By Anantinee Mishra

There is hardly a person nowadays who isn’t aware of the predicament the world is in due to the extensive outbreak of Coronavirus or Covid-19. With the number of people infected accumulating to some lakhs, this virus has spread intense panic and terror globally. It is the only talk in the town.

The term Coronavirus is often acquainted with the term ‘quarantine’. What exactly is this quarantine? To put it scientifically, it is the restriction of movement of people who are generally in good health, but are suspected of exposure to infections so that they do not end up infecting others as well. To put it simply, it means that certain people aren’t allowed to mingle with crowds for a certain amount of time. That specific and varyingly diverse time is known as Quarantine.

However, there certainly is some confusion. People often think that ‘quarantine’ and ‘isolation’ are the same things only; when in reality they are not! Isolation is done with a person who most definitely has become infected, with an hundred and one percent of surety and certainty. Quarantine is for people who are suspected of being infected, but nothing certain about it. Even though the only difference between the two is a small, mere word ‘suspect’, it actually makes a huge difference!

Now that we have cleared the confusion, we move onto the next term, ‘lockdown’. Lockdown is used when we refer to restriction of movement of masses, owing to the rapidly growing spread of an epidemic. Even this particular word isn’t uncommon anymore. Every second Government has this word on their lips, trying to pacify the public that the lockdown or the imposing of Section 144 of Indian Penal code, which prevents a gathering of more than five, is with the people’s best interests only.

If we take up an example of curfew, we can cite the Janata Curfew on the 22^nd of March, 2020 across India.  India’s Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi declared the curfew from 7 am till 9 pm. He also requested the citizens to come to their balconies or verandahs at 5 pm and clap, or make any sound of motivation for the doctors as well as people serving in the essential duties, who are working nonstop despite an health alert.

How many times have we got that feeling when all we want to do is stop whatever we are doing and just go home and sleep? Or spend some family time?

Well, this is the time to do that! Even though lockdown means remaining shut inside our houses and missing out the pleasant Spring sun, with a lazy breeze blowing, making dry leaves rustle and spring back to lie, it still can be enjoyed. For me, being surrounded by my books, on the recliner beside my window, delving into Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett’s world is a fantasy of a lifetime. For you, it can be different. Maybe  playing endless games of Ludo with your siblings? Or watching back to back movies of James Bond? It can be anything, as long as it makes you happy and satisfied.

But living in locked down condition can be seen as a blessing as well. Nobody is allowed to step out except people who perform essential duties, and people who do so are required to pay a hefty fine. But then, maybe this is exactly what was required at this moment. Not the humongous outbreak of course, but somebody telling us to slow down. Maybe we were in a blur of a life, everything moving so exceptionally fast, that we barely had time to look at our reflections in the mirror. How long had it been, that a decent Sunday had been spent in the company of family, without any interruptions? How long had it been that we had no heart to heart conversation with our mothers, just because we were so caught up in assignments, projects presentations, exams, financial year ending and what not? Maybe this is some sort of a message to us whom tells us that this is the time to correct it? To sit and play Snakes and Ladders with your family and do that crazy victory dance when you win? Somebody had very famously said, “True beauty lies not in the situation, but in the eyes of the person who sees it!’’

Maybe, we got so entangled in our lives, which were moving at an alarmingly fast rate, that we forgot the joy we get out of such simple pleasures. Maybe this was a wakeup call for us, which tells us “Slow down. Take a deep breath.” Because that is immensely necessary, isn’t it? Slowing down: we have to remember, that our city maybe in a lockdown, but our happiness isn’t. Never was, never will be. We, ourselves, can either lock our own happiness down, or just grow out of it.

Everything is not locked down: sun is not, relationships are not, imagination is not, creativity is not and hope is not. We can listen to the sound of the silence, it gives immense pleasure.

Stay home , enjoy and stay safe….

About the Author

Anantinee ‘JHUMPA’ Mishra is a prodigy author, poet and TED speaker. She is eleven years old studying in std.7^th at Apeejay School, Saket, New Delhi.  At the age of ten, she published a 21,000 worded anthology of stories called ‘Treasure of Short Stories’. Recently she has been conferred with a title ‘PRODIGY AUTHOR’ and an ‘HONORARY DIPLOMA’ by the Hon’ble Vice President of  India Sh. M Venkaiah Naidu in the 39^th World Congress of Poets.