Lockdown Diaries Nominee#1- The Fool’s Paradise by Souvik Chakraborty

I wake up gasping for breath, startled, and fearful for my life. “Just a nightmare.” I reach out for a glass of water and look at the time. Panic strikes. It’s 8 in the morning already. I rush towards my doorknob when an alien thought grasps over me. I realize I don’t have classes. I realize it’s the first day of lockdown.

It’s been a little over four months now since then and yet feels anew. Humans are creatures of habit. We are quick at adapting to new circumstances, especially the ones that tell us to go back to bed.
Lately, I’ve been noticing minute details of my room that I previously never had, like that one crack in the wall, peeking at me from behind the closet, and a cobweb where a spider has made a minuscule refuge for itself at the top of my bookshelf. Rubbing my eyes, I manage to make my way to the sink. Washing them with cold water, I take a peek into the person staring back at me through the mirror. I realize I haven’t shaven in weeks.

A cup of tea in hand and with great valour, I open up the front page of the Daily Bulletin and see it staring right at me. “India reports its highest increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in a single day, death toll touches a new high”. I lift the teacup to my lips, my feet shaking underneath the table. The lockdown has served to operate as a catalyst in highlighting the vast ocean of competing and contrasting realities in this world. On one hand, the lockdown has brought families together and on the other irrevocably broken them apart.

Booting up my cell phone I’m greeted with a reminder that I’m due to submit an assignment today. I scour through my contacts to find someone who must’ve done the assignment, pull up my socks, and get to it. I hit ‘send’ and am overcome with delight as I realize I wouldn’t be losing that extra couple of marks that I otherwise would’ve. Pleased with my accomplishment and yearning to treat myself, I log into my PC, plug in my earphones, and get lost in a world full of mythical dragons, and sword yielding henchmen who hunt for souls. A world where people haven’t heard of what COVID-19 even is. A world of freedom.
“Come have dinner”, my mother screams. I snap out of my virtual haven, realizing hours have passed. Devouring through the vegetables across my plate, I can’t help but feel a sense of nihilistic serenity that sweeps across my body. Perhaps it’s God’s way of asking me to make peace with the dystopian reality of our time. Or maybe he truly is proclaiming “the final judgement.”

I lie in bed again, unable to sleep, staring back at the ceiling and listening to the clock tick. I shut my eyes, searching for refuge, for a haven that’ll provide me respite. Respite from the suffering, the anxiety, and the incessant chaos.
“Wake up, will you?” I wake up with a jolt to see my mother as furious as she ever can be. “Get dressed, you’re late for college”, she storms out of my room. “Another nightmare?” I pull open the blinds and am greeted with the heavy noise of Kolkata traffic on a Monday morning, the consistent clamour of people desperate to reach work on time. Confused, I look around the room and eventually notice the cobweb. The spider is gone.

ReachIvy.com organized an online blog/vlog competition to provide people the unique opportunity to share their lockdown stories using their creativity. The competition met with a fantastic response from participants across 4 continents, and our jury has handpicked the Top 50 entries from them for the Popular Choice Award 2020!

The above entry has been submitted by Souvik Chakraborty from Kolkata, India, who is also the winner of the Jury Award 2020. Kudos to Souvik for this beautiful piece!

Show your support and help Souvik win the contest by liking this blog post on all ReachIvy.com’s social media platforms!