As told to Suhas Yellapantula (BOMBAY TIMES; April 14, 2020)

I’ve been in lockdown for nearly a month now in Barcelona. It’s surreal how drastically things changed around me ever since Coronavirus first hit us. Living in Spain, one of the worst-hit countries, I got to see first-hand how quickly this virus turned our lives upside down. It all changed on March 13, when Andrei (Koscheev, husband) and I stepped out to celebrate our anniversary, unperturbed by the coronavirus. We had made a reservation, but when we got to the restaurant, we saw that it was shut. That’s when it dawned upon us that things are really serious; the whole of Spain was under lockdown. From then on, everything changed. The police passed a rule allowing only one person per household to step out, and that too, only if absolutely unavoidable. In fact, Andrei and I were once stopped by the cops, but since he is white and I’m brown, they didn’t realise we were together, so they let us go.

Gradually, the gravity of the situation hit home as we started reading up more about the pandemic. To make matters worse, Andrei began to develop a dry cough and fever. We rushed to a hospital, but the doctors were overwhelmed and urged us to leave and self-isolate instead. “Chances are that even if he doesn’t have COVID-19, he will get it if he stays here,” the doctors told us. So, we decided to go home and self-isolate ourselves and get treatment at home. We slept in different rooms and maintained a safe distance from each other. Thankfully, he’s feeling better now, so I hope the worst is behind us.

Staying cooped up in one place is frustrating and I try to keep myself occupied — with yoga, meditation, cooking, reading, watching movies to take my mind off things. But no matter what, at 8 pm every day, everybody goes out to their balconies, to clap and sing together. It fills us all with that much-needed positivity in these trying times.

Though things are getting better here, I miss India. I don’t know when I’ll be able to come home. My parents are in Mumbai and I’m constantly on video-call with them. My mum has shared some of her recipes and I’ve learnt to make them. But now I’m running out of spices and garam masala, so I’m worried that I won’t be able to eat desi food soon. My problems are trivial compared to the sufferings many are enduring due to the pandemic. So, when we light a candle every night or clap from our balconies, we must keep them in our thoughts too, and if we can, we should do something for them.

This pandemic will change the way we look at the environment. I think we will have greater appreciation for things we’ve always taken for granted. It’s a long road back to normalcy, but when all this is over, we will hopefully have a better world.