Covid Diaries

The place to come for uplifting stories in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Rhona Tasmia Rabbani – The bright, young FedEx-pert of the APAC region

People are the core of any business and those who are in charge of driving the people policies, hiring, development and engagement of talents, are the gatekeepers to that resource. Meet Rhona Tasmia Rabbani, the Managing Director of Talent & Learning for FedEx Express in the Asia Pacific region, one of the youngest directors in the region of this...

Lockdown Diaries: Reflections In The Wake of COVID-19

Most of us Indians across the globe perhaps share a similar story at this juncture. We are in the same boat, stranded mentally if not physically. For those of us whose families are far away in India, the question that has inevitably crossed our minds is: “When will we get to go home next?” It's my 83rd day today,...

Lockdown Diaries: The hope that makes us go on and on….dancing

We celebrated Mother’s Day last weekend. It was just another day in these times of Coronavirus-pandemic-related lockdown existence. My day to day routine at home revolves around balancing home, office, and the kids. It is quite a juggle, but not quite different from what most other mothers all across the world go through every day. Many of these mothers...

Lockdown Diaries: British Asian Trust’s emergency COVID-19 appeal for South Asia

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Royal Founding Patron of the British Asian Trust, gave his support to the British Asian Trust’s COVID-19 Emergency Appeal on Friday 24th April via a specially recorded video message. South Asia is home to 27% of the world’s poorest people with 750 million people surviving on less than $2.50 per day. Now...

Kaushalya UK’s upcoming project will share stories to empower and uplift women around the world

An upcoming anthology of women titled ‘The New Woman’ - a project lead by Ritu Sharma, is a collection of 34 stories of women who have undergone transformation through adversity, spread across five continents,. The book will be launched on 27 July. Under the umbrella of Ritu's organisation Kaushalya UK, the anthology will showcase "women who have been broken by...

Lockdown Diaries: Feeding the feeders – CORO India distributes food supplies to wage earners amidst the coronavirus lockdown

It's been a long time since I sat down to write something. But if one's part of something magical, then that story needs to be told. My story begins with the announcement of the Corona lockdown by the Indian government. We all knew it would come one day, but still we were all shocked when it did arrive. Most of...

Open Oven: Baking it Even!

With the world witnessing a paradigm shift, food still holds fort as a constant source of relief. Entrepreneurial ventures stocking on comfort and utility food has become the need of the hour. One such immensely popular bakery in Kolkata, India is the Open Oven Bakery. Instituted by Reshma Sengupta, Open Oven has been supplying tasty and healthy baked food...

Community bonds over Hindu temple cemetery restoration project in Hong Kong

The capacity for people to give of themselves even in hard times is a wonder of the human spirit. Recently this was evident as a forgotten cemetery behind a Hindu temple in Hong Kong was saved by an eager crowd of volunteers. Arianne Baldesimo, a Filipino teacher who calls Hong Kong her home, has been in the Hindu Temple at...

Bridge India takes on the challenges of tackling Covid across India

India is grappling with the COVID-19 situation, while Indian-diaspora-driven organisations across the world have stepped up their efforts to help Indians tide over this most challenging time. UK-based Bridge India, a non-profit think tank dedicated to the discourse on public policy, is one such organisation that has done phenomenal work in the past week. The esteemed Members have reached out for support...

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,...