This and that

 

This and that

A Garuda Indonesia  plane wears a protective mask to convey the importance of wearing masks, at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang, Indonesia.

This week was the time for travelling. Forced out of my bubble of security, I mingled with crowds, peered through plastic shields, touched thousands of oft-touched surfaces, fed the skin of hands copious amounts of alcohol bottled as sanitiser, filled my lungs with disinfectant vapours. Still, looking at the world outside, it felt as if Covid had gone.

Seeing people merrily lugging and hauling giant bags around, playing loud videos on their mobile phones,  eating out, friends slapping one another’s back, mask-less faces breathing carbon dioxide on the others’ faces, men stringing belts back in the loops of the trousers after security checks or women emptying the countless contents of their handbags for the CISF men to find the objectionable material marked in the X-ray, hundreds of questions shot up like snakeheads in my mind. The good thing is these doubts died quick death as new ones emerged. So the very few which lingered in my memory are:

The flights are full; with masks and face shields, the stewardess’ voices sound like gurgles. Why do some of these young women wear two masks- one on top of another?

Social/religious/political/academic/sporting/cultural gathering of more than 100 people is not allowed, we were nearly 180 passengers breathing the same air inside the plane. Which classification of gathering does a planeload of passengers come under?

I cannot open the sanitiser sachets and look at sadness at the tons and tons of plastic, rubber, polypropylene, nylon and polyester, all non-biodegradable components of PPE kits, being deposited for disposal, I don’t know how. 

Does Covid fear the white gowns the passengers on the middle seat are told to wear?

Travelling public continue to crowd around the counters. Any number of instructions or requests to practise safe-distancing hardly touch the ear drums of these people. The seats are decided, then why this hurry to board the plane? Will the Lucknow-Delhi-Jammu flight take them to Ahmedabad or Chennai if they do not push the one in front to get ahead?

Hotel receptions look like bank tellers’ windows with glass screens put up as a measure of safe distancing. The hospitality industry would not like this, but the slashed tariffs made my wallet happier.

Several of these precautionary measures seem somewhat misplaced too. What surprised me was that most of the restaurants had done away with the menu. You scan the QR code and the menu would appear. I was told this was to avoid touching of surfaces. But weren’t the staff touching the plates, cutlery, napkins and serving dishes? Besides, how does one make rotis and parathas without touching the flour with glove-less hands?

Of course, I have other questions too, but some smarty-pants might just ask me, why did I travel  if I was so concerned about so many things. Shouldn’t I sign off before I rub somebody the wrong way? My only wish is:

                                                                                                                      - Anupama S Mani