City Series – Shravni Aterkar in Asheville, North Carolina, We the Isolationists (337th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Shravni Aterkar] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see myself walking through the aisles of a bookstore, dimly lit, with red and orange carpet, hardwood, dark brown bookshelfs, filled with stories and poems from all over the world. I feel their eyes on me as I pass them by. I feel an urge to go over to each one and have a conversation with them but I have to be at a length which is safe for them. No matter the distance, I keep my books in my heart. I wish to open my eyes and find myself in this bookstore, standing in front of books and being able to
City Series – Swastika Samanta in Brisbane, We the Isolationists (336th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 2020June 8, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Swastika Samanta] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona… and I see everything happening in the world at once. Flashes of apocalyptic cyclones and broken dams, biblical locust swarms and invisible illnesses. I see dispensable lives of the poor. But what I see most is glaring apathy. Or a lack of empathy? Whatever it is, all’s well in my world, yet. Okay? After all, feigning ignorance is the magic drug behind ‘survival of the fittest’ in these times or so, I have been told. You see, I am part of the privileged few that’s still allowed to ‘future plan’. So then, I see diffused sunlight and pretty people, I see hope and dream of
City Series – Sonali Pandey in Jabalpur, We the Isolationists (335th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 28, 2020May 28, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Sonali Pandey] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see the silence of those early mornings. Silence, like a sea before a raging storm. Mornings have an inevitable silence that tries hard to counter the apprehensiveness that I've been holding within me since years. I close my eyes and I see myself drowning in the puddle of questionnaires and myriad of emotions. That how beautiful a wait can be? Is somebody somewhere waiting for me? Why firsts are so special? How beautiful is a girl smiling unintentionally, who’s building castles with a guy? Is happiness really happy and loneliness, also a loner? Why do broken people have a better understanding? Why
Mission Delhi – Julmi Nath, Surat Nagar Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 20200 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Who among us isn’t affected by the coronavirus pandemic? Aren’t we all fearing for our salary cuts, our jobs, our health, and especially for the life of our elderly friends and relatives? But there’s a group of men who are beyond these worries—theoretically speaking. “I have no family, I have no friend and I’m not even alive,” says Baba Julmi Nath, clad in a black turban and kurta. He’s an aghori sadhu, belonging to a sect of Shiva worshipping ascetics, famous for performing night-long sadhna (meditations) in the haunting grounds of Hindu shamshan (cremation) ghats. Currently in Gurgaon in the Greater Delhi Region, Mr Nath talks of “being stranded in
City Series – Vatsala Mehra in Delhi, We the Isolationists (334th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Vatsala Mehra] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see a window, as big as a wall, where sun and shade play together, clouds float giving us alluring peek-a-boo’s of the mighty Kanchenjunga. I see light rays flirting with the curtains, creating beautiful patterns on my bed, lifting my mood & that of the fading wooden walls of the 100-year-old home in Tinkitam. One photograph, a few heartfelt words and an epiphany later, I realized I too could fall in love easily. I left a part of me there, all of us did. No? Says my younger self. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting
City Series – Hina Sharma in Delhi, We the Isolationists (333rd Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 2020June 6, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Hina Sharma] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see myself yearning for certain incomplete goodbyes. The silent cries, empty messages, shallow promises and shattered beliefs coalesce and crystallize into a hollow portrait of my lover. I wonder if he thinks about me the way I do. Or does he remember my embrace or my voice? As the breeze hit my face and memories of a lost lover envelope me, I remind my heart to stop being a gramophone of his poems. I remind my brain to stop flashing our past moments which are like speck of dust on the shelf of nostalgia. I’m happy, I try to convince myself. Am I?
City Series – Prachi Sharma in Delhi, We the Isolationists (332nd Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Prachi Sharma] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see that the blankness is all encompassing. The roads are deserted and carpeted with dried leaves; it rains often, and the sky looks majestic. And I, I have not been touched by another human being in over a month. My own fingers caress me sometimes, but that makes itself a rather sad endeavor, so I avoid it. I want to make my emptiness an exercise in desire, and what i desire is to write like a madwoman, to dissolve into these blank pages till I find my breath, and that right there is the tragedy for I have nothing. I am afraid I
City Series – Tarun Tahiliani in Gurgaon, We the Isolationists (331st Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 26, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Tarun Tahiliani] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see her looking into the mirror, getting ready for the day ahead. She puts aside her demons and puts on a smile for the world. In the kitchen, I am packing our lunchboxes and pouring naariyal paani in her favourite pink coloured glass. I yell at her for not getting ready on time and making us late for office. While she silently waits for me to join her in the room, give her a hug, tell her that everything is fine and split that glass of naariyal paani. It has been more than two months since the lockdown started and we have not
Mission Delhi – Som Nath, Nehru Place Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 25, 20200 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Parked on the side of the road, an auto rickshaw driver and his green-and-yellow rickshaw are waiting for customers. This used to be one of the most ordinary sights of our city, but recently the table has turned and the most ordinary has become extraordinary—no thank you, coronavirus! After a considerable easing of the lockdown restrictions, the city is sprouting back to action, like a dead man regaining life. Every mundane hint of activity has something magical, and so it is with Som Nath and his auto rickshaw. One change has to be noticed though: his driver’s uniform no longer comprise of just grey shirt and grey pants—but also
City Series – Pooja Priyamvada in Delhi, We the Isolationists (330th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 25, 20201 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Pooja Priyamvada] I close my eyes in self isolation from corona... and I see him and I walking down the cobbled streets of his discreet European village, I hear the snow settling gently on the trees and a warm hearth awaiting us. I often crave for another human beside me, that warmth of a beating heart next to your own, someone who will just hold you for long and smile at you without a reason. I see myself as he sees me, as beautiful. I see myself healing, getting better, and free from me! “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my eyes