COVID-19

Three days before I tested positive for COVID in September, I had come down with crippling weakness. I sensed this weakness was something different, not the usual fatigue or exhaustion. I also suffered from pronounced vertigo in this period. I was on medication for vertigo for almost three years. But this combination of weakness and vertigo was something else altogether. A lab technician came home and took the swabs of my nostrils and throat. On learning that I tested positive, my husband and son also took the tests. But their results were negative.  We went to Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital, where…

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm. As we near the end of the 2020 chapter, we have spent more than eight months since the lockdown, most businesses remain closed, while some have been shut permanently due to losses. Everyone has lost something or the other in this pandemic. Many have lost their near and dear, while a significant number have lost their jobs and livelihoods; some even called off their dreams. But we never gave up hope, holding on to the belief that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. As we move ahead, considering…

We all do whatever it takes to comfort a loved one who is ill. And while such selfless behaviour is what keeps families and friends together, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it necessary to be cautious even while taking care of a loved one who has contracted the virus. So, here are a few simple techniques that can protect you, or other family members and people coming in contact with a COVID-19 patient. Working with Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) and Optical Particle Sizer (OPS) at IIT Bombay. Pic: Ravi Kaushik It is important to understand the ‘why’ before we move…

Last Saturday, on October 24 at 4 pm, about 30 citizen volunteers gathered at Garuda Mall on McGrath road to participate in the “Mask Up Please” campaign. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Special Commissioner Randeep D, BBMP Chief Marshal Colonel Rajdeep Singh and a team of marshals also joined the campaign.  During the campaign, Randeep D along with all present took a pledge to wear masks to ensure the safety of others. The pledge reads as follows, I pledge not to leave my house without wearing a mask.I will be a good citizen and take responsibility to wear the mask…

Just yesterday Bengaluru reported over 5,000 thousand COVID cases in a single day. For the past few months, the city continues to account for the most number of COVID cases in Karnataka. Bengaluru has crossed 2.5 lakh cases, with a particularly steep rise since June 2020.  Bengaluru has done well in terms of testing, surveillance, containment measures, contact tracing, and scaling up health infrastructure. Hopefully, better regulation on the ground to enforce face masks and social distancing will help bring down numbers as time passes. A false sense of normalcy adds to the problem Since most places have opened up,…

All of us are fed up of reading and listening to news about this dreadful COVID-19 pandemic. Such a small virus has caused such turbulence in the entire world.   None of us ever imagined such a catastrophe would strike us and we will be safe nowhere on the planet! We have heard of natural calamities, wars or even other viral attacks but those would be in certain countries or regions and at least the rest of the world could help the people affected to come out of the difficulties. But, COVID-19 has taken away that option from mankind now. All of…

After three months of freedom to grow, my hair needed to be contained. It now formed a curtain over my eyes and glasses. When the government allowed the opening of beauty parlours, I booked myself for a first day, first trim. This was a calculated move. I would be in a place cleaned thoroughly after months of lockdown.  The shop wasn’t quite ready, so I made it “second day, first cut.” The Aadhaar card was mandatory, I heard. Parlours had to check the ID of people they had “beautified” routinely for years? But it made sense. I did look unrecognisable. …

Being locked up at home during the long COVID-19 lockdown, I got to reminiscing about my childhood. For instance, as kids, we used to look forward to the monsoon rains. Splashing, making boats and wading through the water excited us and made us feel happy. We had to go to school in knee-deep water wearing raincoats. But this never interrupted our routine. Now, when a virus has engulfed the world, we are told to lock ourselves up in isolation. I pity the kids. They are the ones bouncing with energy. How this is going to impact them, I wonder. Today,…