Lock down update; up-leveled social distancing in the ashram!
Dear readers,
What strange times these are indeed!
India presumably has VERY few cases of the CV reported--only 1300 cases in the entire country!-- and yet the rules of the lock down are very strict.
All flights going in and out of the country are cancelled, at least until April 15th. Ditto for domestic flights. No buses, trains or other forms of public transportation are running. Everything is now closed except for medical facilities, pharmacies and grocery stores, and people are presumably only allowed to go to these places at certain times. Police are everywhere on the streets enforcing this.
Initially, I found this disturbing: is India turning into a police state? But then Vinod, a friend here in the ashram, showed me several clips (search them on Google or Youtube!) of the "enforcement" and "punishments" involved if people disobey:
For the men, they get a lashing with a stick!
For the women, they have to do squats...kid you not...and children? Something very odd, like squatting AND jumping like a bunch of frogs! Thought I would die laughing when I saw these videos...really worth checking out! All of this only serves to heighten the already surreal quality of this whole Corona virus business.
Now for how we are affected in the ashram: social distancing has been taken to new and ridiculous heights: only two people are allowed to sit at a large, round table. What this means is, it is like musical chairs! One has to race to be first in line to get food and then to get a seat at the "prime" tables, meaning the ones outside, overlooking the beautiful gardens. All the other, greater abundance, of chairs are indoors, where it is not scenic and much hotter! I nearly came to "fistie-cuffs" with a woman today who was lingering at a table as I stood by with my heavy tray. She was yacking with her friend across the table from her and had clearly finished eating... I was extremely hungry and the tray, getting heavier! She did finally move, but not without a fuss...
...and yet, moments later, an Indian woman came and stood RIGHT next to a friend at a different table to chat with her. I was seething! So, there is a glaring lack of consistency when it comes to enforcing or minding this new and extreme standard of distancing.
I also watched a man, heading off to work in the gardens, put his arm around another man, as males are wont to do in the Indian culture. I merely shook my head in wonderment....
And then, I watched--at breakfast this morning--as several people touched and squeezed several pieces of fruit before selecting their prime choice, completely and utterly ignoring the very obvious sign stating to ONLY touch the piece you will take! There IS someone whose duty it is to watch and enforce such etiquette, but the woman who had this duty just shrugged and smiled. Another infuriating moment!
We were brought some supplies to buy today, but they were maddeningly limited. I cannot get dental floss, hair bands, tape and an assortment of other items that were once common and easy to acquire...not to mention, some pharmaceutical supplies, such as anti-fungal cream for the feet. Or deodorant. It is not the end of the world without some of these things, but it does cause one to have to re-think what is truly important, and get creative about improvising.
The most important factor though is that all 130 of us are presumed healthy. (Then WHY all the extreme precautions, you might ask?!?! Great question, indeed!)
Another plus: apparently I can request an AC room at no extra cost! This is amazing....the normal rooms only have fans... and the more "luxurious" rooms with AC are normally double the cost and thus too expensive on my budget. So...does help to focus on the bright side of these most extraordinary times.
And that pretty much sums up my update.
(Oh and btw, saw a man vigorously picking his nose at a community wide gathering the other day--horrifying and gross! An older, Indian man...again, a cultural thing, apparently. Not one person that I know of said a single thing to him! So, as stated, glaring inconsistencies in the enforcement of hygiene abound!)
Coming soon: a series on other aspects of ashram life, such as Personalities and Seva (Sanskrit for "selfless service", the work we do here in the ashram.)
What strange times these are indeed!
India presumably has VERY few cases of the CV reported--only 1300 cases in the entire country!-- and yet the rules of the lock down are very strict.
All flights going in and out of the country are cancelled, at least until April 15th. Ditto for domestic flights. No buses, trains or other forms of public transportation are running. Everything is now closed except for medical facilities, pharmacies and grocery stores, and people are presumably only allowed to go to these places at certain times. Police are everywhere on the streets enforcing this.
Initially, I found this disturbing: is India turning into a police state? But then Vinod, a friend here in the ashram, showed me several clips (search them on Google or Youtube!) of the "enforcement" and "punishments" involved if people disobey:
For the men, they get a lashing with a stick!
For the women, they have to do squats...kid you not...and children? Something very odd, like squatting AND jumping like a bunch of frogs! Thought I would die laughing when I saw these videos...really worth checking out! All of this only serves to heighten the already surreal quality of this whole Corona virus business.
Now for how we are affected in the ashram: social distancing has been taken to new and ridiculous heights: only two people are allowed to sit at a large, round table. What this means is, it is like musical chairs! One has to race to be first in line to get food and then to get a seat at the "prime" tables, meaning the ones outside, overlooking the beautiful gardens. All the other, greater abundance, of chairs are indoors, where it is not scenic and much hotter! I nearly came to "fistie-cuffs" with a woman today who was lingering at a table as I stood by with my heavy tray. She was yacking with her friend across the table from her and had clearly finished eating... I was extremely hungry and the tray, getting heavier! She did finally move, but not without a fuss...
...and yet, moments later, an Indian woman came and stood RIGHT next to a friend at a different table to chat with her. I was seething! So, there is a glaring lack of consistency when it comes to enforcing or minding this new and extreme standard of distancing.
I also watched a man, heading off to work in the gardens, put his arm around another man, as males are wont to do in the Indian culture. I merely shook my head in wonderment....
And then, I watched--at breakfast this morning--as several people touched and squeezed several pieces of fruit before selecting their prime choice, completely and utterly ignoring the very obvious sign stating to ONLY touch the piece you will take! There IS someone whose duty it is to watch and enforce such etiquette, but the woman who had this duty just shrugged and smiled. Another infuriating moment!
We were brought some supplies to buy today, but they were maddeningly limited. I cannot get dental floss, hair bands, tape and an assortment of other items that were once common and easy to acquire...not to mention, some pharmaceutical supplies, such as anti-fungal cream for the feet. Or deodorant. It is not the end of the world without some of these things, but it does cause one to have to re-think what is truly important, and get creative about improvising.
The most important factor though is that all 130 of us are presumed healthy. (Then WHY all the extreme precautions, you might ask?!?! Great question, indeed!)
Another plus: apparently I can request an AC room at no extra cost! This is amazing....the normal rooms only have fans... and the more "luxurious" rooms with AC are normally double the cost and thus too expensive on my budget. So...does help to focus on the bright side of these most extraordinary times.
And that pretty much sums up my update.
(Oh and btw, saw a man vigorously picking his nose at a community wide gathering the other day--horrifying and gross! An older, Indian man...again, a cultural thing, apparently. Not one person that I know of said a single thing to him! So, as stated, glaring inconsistencies in the enforcement of hygiene abound!)
Coming soon: a series on other aspects of ashram life, such as Personalities and Seva (Sanskrit for "selfless service", the work we do here in the ashram.)
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