Students From St. Mary’s School, I.C.S.E in Mumbai Share their Reflections on « A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 »

Par Fr. Dr. Francis Swamy S.J.
Mai 21st, 2020

Greetings, I am Ms. Nicola Pereira a Secondary teacher from St. Mary’s School, I.C.S.E in Mumbai, India. Here I am sharing the articles written by some of our students describing their life during COVID-19 as part of the global project  » “A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 Pandemic”.

 

A Day in my Life: Joshua, 14, St. Mary’s I.C.S.E, Mumbai, India

“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.”  Isaiah 26:20

Mumbai is among the worst pandemic affected cities in India, and there has been a sudden and drastic change in our daily lives. Things are very different from what they used to be just a month ago. If one steps out of their homes, one might probably be the only one on the streets. One can feel the anxiety in the voices of the leaders, when they are addressing the general public about the current situation and enforcing lockdowns across the country. I support the proposition of the leaders of our country to enforce a lockdown, as it will slow down the community spread of the virus and it will also give the researchers, valuable time to find a vaccine and cure for the virus.

At the beginning of the academic year, I was ready to have a wonderful time, studying and playing in school. Little did I know that in the course of a few weeks I would be attending classes ONLINE!! Every day I wake up and ‘GO’ to the Online school. The daily schedule has become so monotonous, it is like as if we humans have become robots. Children should be playing in the open, but due to the pandemic, all are busy playing on their mobile phones and other electronic gadgets in the confines of the four walls. Previously, students would study using books and would be physically if not mentally present in their classes. Now students study using mobiles or laptops, thereby are Online, but not physically present in their classes.

Although this current situation has its drawbacks it also has plenty of benefits. The lockdown has brought families closer together since everyone is at home and thus they spend more quality family time. Since less people are travelling, there are only a few vehicles on the road and thus there is less pollution. The sky is clearer, there is less dust, trees look greener and also one can hear the chirping of the birds. It is as if nature is rebooting itself. Few places are witnessing animals coming on to the roads.

From this situation our society should learn that a multi-policy approach should be adopted with consideration of public health, and making a coordinated effort as a global community is crucial.

 

A Day in my Life: Keshav, 13, St. Mary’s I.C.S.E, Mumbai, India

“CORONAVIRUS.” The mere sound of this word sends chills through the body of millions of people all around the world. It is said that the most negative thing right now is to be tested positive for this virus which has spread throughout the world in a very short period of time so countries have not got enough time to prepare for it.

This is the reason most of the countries in the world are experiencing a lockdown. We do get bored sometimes because of these national lockdowns but we need to understand that they are kept for our safety and we need to respect that. Although the number of cases in India is less compared to those in the USA, Italy, China, etc, we still have to be careful and take all the necessary precautions to reduce the number of cases in our country and prevent ourselves from entering the Stage-3 of this virus outbreak.

Now talking about a day in my life living under the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us start from the morning. After waking up and getting all freshened up, I do a bit of exercise which is good for health and staying healthy is the best thing for us right now. Sometimes I have online classes in the mornings too. This virus outbreak has affected all our regular routines. Before the pandemic, my daily routine would be something like this- I would wake up early to get ready to go to school in the morning, after school maybe extracurricular activities in the evenings, etc.  Sometimes when I do not have anything to do or am getting bored, I help my mother in cooking and also learn new things. At home, with hardly anything to do, I have acquired some new hobbies such as drawing and cooking. There are many positive aspects of this lockdown too such as having more time to spend with our families learning new things and many more. Later in the day I play some indoor games with my sister and parents too. Living in a joint family with my grandparents, I get to learn more about them and their experiences of life in the past. We also watch the Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata and teach us moral values based on them. At night, the whole family sits together and watches television or plays cards, etc.  This is my usual day in this unusual situation. Earlier, all of us could not sit to have our meals together but now we can do that too and for me spending such wonderful time with my family is a completely different feeling. I have also learnt to keep the house clean.

The most important thing that I have learnt from this pandemic is that it has restricted us from littering the environment and given it some time to improve from the effects of the continuous littering by us. I hope we continue like this even after the lockdown is over and do not pollute our environment. I request everyone to stay home, respect social distancing, follow the safety measures told to us and most importantly STAY SAFE.

