Lockdown Diaries: Reflections of an Oxford shut-in
Something lockdown has given us all, in perhaps more quantities than we know how to deal with, is time. And as I find myself currently living alone, with my housemates having returned to their family homes, I have had all that time to myself. I had expected this to attract some sympathy - but the more sympathy I received,...
Lockdown Diaries: Migrants miseries multiply in India as government continues with its mum’s the word
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the open secret of the Indian economy, and its inability and failure to support the backbone of the industrial prowess - the 114 million strong, ductile and undemanding work-force and migrant labourers that have been left in the lurch during the eight-week-long lockdown (as we go to print.) Mass exodus The workplaces are shut or denied...
Lockdown diaries: Think local, think community, support small businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic
I live in London and have done all my life. It’s a bustling and busy City with a population of 8 million. You see people everywhere. Hustling. Shuffling. Rushing from here to there. This year, we became accustomed to phrases like lock down, self-isolate, global pandemic, social distancing, wash your hands, wear a mask, Zoom, ‘You’re on mute’, and...
Immunity boosting Indian soup Rasam becomes hot favourite for Covid patients in New York hospitals
At a time when the entire world is looking up to the US for a “medical miracle” to contain Covid, those in New York, New Jersey, and Princeton are betting on a South Indian staple to beat the virus — the humble 'rasam'. Behind the “viral trend”, obviously, is a chef from Tamil Nadu. The idea came during the middle...
Lockdown Diaries: The importance of exercise during lockdown and beyond
When compared to the spectre of death and global economic collapse, gym closures seem pretty low on the list of calamities caused by the pandemic, but exercise is particularly important now because it boosts us physically and mentally. Physical activity helps to keep our immune systems working effectively as it flushes bacteria from the lungs and airways, increases white blood...
Lockdown Diaries: Children express themselves in the times of Corona
Children in times of Corona is one example of challenging usual pathways. It started as an idea to create an intercultural digital space that then expanded even further as a platform to co-create, co-produce creative content with children between the age of five and fifteen, mainly working with South-Asian community, nurseries and schools in United Kingdom. We understand the...
Not Namaste Trump but Phir Milengey: H-1B visas suspended, what now?
It looked like things were getting as close as could be between US President Donald Trump and Narendra Modi but a worldwide pandemic and a scourge of resulting unemployment in the States has put a spanner in the works of ‘Namaste Trump’, as an executive order signed this past week will suspend new visas for foreign workers, including the...
Lockdown Diaries: Captain Sir Tom Moore, 100, dies with Covid 19 at the NHS Bedford hospital
Sir Thomas Moore, the 100-year-old legendary war veteran and NHS hero who won the nation's heart by raising £32 million for the NHS Charities to support their services during the coronavirus pandemic has died at the Bedford Hospital on Tuesday. He was admitted at the hospital on 31 January, after being tested positive for COVID-19. His condition deteriorated as...
Creativity unlocked: an inspiring story from India in the times of the pandemic
While the pandemic has been challenging for us in different ways, Pulkit Datta shows us how he used the lockdown to unlock his dormant creativity “When an admirer offered to pay for one of my sketches, my 10-year-old daughter, standing beside me, literally jumped in joy. I clenched my fists instead. The moment had arrived,” says Pulkit Datta, a mechanical engineer by trade, and an...
Lockdown Diaries: Abhishek Buddhadev seizes the lockdown as an opportunity, self-isolation as power of growth
Life always gives us the opportunity to improve ourselves, raise our voice, head, and self-esteem to overcome negativity. I was a bullied kid in school and lost the confidence to live life, but I recall the quote of "Do or Die". It's better to Do something else, as I already felt the situation of Dying in my depression. I started...
