My mask and my mind

Posted by: Seeker and her search on: August 25, 2022

• In: Perspective
• 2 Comments

After taking an overnight choc-a-bloc flight from Delhi that triggered my fear of contracting Covid-19, I thought a 30-minute run under Singapore’s crimson red evening sky was the best way to overcome my tiredness and anxiety.

Jewel Changi Airport 

Joo Chiat Road in Singapore

It was April, and it wasn’t mandatory for people  in Singapore to wear masks outdoors. Yet, I wore it. I pulled it down while I was running but covered my nose and mouth carefully, every time, I waited at the traffic light among herds of people. When I spotted a few people without masks, I wondered how safe it was to be around a maskless crowd, what if I got infected and then infected my mother in turn, who was travelling along with me, and if our vaccines were good enough to protect us.

I wanted to convince myself that if Singapore had allowed people to move outdoors without masks, it must have had some rationale behind phasing out Covid-19 restrictions gradually. After all, it managed the pandemic exceedingly well – by keeping the cases low. From testing to contact tracing to vaccination – Singapore didn’t let its guards down unlike India, which witnessed over 527,000 Covid-19 deaths so far.

Near Sultan Mosque in Singapore

Last year, India messed up badly during the second wave when over 512 Covid-19 patients died without oxygen. In the eastern city Kolkata, where I lived throughout the second wave, I witnessed the desperation of my cousin to put my paternal aunt in a more advanced private hospital with the hope of a better treatment but his efforts were in vain. After battling for life for over three weeks, my aunt passed away. One maternal aunt, who tested positive after showing mild symptoms, died in a government-run hospital. I received frantic calls from friends desperately seeking help for oxygen concentrators and remdesivir – a drug which was widely prescribed by doctors then. The Indian government was criticised widely for its lackadaisical attitude towards controlling the pandemic. Not just that, the world even doubted one of the vaccines India gave it to its citizens.

While my clash with my mind over taking off my mask outdoors continued for the initial days in Singapore, I learnt that other countries in the region started easing out travel restrictions. In May, we booked our tickets to Bangkok.

My Mother at Wat Phra Kaew

After completing the immigration formalities at the deserted Bangkok airport, when we boarded the taxi, we discovered that a glass shield separated us from the driver. The streets were not crowded but every person on the street was wearing a mask.  It triggered my fears again. I wanted to check the daily Covid-19 cases in Bangkok but couldn’t do it instantly because I didn’t have a local internet connection.

After a 45-minute drive from the airport, we stood in a long queue in front of a sole receptionist, who was juggling between guests wanting to either check in or check out. A porter of this four-star hotel later told me that they had retrenched a lot of their staffers during the pandemic, and although the guests started pouring in again, the skeletal staff was forced to cater to them. 

Nevertheless, when our turn came, the receptionist asked us to do an RT-PCR test and be confined to the room till the test results came out.  The next morning, we were told, we tested negative.  

For the next six days, we had several interactions with the public, something I consciously avoided throughout the pandemic. We ate complimentary breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, overlooking the busy Ploenchit BTS station. We travelled in skytrains, taxis and tuk-tuks. We visited temples and night markets. Often, we were forced to pull down our masks to inhale some fresh air to escape the sweltering heat.

We also travelled to Pattaya to enjoy the sea and the nightlife. The beach road was deserted, most of the bars were shut and the restaurants were barely open for a few hours to serve guests, who unfortunately were made to wait for nearly a lifetime for their meal. Barring one, all currency exchange counters on the beach road were shut. While walking down the road — considered the epicentre of sex tourism in Pattaya — one night, I spotted a few young women on the long promenade – waiting for potential clients for sex work. Some were busy on video calls, trying to solicit. With such a handful of tourists around, most women, perhaps, had to wait for customers all night. 

Beach Road, Pattaya

Beach road, Pattaya

Beach Road, Pattaya

Beach Road, Pattaya

I am at the beach road in Pattaya

For the first time, I realised how tourism-driven businesses have been severely hit by the pandemic. Reports suggested the pandemic pushed over 800,00 people in Thailand into poverty.

That’s the reason why countries must push to reopen. It’s about time we bring things back to normal and start our post-pandemic life.  

After coming back to Singapore, my relationship with my mask changed to a great extent. It kept hanging around my arm while I went outdoors. I attended a Sunday prayer meeting in a church that ran in an enclosed room. I ate at food courts and restaurants, almost every day, without any sense of guilt or fear. 

The Merlion, Singapore

My Singapore and Thailand trips were eye-openers for me. It wasn’t just an ordinary journey to two beautiful south-east Asian countries. It was a journey that transformed my fear and panic to rationality and acceptance of reality.

This month, when I travelled across Sri Lanka, a tourism-driven country, to cover the impact of economic crisis, I realised people are more concerned about the collapsing economy more than Covid-19. Although a large section of them were wearing masks, they wanted foreigners to visit Sri Lanka so that the tourism trade, which is its one of the biggest foreign currency earners, come gradually back on its feet.

Despite prices have tripled, it won’t be much expensive for an average tourist from India or the West because the value of Sri Lankan rupees has fallen drastically. This economic crisis, which was party triggered by wrong policy decisions, mismanagement and partly by the economic lockdown during the  pandemic  that killed about 16,000 people in Sri Lanka is a lesson for all that shutting down businesses in fear will eventually take the country to a point of no return.

Colombo

The Plantation House, Colombo

Colombo at night

Now, back in India, unlike the past, I don’t check daily Covid-19 numbers anymore. I attend lunches at large gatherings; I watch new releases at theatres. I keep my mask handy, but I don’t panic when I see maskless people around. I am convinced that Covid-19 is here to stay but life cannot come to a standstill because we choose to nurture our fears, and not look for ways to go back a normal life.

I don’t let my mask play the mind game with me anymore.

ENDS

Tags: Covid-19, My mask, Travel because people need you, Travelling during Covid-19, Why you must start travelling now