 

A Day in my Life: Mufaddal, 11, St. Mary’s I.C.S.E, Mumbai, India

The corona virus is a deadly virus which has spread worldwide. Every single continent / country in the whole world has been affected by the corona virus. The crisis in India is not good either, it has started a lockdown which has now lasted for more than a month.

These changes have had a major impact in our daily life in both good and bad ways. The good ways being that we help our parents with our house work and spend more quality time with our family.

The negative aspects are how we don’t get to meet our friends face to face but we have to speak with them by video chat, how we can’t leave the house to play football or basketball or go to a movie. The worst part is how we don’t get to go to school and learn with our friends. Even though we learn some things from online classes we can’t learn the way we learn in school. All of the things we can play with outside the house are inaccessible due to this unfortunate lockdown.

People are losing their lives around the globe. Every day hundreds of people are dying and it is becoming scarier day by day so we have to take very good precaution to have any chance of survival against this existential crisis. This crisis is obviously making us pretty scared about the world we live in because of how it is spreading devastation across the world. This crisis is going to leave an indelible mark in human history and remind us of how a small organism could wreck so much havoc.

The Lords gifts and graces of this situation are that we get to spend lots of time with our families at home. I have grown a few plants and water it every day to keep myself busy. One of the other benefits is the way the situation of global pollution is dying down, which is really a great relief.

To keep us occupied many sports such as bike racing, football are being played like a video game online. E.g.: F1 and Bike racing.

Society should learn to respect and understand that nature has the power to do almost anything and we should try not to eat these exotic foods so that the deadly virus does not affect us in the future. It has given us momentum to invest in healthcare and make us improve our immunity by eating healthy and exercising regularly.

My concerns and hopes are that the virus dies down and does not come ever again and I also hope the scientists in the world find a cure for this catastrophe.

I also pray that the Lord Heal those ailing, bring aid to those struggling to survive and Peace to those who lost their loved ones. We should all have Love, Humility and Compassion for all of mankind. And may we connect again on the other side of this………just like old times…..SOON!

 

A Day in my Life: Yasharyan, 10, St. Mary’s I.C.S.E, Mumbai, India

It was a normal day in school when we heard about the outbreak of a virus for which we had no information and the doctors had no cure. Everyone was talking about it and there was a scare about what we can do and how we can be safe. Our schools were closed and we were asked to stay home and not move out of our houses. Our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi declared our country for a lock down and a Janta Curfew on the 22nd of March. At first all this was exciting and a relief for me as it was an early start to my vacation. Later when the exams were cancelled I was all the more happy.

But as the days went by I realized something that every news channels, everyone around was discussing about this Virus COVID – 19. Within days it had affected the whole world. In the first month the COVID -19 cases were increasing in hundreds and day by day there was fear. My parents did not allow me to go out and play with my friends, I couldn’t step out of my house to get something, I was told to wash my hands frequently, not to touch anything and keep away from everyone. My mother started sanitizing the whole house. All this was very strange for me I was really upset but I was made to understand that it was for my safety. The house help was asked not to come but to stay in her house and keep herself and her children safe. All the house hold work was done by my mother; my father had to go to office as he was working in the essential services. I saw the work load on my parents, so I started helping them doing small household chores liking filling drinking water, helping in doing the laundry and helping in cooking like making salads and tea.

Though I missed my friends, my teacher’s, my school and all the activities I did in school and the fun times I had with my friends, I was happy that we all were safe and secure from this disease. I came to understand that our health is the most important thing and all the other things don’t matter as long as we are alive. I also realized that we as humans were abusing the natural resource and not taking care of our Mother Nature so this was in a way payback time by Nature. This disease made us sit at home; there are no vehicles on the road, no factories working and there is less pollution in the air. This has given our Mother Earth to breathe and to cleanse herself to make us live longer.

I feel sad for the people who are suffering from COVID – 19 and I hope that the Doctors are able to work out the medicine to cure this Virus and heal the people across India and the world. We should do our best by keeping ourselves safe so that the virus doesn’t spread further. I really appreciate the work done by the Doctors, the nurses who are helping the patients recover and the police who are helping our fellow countrymen. We should support them and each other in this Pandemic. I am really looking for the day to come when our lives will be back to normal I will celebrate that day as a second Independence day for us.