Everyone has a Story !

Never ever will anyone living on this Earth, as of today, will forget this year 2020 ! Thanks to the Covid 19 pandemic ! Governments across the globe declared lockdowns, put restrictions on movements to try to contain the spread. So here we are, locked down in our houses, for good !

However, numerous medical professionals, their support staff, policemen, politicians, armed forces personnel (here I mean all three; army, navy and air force), manufacturers, suppliers and vendors of essential commodities, bankers, media professionals and their support staff are all putting their best foot forward so that we are safe and sound in our nests ! Some unfortunate souls don’t even have a home to stay and are not even getting a meal a day to eat. Absolute love and respect to each one ! 🙏

Hundreds of people around the world are spending this lock down time in their houses, differently, to keep the boredom away from them, their family members and keeping the peppiness alive. Some are taking up long lost hobbies, some are reading along with kids, some are catching up on the web series that they missed, some are working from home even more tirelessly !

Some, like me, are cooking something exciting, day in and day out, even ‘exotic’ dishes with ‘exotic’ ingredients at times (according to some people), to keep my foodie little son’s enthusiasm about cooking up and kicking ! With the kind of social person I have been since childhood and with due respect to the changed meaning of socialisation due to the advent of technology, I am quite loud on some social media platforms. So probably almost every person who knows me on social media, knows what’s being cooked in my house, almost every day !

But, there is a school of thought, if I may say so, which feels we are 'wasting' resources and the least we could do is not cook anything exotic and prepare just roti sabji and also do not post it. They feel that by doing so, at the least, we will show some solidarity towards people who are not getting even an one time proper meal to eat or may be those who are getting simple meals to eat but don’t have the time to eat even a bite.

I mean, really?! So here’s my story. I go out to shop only essentials once in may be 7 days (mostly vegetables), I was able to stretch that to a maximum of 14 days, once. I prepare lists of what’s started depleting out of my groceries and vegetables. Once in a while I add the so called 'exotic' ingredients to the list, which may be include lettuce, baking powder, baking soda, soya sauce, paneer, mushrooms etc. Ok, firstly, these are no more 'exotic' as they are easily available in grocery shops / dairies or the regular nearby vegetable and fruit markets. So I stand in the queue for essentials, ask the shopkeeper to bring out those first and then, if available, the supposedly exotic ingredients. If I don’t get it in the nearest shop, I don’t run around hunting for those as I am well aware of my priorities. If, fortunately, I get some of them, I use it carefully and enjoy what I could cook out of it. Last thing I would do in this situation is, waste food ! So, basically am sure, everyone out there knows their priorities as well as limitations and are behaving accordingly. Simple.

The security guards in our society, 2 in the morning and 3 in the night, used to get their lunch / dinner / tea from outside (dabbawalas) before the lockdown. After the lockdown, their dabbawalas stopped providing the same. These security guards are people from up north, who are far away from their families, in this lockdown, serving our society, for our safety. We, as a society, have been providing them with home cooked meals, morning tea and breakfast, lunch, evening tea and dinner, for more than a month. We were taking turns. When it was mine, we provided them with the same meal that was being cooked by me for us that day; we did not discriminate.

I would not prefer going into the details of the direct or indirect financial help that we have been doing or at least trying to do. We are helping in every practically possible and feasible way we can. And am sure everyone is in a way that appeals to that person the most !

Now, is it fair if someone who doesn’t know my story, just generalises about my genre of people, that we are, in short being 'insensitive' and 'irresponsible'? That too based on some lovely food photographs posted on social media? I fail to understand how can this even mean that we disrespect the ones who are not so privileged?

The point is, none of us in my family, and if I permit myself to speak for all such people like us, want any damn accolades about what we are doing; BUT, we certainly don’t deserve to be made victims of generalisation ! NOBODY deserves it for that matter ! A modest and humble expectation is, just to apply this in your daily life, as well. Don’t generalise, don’t assume, hear out what one has to tell. Every person is different, is facing different situations, good or bad, has different ways of dealing with the same situations, has different ideas of helping those in need ! Whether in this pandemic or any situation where they can be of any kind of help, in any small or big way !

This situation was the most recent and those accusations of being insensitive and irresponsible and what not, were lingering on mind. I had to put my restlessness at peace; and if it means penning this story down, then be it so.

EVERYONE has a story ! In this pandemic or not in this pandemic,  whether a one liner or an elaborate one. And it deserves to heard at some or the other point of time !

So, what’s your story? 😊