Coronavirus: A lazy thought (Part 1)
It takes just seven to
eight minutes to reach to the university from my residence. It is the same road
that I have been taking for the last four years. I wonder that I might even go
to the university by closing my eyes! Along the way, I meet and greet certain people
like restaurant waiters, street vendors, shopkeepers...
I ‘had’ to go to the university today. Every day, I go
to the university but today I ‘had’ to go! As I was leaving the community, I was
surprised when the receptionist wanted to know the motive of going out. Usually
he never asks. He listened to me carefully and finally said, “be careful.”
The narrow road going to the university was empty- a
complete deserted look. There were very few vehicles. Public transports were running
without any passengers. The street vendors, near Via del Corso, happen to be my countrymen, were with masks. They were
sad and frightened. One of them greeted me and said, “be careful.”
I have been entering into the university building for
the last four years. I know every corner of the building. I was surprised when the
receptionist stopped and asked me where I was going. It was for the first time!
I had to explain the motive of coming to the university. With a puzzled look,
she said, “be careful.”
I had gone to meet a professor. The professor, who usually
takes a lot of time, took less than a minute. I was surprised that she did not even
ask me to sit down. At the end, her simple advice was- “be careful.”
I went to my work place. It is always crowded. I found
just one of my class-mates was sitting in the office. I was surprised that she
greeted me very softly. She is the most social-able and outgoing person that I
have met in Room. Her usual smile was missing and she did not even show any
interest to talk to me. As I parted from her, she said, “be careful.”
As I was returning back to my community, I was
reflecting on “be careful” that I had heard from many people. In fact, many
seem to be warning me- don’t do this, don’t do that. I have also received a few
instructions of what I should not do during this time from the authority. Reflecting
on their words, suddenly I asked myself – what can I do these days! (to be continued)
