In Pics: How the World is Dealing With Lockdowns Due to COVID-19

With no work, no meeting, no stepping out, internet and social media became our only gateway for interactions.

With no work, no meeting with friends, no stepping out, the telephone, internet and social media became our only gateway for interactions.

(Photo: Sanjoy Chatterjee)

As Earth was swiftly crowned by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, countries across the globe ordered lockdown. We earthlings sought refuge in our homes, sometimes lucky enough to have the company of our families, but mostly lonely amidst our furniture and basic essentials.

With no work, no meeting with friends, no stepping out, the telephone, internet and social media became our only gateway for interactions.

Long are the days, longer the nights; voices float in our heads, some of it wrong, some of it right. We battle on, one day at a time, we the lonesome earthlings; universally connected by the malaise and yet alone.

As I stepped out to understand the effects of the lockdown, I came across this young family of daily wagers walking back towards the building under construction. Abandoned by the builder, they make do with limited rations.

Amidst the lockdown, I began to document those who must step out, even fleetingly or on compulsion mapping the sudden transition of us humans from being social animals to practicing social distancing to curtail the threat.

‘No maids allowed in colonies’ – declared the RWAs. Chanced upon these visibly shaken ladies unsure about their salaries and somewhat worried about their jobs if the lockdown stretches too long.

At a crossing spotted this young couple out on their daily evening walk exercising safe distance; now that they have had to forgo their daily routine at the gym.

Members of the RWA have arranged with the neighbourhood Gurudwara and distribute packed food twice daily to workers stranded in the multiple builder plots where work has come to a standstill.

The photo essay has been my effort to chronicle the impact the pandemic has had on the lives of people around us and redefined a new normal for everyone, where the mask has become a mandatory accessory to protect us as well as others.

‘Which is the way out? How do I go out from here?’ asked the young man. With police barricades all around to diminish quick travel, the e-commerce delivery riders have an added worry to attend to.

The mask covers our mouth and nose and protects us from the threat of germs while leaving the role of communicating our smile through our eyes.

‘I must open my shop to feed my family’, worries the kerb side tailor who sits with his sewing machine under an umbrella.

‘Masks and shields are top priority. But medicines are all very important too. We must keep open.’ replied the pharmacist.

‘I eat only once a day. I renounced cereals many years back. So milk is very important for me.’ said the monk. Then added, ‘watch out! the shopkeepers are looting innocent people.’

‘These dried leaves have to be cleaned from the park. We can’t let them catch fire and create extra headache.’

‘My parents wouldn’t let me out if I didn’t cover my hands, face and head. But you have got to buy food to eat.’ Replied the excited young lady.

This journey will hopefully come to an end soon in the near future. But it would have redefined our ways of living our lives in more ways than one.

The freelance journalist was shooting a slow pan with the camera outside the grocery store to gather footage for her story on social distancing when I chanced upon her.

Everyday, the local municipal authorities have been unfailingly sanitising the neighbourhoods. Then came the men from Jal Board with their spray cannons.

‘Zack needs his walk twice a day’, replied the gentleman.

The Earth has begun to heal with stories of birds and butterflies, animals and fish coming back to many a places they had avoided earlier, mountain ranges emerging clear in distant sightings; so we live in hope of recovering from this global pandemic and reviving our social web. Till that magic hour we live as lonesome earthlings.

(Sanjoy Chatterjee gave up the conventional logic of an MBA to follow the Inner Eye. A graduate from the Parsons School of Design, New York, his photographs have won him numerous awards worldwide. He has co-conceptualised, curated, photographed and designed a coffee table book, Mission XI Million for the legacy programme of FIFA U-17 World Cup with AIFF and the Ministry of Sports. He tweets @sunofjoy.)