Our World in 2 years

This is an article that I wrote for an exercise in the excellent writing workshop by Amit Varma.

If lockdown existed till the July of 2022 (which I hope does not), this is how the world, as per my imagination, would be.

Dear Diary,

Day 800 in lockdown. Or was it 900? Meh, I’ve lost count. 

Today was a warm sunny day. A flock of birds lazed around in the sun’s heat, no longer disturbed by the city-sounds. A light breeze blew, bringing the scent of the fresh lilies into my room. It was the perfect day. Pity I couldn’t go out.

As usual, the day started with my online classes. Today’s bio class was about the protein content of the dreaded virus. Studying to be a doctor is hard enough, but, these online classes make it worse. The only thing that gets me through them is chatting online with my friends. Over the past 2 years, I have formed the perfect way to fool my teacher into thinking that I pay attention in class. I just upload a video of me writing something and she buys it. 

The class ended at 1.  Now the worst part of the week was here; the weekend. There was a time when weekends were fun, now they are just 48 hours of sitting idle. I am tired of these online games and online chats and online FaceTime. I need some offline time!

At 2 o’clock, the lockdown head of my building called. My package from Amazon had arrived! I got up, put on my PPE, my mask, my plastic gloves, and my glasses. I sat in my UV cum sanitisation chamber that was set to the ‘level 1 human exposure’ setting. It has levels up till 10 but anything above 6 is banned now. I went and collected my package from the entrance of the building.

I removed the 12 different anti-virus layers off my package. Out popped my Apple mask ‘I-Mask X’. It was their latest flagship under the tagline “Your next mask is a phone”.  I had been saving for a long time, so, I splurged on an Apple product. It had an I-95 filter, touch ID, a 64 mp lens, and even portrait mode. 

I tossed the extra cardboard to one side of my room where the old anti-virus window filters and some steel plates were kept. Those mindless zealots who run our country have long given up on science and made it compulsory to bang plates every day at 5. We also have to drink various home remedies. New flavours have come up in the market, but they are all nasty.

At 4 my mom asked me to load the washing machine. I have always hated doing that, but now I have to put a pungent anti-biotic soap along with the normal soap. It smells horrible.

Shaking off the smell, I started my workout from a Facebook live stream of the gym coach. The standard; upper body, lower body, then breathing exercises. I am now able to hold my breath for 3 minutes. I have to be ready for a breach!

I would have gone out for a football game with my friends a few years ago. But that is an offence now.  With all these virtual games and meetings, I have forgotten how anything 3D looks like.

At 8 today, a siren started blaring – again. It is an AI, that senses coughs and starts beeping. This time it was just a cat. This was the 7th false alarm in 4 days!

My family and I sat down to watch the news at night. I skipped over the Covid-19 stats as they make me anxious. I stopped at the channel showing updates of the USA. The President had again said something stupid about a drug and people had believed him – again. The same story every day. Why do they keep voting for him?

Today was a normal day. Well, as normal as a day of lockdown can be. I hope one day I can go out for a real football game. Even hugging someone would be fine. One day things will get better. I refuse to end my faith in science and hope that it can win over dogma one day.

Regards 

Divija