Like coming up from the netherworld after the zombie apocalypse siege, eyes unaccustomed to the sun pull their shades down viewing the world through squinted slats and safety googles.
Chalk circles were drawn, but nobody was standing in them.
Sign outside said, in Hindi and English; “Only two people in at a time,” but I was beckoned to come into a store with 4 or 5 other people.
It felt weird to be outside.
Apparently, carbonated drinks are not a necessity. Thankful, instant Nescafe coffee is and lucky for me, very few people in Vrindavan (or India for that matter) drink coffee. I claimed the largest jar behind the counter as I came in.
There simply isn’t any option for hoarding. Not that our human nature is so superior rather our flesh is weak; loading up with excess goodies only means you have to schlep them all home, walking with heavy shopping bags. So I only buy what I need and can reasonably carry home a mile or so.
People are out shopping, about 50% have some kind of rudimentary face mask on, or partially on, strapped but dangling from one ear.
Underneath my appearance of a hastily wrapped face mask scarf is a state-of-the-art, highly-sought-after-but-not-to-be-found genuine 3M N95 mask, slightly used, but still highly functional. This past fall, as India was moving into high air pollution time, I was just leaving the States after moving my daughter to Utah. The last thing I did (Providence intervenes once again!) was walk across the street to a CVS Pharmacy in Layton and load up on the best face masks I could find because the air quality in India was outrageously bad, worst in the world with Delhi hitting upwards of 500 AQI and Vrindavan hovering around 200 AQI.
So we wore these masks all through the winter, anytime the AirVisual app advised we should. Come spring and pandemic time, my mask, while filled with dust particles, turns out to be the Air Jordon/Apple Phone of the face mask fashion world – haute couture.
And that was my first foray outside after being inside my house for over 14 days straight. Locked down in India Day 14.
