A short chapter from 2020….
Life can be like a flight journey. Up in the air, it seems the plane is standstill. At the time of landing, it starts cruising. Suddenly, it whirls and takes a turn. Then again it starts cruising. Finally, it lands. It stays still for a while on the ground, then it takes off again. The same cycle starts all over. My life has seen many such cycles.
Those
famous Frank Sinatra lines “That’s life and I can’t deny it!”
When the
job offer from Germany came my way, I was going through one of the toughest periods
of my life. The pandemic had been around for a while, my surroundings were
falling apart, and my health was also not supporting me. My personal choices were
all turning wrong. I needed a change.
It was the 30th
of November 2020 that I had to travel to Munich via Amsterdam. An early morning
flight from Copenhagen. I was nervous. A new job, a new place, and the chance
of getting infected during the travel. There were restrictions all around and I
remember to have taken 2 different Covid tests before I could make my way to
Denmark.
The first
thing I recall after reaching Kastrup (Copenhagen) Airport was the ghost-town
feeling. There was almost a pin drop silence – only a few flights were
operating and that too with only a handful of passengers.
I walked up
to the check-in counter after crossing the empty Forex counters. How badly I
needed some cash in Euros – but…
At the check-in
counter: I was nervous and anxious with papers, especially with the ‘purpose of
visit’ thing. Thankfully it was not required to be shown.
“Please keep
all these documents carefully with you for future use. These might be needed
later during your stay in Germany.” – kind words of wisdom from the lady doing
my check-in.
The next
stop was the security and I suddenly felt awkward and uncomfortable with the
face mask. With all cholesterol and adrenalin and fat inside, I had developed a
habit of sweating in times of stress. Thought of changing the mask, but where
to throw it? Regular bins or shall I go to specific place to get rid of this new
accessory?
“Sir, you
can throw it anywhere!” – a lone airport staff smilingly told me and then
disappeared swiftly.
While
throwing the mask, I just realized that I had worn it in the wrong way! I
corrected myself immediately and the next one was set in the right direction.
Now the
next challenge: whether I would be allowed to carry the tiny bottle of hand
sanitiser? Did I really need it? At the Airport, these sanitizing stations were
all over the place and believe me, by the time my security checks started, I had
used it at least a dozen time! Tough times for humanity – brain and heart both tell the same.
Still
remember the waiting lounge before boarding. I was told never to touch the face
mask. But I was constantly getting an itching feeling on my nose. Suddenly I saw
a young lady in front of me opening the mask with no concern whatsoever. She
did scratch her face and put the mask back on. I did not hesitate to the do the
same.
Amsterdam was
equally empty. There was literally no food shop open for customers. It felt
like I was on a mission impossible journey. The flights had also stopped serving
hot food – some food packets were offered.
The sad
part of the story was yet to come. After landing at Munich, I walked out of the Airport, and I saw one poor taxi driver. He had sad eyes which lit up finding
me. I had to take a cab as the car booking had gone all wrong. It was blessing
for him. He had no customer for days! An inanimate object (virus) – we did not even know whether it was living or non-living – could affect so many lives. It could affect
the smartest of the living beings – the humans. An almost barren highway from
Munich to my destination made me smile – we humans could be tamed and tamed so
hard. Everything that we boast of could be snatched from us – such is the hollowness
of human powers!
But then human
civilization is incredible in its true sense. When crisis hits, it adjusts
almost invariably. I do not think there are many other animal races which have
the power of coping with incumbent issues so strongly as we humans can do. Thought
of writing a series of blogs on how I had coped with the pandemic and what all
I had to go through. But no. Let us get over it. Let it be a nightmare which
lasted a few years. Let us contain the virus, let us keep taking help of
science….
Let us join
hands and work together to build a better world for the future.
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