“Look at who is washing his hands” said Pramod hilariously gesturing towards his friend Sujan Chandy. Pramod Kulkarni and his wife Susan D’Souza had come to Sujan’s house after three months. They had ventured out as the Lock down rules were eased out in Bangalore.
Sujan looked back at Pramod smiling and added, “I wash with soap and water for a minimum of twenty seconds.” Wiping his hands with a cotton napkin he continued, “I am washing my hands every day more than what I used to wash in one week.” He turned his hands and showing the top of the hands said, “The skin has become dry due to excessive washing and has turned red due to irritation!”
The friends sat on the chairs in the front room. Sujan observed, “Pramod you can take off the mask. You are now inside the house and you both have cleaned your hands with sanitizer.”
Pramod replied, “Now you guys understand the importance of self-hygiene? During college days many of you were making fun of my clean habits.”
Susan commented, “Come on, Pramod! You were obsessed about cleanliness during college days while the rest of us were casual about it. In fact many of my hostel mates used to make fun of it saying that my boyfriend would end up getting a job in the sanitation department.”
Mini Mathew, Sujan’s wife added, “Whatever might have happened a couple of decades ago is not much relevant now. Pramod’s self-hygiene habits are very important in today’s context and will remain relevant for many more years to come.” She got up and said, “Let me go to the kitchen and prepare coffee for you guys.”
“Coffee reminds me of the frequent tea we used to have during our engineering study days. We never used to bother about hygiene and quality! What was important for us was having it together. Remember those Sunday mornings when we used to sit on the compound wall of the hostel and drink tea supplied by the vendor on the other side of the road?” Sujan reminisced. “Yes I remember” Pramod added, “ It was the only item I used to have outside without bothering much as it was always served hot.”
Mini walked into the living room with a tray in her hand and placed it on the table. She added, “I used to have tea quite often during my graduation days in Mangalore. I was like Sujan and didn’t bother much about the way the tea or any dish was prepared. I always felt that street food should be enjoyed for the taste.”
Everyone reached out for their cup and started sipping the coffee. Susan commented, “Strange, isn’t it Sujan? Times have changed so much. I remember having seen you guys sitting on the hostel compound wall close to one another. Until recently we used to sit close to one another during our frequent home parties. Now involuntarily we are sitting far from each other maintaining social distance. This Virus has played with our lives and has conditioned it rather too quickly.”
"Yeah" Pramod continued, "This thing is here to stay. We have had enough of home stay and now need to move ahead with our lives. Livelihood is equally important. This lock down has given us ample time to learn, tune ourselves, and adjust to the new world order. There will be less or no eating outside in restaurants and no frequent travel to other places. Holidaying and overseas visits are ruled out for now. The air around us is fresh and our lives have undergone detoxing. We have reset many things and are now appreciating the rituals and traditions of food and living habits followed by our elders. It is still a very long battle to be won and it will be on a day to day basis as we maintain personal hygiene, social distance, and good health."
“Well said” Sujan added
and continued, “This is the new world order and we have to adjust and move
ahead accordingly. It is like Never before & ever after.”
👏👍
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