Google Meets, Biryanis and the calendar in March: To ponder and more!
And all of a sudden, the world was on pause! I specifically remember the biriyani I had with my friend from the university canteen. I had to rush after lunch. My supervisor was probably waiting for me to continue our discussions on my thesis. I was literally running to his office to find that it was locked. I felt guilty for not eating the biryani properly and for not even lingering its flavour before washing my mouth. Remorse is one of the most frequent emotions you will have when you are doing your PhD. You feel guilty while reading the relevant material, and you can be even guilty while reading a totally useless academic paper. Remorses can even take away your siesta, so I walked in the department here and there like a ghost. I decided not to go back to the hostel and instead wait and check whether my supervisor will come back. But I was surprised to find that almost all faculty offices were locked from outside. I realised that there was a meeting summoned in the administration office to discuss the pandemic situation. Still, who knows what is brewing inside!
The meeting decided to close down the campus and ordered the students and scholars to vacate their hostels within three days. What, seriously what! Can something like this happen? I talked to some of the postgraduate students in the department. We who are in the safe havens of university campuses are not aware of the gravity of the situation firing outside. Yes, indeed, we left the campus the next day. We had a casual goodbye hug. When I was heading home, I laughed at myself while wearing the mask for the first time. Little did I know that this dude is going to be our companion for long! I was happy that I got to leave home for some days, which was impossible otherwise. My friend who was travelling with me read out the latest news articles about the pandemic and made vague assumptions and predictions. She counted her fingers and told me that we might be able to return after April 15th and the pandemic will be in control then.
My world had a rush of transformations after that. My thesis works were conducted online, and when I went to the campus later in December to submit my thesis, the campus was deserted. I cried to find that the damp and dusty calendar in my hostel room was still stuck on the page of March. I knew that how long I ran away, I still craved the last biryani and its basil flavour I had from the university canteen.
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