Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Aisha Abbas] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see the question, which has been lurking in the shadows, finally standing there in shape of a demon. I have to face the enemy I have been eluding from. It stood there, leering with its ugly teeth, scaring me off with horrible taunts, that even if we are saved from the clutch of this virus, will we ever be rescued from our inner monsters? It reminded me that 2020 commenced with many fallen masks. What if it was not 2012 but 2020 in which world is supposed to end? You think I sound insane, that these questions are not taunts of any hallucinated

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by R S Krishna] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see myself realizing that the prophecies of a dystopian world made by several writers, film makers and artists is finally here. Things are no longer just happening to someone other... not in distant geography, not in remote history, not to communities economic or socially marginalized or in minority… they are not even just happening in literature, arts and cinema. It is all happening now, to each of us. Social pathologies have become casually manifest but now its more malevolent outcomes are on continuous display–a new normal that none of us, including the privileged, are unaffected by. Indeed we, the privileged, have

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Saadia] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see myself in my mother's living room in Lahore. Sunshine is filtering through the thick green curtains and falling on the glass table-top covered with a white mat. I see myself sitting on the floor in front of the gas heater warming my hands, laughing with mum at my sister's silly jokes. My father is watching Facebook videos, put on high volume, and laughing heartily. I want to keep my eyes closed. This is the only way I can be there with them. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Geetha Jagannathan] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see ammayi, gazing into emptiness, unfazed by the fly buzzing near her head. We are weeks away from Agni Nakshatram, yet the air is sweltering and her blouse is drenched in sweat. The ceiling fan lends little but white noise. What’s on her mind? Memories of a distant time? A muddled mess of everything and nothing? Blank, like her gaze? I'll never know what’s on her Alzheimer’s-ridden mind, but It’s not worries of a deadly virus that's brought the world to its knees. I open my eyes to a temperature-controlled home and a heavy heart in quarantine some 13,000 kms away. “We the Isolationists” series

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Juhi Garg] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see images of all the people I have met in my life: friends, family, children, neighbours, colleagues and all those I have met and can remember. I long for seeing those faces and meeting them in person. I also dream about them on most days. I choose to be optimistic and want to go back to my memories, my children, my boxes that I have filled with things and with memories from yesteryears. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my eyes in my self-isolation from Corona... and I see...”

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Muskan Nayyar] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see a light reminding us to breathe. I see every force reminding us that we had gone too far. I see how my grandfather had shared similar stories about the stillness descended in Punjab as a state when the wide curfew was imposed in 1984. I see how my grandfather had experienced long-distance friendships at the time of partition. I see myself reminding that this stillness is nothing as compared to what they had gone through but here I see myself filled with guilt but kind of free for writing this down. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Divya Patpatia] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see the privileged immigrant I now am, walking in a city holding its breath far away from everything I called home thinking if you live for yourself alone, you are in great danger of being bored to death. I see a generation that takes it all for granted--the leaping, the running, the loving, and the families. I see us hoodwinked to believe we have plenty of time in life. I see myself reminiscing everyday memories of home left behind believing that bad times are good times to prepare for better times. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Akanksha Singh] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see January's indifferent sun bathing us, me and my friend, through the shredded canopy as we read. I disturb the static scene with some anxious blabbering now and then. I see this, and waves of yesterday's something sweet and today's something sour rise, but I try to feel nothing because none of it will matter, when all this ends. Me and you, we will noiselessly bury this secret and stitch up a perfect ghost roaming about, feeling nothing, to share a smirk with, alone in the crowd. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Tanvi Mishra] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see what should have been the happiest day of my life. My husband was supposed to arrive today with his entire family from Hamburg in Germany for our Indian wedding. I see what would have been a beautiful bouquet of cultures of guests from six continents. I see the chaos, the miscommunication, and the drunken dance of delirious aunts and uncles. I see my parents' smiling faces as they gaze upon their first-born becoming finally a bride, and my brother struggling to organize the events in an attempt to hide his tears. My eyes open, and my dream is lost. “We the Isolationists” series