Even though I had not told my parents about the situation at the hostel, the news still made its way back home. They called me up. Asked what’s going on. I tried to sound as calm as I could and reassured them that everything is just fine.
“Haan, aik larkay ka positive aya to unhu nay kaha sub ke test karwa letay hain just to be safe”.
I thought I had controlled the situation well and they’re not worried. When the results came through and I told my parents that it’s negative, my father went into a loop of “Alhumdulillah, Alhumdulillah, Alhumdulillah….”
Life at Hostel
They did not even want to imagine what would we do if I had tested positive. It’s hard enough living far away from home as it is. You miss your mother’s cooking, you miss having chai with the family in the evening, you miss hanging out with your friends there, you miss the streets where you took your walks. You miss every single detail because all of it was ‘home’. And here I was locked inside a space along with 350 people and anyone of them could potentially be a carrier. What if the person I’m interacting with is a patient? What if I’m a carrier and I’m potentially putting everyone at risk?
I kept avoiding the mess because we all essentially ate from the same plates, spoons, forks and bowls. So, I ordered junk and stress-ate like a maniac. I think I spent a little over Rs. 5000 on food this week. And that’s not including the mess which I already paid for.
No Longer at Home
I’ve had this routine for a year now. I woke up in the morning, I took my mug and walked to Ranger’s Canteen for chai. On both days of lockdown, as a creature of habit, I woke up, took my mug and made my way to RC and midway I realized I can’t go out. This may read like a whiny Facebook post but it was little things like this which made me feel at home. It was my routine, it was my friends with whom I can kill time with, it was mindlessly having dinner in the mess after sleeping through the evening. It made me feel at home and I couldn’t do it anymore. Instead, I had to worry about what stuff would I have to carry if I’m quarantined here. Where will I be quarantined? Does that mean I won’t come near my room for 14 days?
No morning chai for two days
Some Good News But..
While most of the chaos has passed, some of my brothers did, unfortunately, test positive. The good news is that the number could have been far worse. The way things were, we thought there would be at least 50 cases. Hostel admin allocated the multipurpose hall, with almost 40 beds for them. But that doesn’t ease up things for my brothers who are bunked in a hall for two weeks.
2 thoughts on “Locked In for 48 Hours at the Boys Hostel”
Being a hostellite myself, I can relate to having spent around 5k on food and all the stress eating….