Moorchana Borah, Class-VII,
Sampoorna Kendra Vidyalaya, Dibrugarh.
Oh! I still remember that morning; my exams were over and I was enjoying my morning cup of milk. It was then that my father gave us the news about the coronavirus; the deadly virus that’s spreading all over the world. The words were a little more familiar to me as I had been hearing about it killing thousands of people all over the world. But when the news came that the virus had entered India, I was very afraid. There were different kinds of thoughts coming into my mind at that time – “What if it came to Assam, then Dibrugarh and what if we get affected? We are going to die... how would it feel to die? What will happen after this pandemic?”
After a few days, we got to know about the 21-day lockdown. We were confined to our homes for our own good. The first few days of the lockdown, I spent watching movies. On the first day of the lockdown, my brother suggested that I should watch the Marvel movie Black Panther, which was being telecast on a TV channel. It was my first ever Marvel movie experience and I enjoyed it. After that, I watched Infinity War, End Game, Avengers 1, Thor – Ragnarok, and many more movies from the Marvel franchise; I became a crazy Marvel fan.
Soon, however, everything changed again. Instead of going to school, we had to join online classes, and our parents were to work from home, instead of going to office. Then we also had our own online workshops on Borgeet, Lokageet, Bongeet, etc. Deta (my father) found an Assamese online quiz on Facebook, called the ‘Lockdown Quiz’. Oh! Those were the days. Without much homework and just a few classes, we could spend more and more time with Ma and Deta.
Then came the month of September and we all had a little bit of cough and a running nose. So, on September 13, after I had finished my last mid-term exams, we all went for a COVID-19 test. And guess what, Ma, Jeu (my brother) and I came out testing positive. Deta and Monika Ba had already been sick for a week or so. So, the virus had left their bodies and infected us. At first, the nurses told Deta and Monika Ba to go home and decided to send the three of us to a quarantine centre. But, our parents opted for home quarantine for 14 days. The virus did not affect us that strongly, except for showing some minor symptoms in Ma. During those quarantine days, we stayed busy in our rooms, watching videos, reading comics, etc. Soon, the 14-day period passed and we were relieved.
After the month of October, schools, colleges and offices slowly started reopening. And in the month of December, I went to school for my offline exams. After that, everyone got back to their respective workplaces, except for my brother and me because we were still not allowed to go to school.
In December, we organised a prize distribution ceremony for the ‘Lockdown Quiz’. The programme started with a Jyoti Sangeet, performed by my friends and me. That day’s programme was incomparable to any other programme I had witnessed during the entire year.
Last year taught us many new things. My studying habits, the internet usage for creative purposes, and my patience level has improved a lot. I shall ever be indebted to 2020 for all these unique experiences.
