Lockdown Tales: Lives of Journalists

I opened my eyes to clean Kathmandu and inhaled the fresh air. Kathmandu had never been this silent yet this loud where all I could hear was birds chirping.

Just like every millennial would do I grabbed my phone and turned on my wifi. I wondered how would people survive during the lockdown if there were no internet.

The phone started vibrating and didn't stop for a while.

I opened up a message. "Listen is this tiktok video true?" It read. I opened the link to find out a tiktok video where a guy living in US says how he had seen plastic wrapped dead bodies of Corona victims being taken out of Teku based hospital with his own eyes.

"No it's just a gimmick of the tiktok user to get more views. Plus he has apologized for his actions as well." I typed back.

"Listen is the state owned media trying to hide something?" The other message read.

Aee baba private mediale ta dekhaauthyo hola ni ta bhaako bhaye, hoina ra  ( If it were so wouldn't the private media expose it atleast?) I thought.

Yet I replied "No we are not hiding any thing. The truth is right in front of your eyes."

I knew I would be late if I started to answer all of the queries so I finished my breakfast and made it to my office along the empty roads.

I reached my office, applied sanitizer, got my temperature checked, wore my gloves, put on my masks and started working.

I checked all the updates to find majority of the news were about Corona.

Just few months back I had read news on how Corona virus had taken lives of 100 and then this morning I was preparing news on how the death toll had surpassed 50 thousand.

No sooner had I started preparing my first news my brain talked to me "Everyone's enjoying the lockdown and here is poor Shail working in the office and is using the keyboard which might have been used by a Corona victim."

Remembering that I had put on gloves and every single staff had to undergo the thermal gun screening I pleaded my brain to stop chattering and not to play games with me for a while .

After preparing some national news I checked to see if there were any new updates in the international front.

I then stumbled into an article on how countries were investing on producing anti corona vaccines and how number of cases in Wuhan and South Korea had declined and how so many people had recovered.

I heaved a sigh of relief.

I prepared the news, presented it, bid goodbye to the viewers and went back to the cubicle.

"I was stopped by traffic for 7 times today. The police has definitely beefed up the security" one of my colleagues shared.

"Well I wasn't stopped even once" I shared.

"Maybe because they couldn't collect themselves as they had not seen such a beauty since long" my other colleague replied.

All of my colleagues had a good laugh.

I knew it was because I had my pass along with me but who doesn't like a compliment now and then so I chose to stay shut.

My phone beeped.

"Listen before you enter home make sure you hang up all your clothes, wash your hands and sanitize yourself and then enter the room. Clear? " It read.

The message from my mom was valid because if the Corona virus would enter the house it would only be through me. I would be THE REASON. "Is putting work ahead of everything healthy? Is your work bigger than your life? " My mind chattered again.

Just then one of my coworkers' child called him and asked him to return home as soon as possible. 

My other colleague was frantically wiping everything with santizer so that he didn;t carry the virus to his house along with him. We had laughed just a few minutes ago yet it couldn't overpower the fear that all of us had in our hearts. We all were  fighting our own battles but silently.

Is it how the armies deployed in violent areas feel ? I pondered.

I prepared news for the second bulletin, delivered it and left for my home.

PC: Prabin Ranabhat