no matter how many steps we take, we are back where we started. Sounds so much like a real-life Marvel series right? This ugly looking virus reeling towards the earth ( that’s how they show it on TV anyway) attacking us, humans. And we, are fighting and fighting, but it keeps coming back. Darn!
Anyway, why am I ranting? I should be used to it by now right? Well, because this is the only place I can. My sister sadly can’t come for Christmas. She had booked her tickets from the US to India via Europe. Europe’s on the list of banned countries, continents. Fortunately, she can cancel her ticket and get the credit back but buying a new ticket will set her back by an additional $ 16 grand. That’s more than ten lakh rupees! And even if she decides to spend that much to see family (which she’s won’t because she is not crazy and neither is she on the Forbes list) there’s the 14-day quarantine Mumbai has imposed on all international travellers. God forbid, if she is positive, she will have to go into institutional quarantine. And even if she’s negative she still has to go through a seven-day home quarantine which isn’t feasible as she needs to see family in different places in India. All in all, it’s not worth the risk.
My younger one though still believes in a Christmas miracle and hopes her aunt will turn up despite everything, just like it happens in the movies revolving around Christmas. Sadly, ever since Covid began, there’s been no miracles. And yet, I know I have a lot to be grateful for.
So, rather than thinking about the negatives, I’m going to focus on the positives. Thanks to Zoom, Fb Messenger and Whatsapp video calls, we can still share in celebrations with families. Ever since the Omicron Virus came out, though the borders have been sealed to a list of 12 countries, we can still travel within the country (fingers crossed, that it remains so). All we need to do is the RT-PCR test even if we’ve taken the vaccine and we need to continue to be overly careful. But at least things are moving within each State- most schools have started from Gr 8 to G 12, malls and restaurants are open and we have the freedom to move around, which we did not have a year earlier. For this and more, I am grateful. Remember, as someone said, ‘You do not attract what you want. You attract what you are.’ So, let’s stay positive no matter what.
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