2020 began ominously with the worldwide spread of the novel and often fatal COVID 19 virus. Our global and personal futures are now uncertain.Financially, it is likely that the world economy is headed towards a recession. And who knows what is in store for us once lockdowns are lifted. However, these complications and feeling anxious about them wasn’t helping at all, and so I decided to cast away gloom and doom and look at things from a lighter perspective. Over calls with friends, reading social media posts and blogs, watching commentary on the TV, and so on, I tried to envision the average Indian’s home at this time of turmoil.

By now, practically every household has probably asked their household helpers and staff not to come to work until the national lockdown is lifted. In many homes like my own, housework and chores have been distributed among family members. The situation demands that we cook, wash clothes & vessels, spring clean and dust, and so on. The average Indian husband who may never have entered the kitchen except to steal chips, and who does not know what it takes to cook, clean the kitchen and wash utensils, has had to suddenly take on household responsibilities that he has always been able to avoid.

Many husbands have been trying to cultivate an opinion in the minds of their wives that now enough is enough, and household staff should be asked to return to work. But Indian women are smarter than that. They know this challenging time has had one benefit — their husbands are sharing the responsibilities of housework which they may not agree to do again. And so many women informed family members, especially their husbands, that cases of COVID 19 have been found in the household staff’s neighbourhoods. Hearing this, men have naturally backed out of their requests to get staff to return to work.

Faced with laborious housework and justly irate family members, the average Indian husband is probably waiting for Prime Minister Modi to lift the lockdown with painful anticipation. On the other hand, the average Indian wife is probably thrilled that her husband is having to help out in the home for the first time. In fact, she may not want Prime Minister Modi to make a televised address lifting the lockdown for weeks to come. Time will tell whose dream — the Indian husband’s or the Indian wife’s — comes true, but until then, it is back to the dusting and cleaning for many of us.

Men who like to enjoy an evening peg or two with their Haldiram’s are in real trouble. Liquor shops all over India have closed down since the lockdown began. In many homes, invaluable stocks of alcohol are over and these men have already undergone withdrawal symptoms and have had to carry on. Wives have likely realised that their husbands, who always enjoyed an extra evening drink under the pretext of suffering withdrawal symptoms, have overcome that situation. Men can no longer use that excuse in the future. Perhaps the actor Rishi Kapoor understood that a pathetic fate awaited many of us who have looked forward to the cocktail hour and demanded that the government allow liquor shops to remain open, at least for limited hours.Unfortunately for us liquor-consuming men, Rishi Kapoor’s demand fell on deaf ears. Obviously many womenfolk silently thanked Prime Minister Modi for helping their husbands to overcome withdrawal symptoms. It may even happen that women may push the agenda of closing down liquor shops permanently since it has been proven that so many of us can live without liquor for more than a month.

Young men and women are spending more time connecting with each other and spreading the message of love and peace on social media. I have heard that dating apps have seen a surge of men and women who mention that they are on the app because of COVID-19 and are just looking for someone talk to. This is an interesting phenomenon and parents as well as psychologists must get some insights into how our youth is using dating and social media apps to connect with each other.

Many of my loved ones and friends have taken up a weight-loss programme or are trying to cultivate a hobby. In this age, family members don’t actually see or spend time with each other very often except during a meal. COVID-19 has brought many families together. Parents are spending time with their children, especially fathers whose every day contact with their children has been limited to breakfast before school/college or fending off requests for money.

On Facebook, I observed people asking each other what they will do when lockdown is lifted. Most men and women say that they will visit a barber or the parlour. By now, most people who use hair colour to look younger have realised that their age can no longer be hidden. Some men have tried to look for hair trimmers on Amazon, but Amazon says that this is not an ‘essential item’ and it is unavailable. Many have tried to use novel methods to trim their moustache and hair and possibly succeeded in doing that. But most men have realised that they have no choice but to wait for the lifting of the lockdown. Until the lockdown, we will have to resort to larger masks to hide our facial hair.

You notice the difference between a developed country and a developing country during global upheaval like this pandemic. While we have not been able to take proper care of our migrant workers by providing them shelter and food, CNN has reported that the Japanese government has taken care of even their sex workers, by offering them financial assistance, even though sex work is currently illegal in Japan and many in this industry are deprived of a single, stable source of income. While our courts are still struggling to conduct matters during the lockdown via video conferencing, the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has even allowed couples to obtain licenses and marry using audio-video technology.

COVID-19 has made our society more health and hygiene-conscious. Now in a grocery store, a consumer without a mask who coughs or sneezes is given such a dirty look by everyone else that the concerned person feels extremely ashamed for not using a napkin or handkerchief to cover their mouth. We have suddenly started using so much sanitiser that some have even tried to manufacture fake sanitisers, and when their shops were raided, fake sanitisers worth crores of rupees were found and confiscated. Regardless, it is good that we have become hygiene conscious and we must keep it up.

During this lockdown, the real sufferers are the poor, the daily wage earners and lower-income people. They have suffered and if they are not helped, they will suffer even more in the time to come. We cannot just look to the Government to find ways to help the poor and needy. Each of us has a role to play and we must be ready to make a tangible difference when the lockdown is lifted and normalcy returns. Actually, true normalcy will return only when we as a country are able take care of all those who have suffered and are in need of support. Our health care and sanitation workers deserve a big ‘thank you’ from us. Let us find a novel way to appreciate and support them and make them feel that we too care for them.