An era of darkness – The Hindu

The dreaded days of the mask.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…”— Charles Dickens

Looking back, one could say that what Dickens had unequivocally manifested, centuries ago, was the situation in cities and towns and perhaps the world at large during the pandemic. The memories of those days, the air suffused with gloom, are as fresh today as though it had happened only a day before. Many of us are still in the grip of an inherent fear — the remembrance makes the blood run cold.

My mind was an empty space then. Ever since the pandemic assailed humanity at large, life took a turn for the worse. Confinement within the four walls of home shrunk the thought process; reflective proficiency shrivelled to minimalistic needs. The everyday routine, mundane and vapid, became the fulcrum of existence. The enforced lockdown denied humanity outdoor spaces. With no vehicular traffic, roads were deserted. Playgrounds remained empty, with children secured behind the closed doors. The cacophony of the city died a natural death and an eerie silence engulfed the surroundings, turning the once vibrant areas into ghost towns. A fog of uncertainty engulfed everything. At times, the blaring of an ambulance siren tore through the soundless neighbourhood, sending a shiver down the spine, arresting us in our movements.

The incapacitated mind refused to come out of its dismal and melancholic disposition, with a fear psychosis and despair gripping it in an unyielding fierceness. The balcony became the observation centre to discern any activity outside the realm of the house and failing to encounter one, the spirit slowly and gradually adjusted to the vacant spaces outside. The twittering of the birds, the squeaking of the squirrels and the calling of a peacock in a far-flung garden were not enough to plunge the mind into the positivity of thought process.

At times, the silence of the night was broken by the patter of falling rain, with thunder piercing through the stillness and quietude. Lightning followed thunder to invade the privacy of the slumbering arena. Having spent its force, the thunder and lightning left us to our dreamless sleep, to find the new morn creeping silently on us.

Mundane household chores made people look like zombies; the television was the faithful companion which not only brought news, though pessimistic, but entertainment too. The mythological serials, Ramayan and Mahabharat, started to be telecast, to make the masses reinforce their belief in the victory of good over evil. Old movies, once forgotten, were viewed often to prevent the spirit from shrinking into doldrums.

The mask became not only a protective gear but also a new fashion accessory, with the designers churning out matching masks with their expensive outfits. The more humbler ones manufactured the accessory in all colours and designs. Nevertheless, the most affordable was the blue, medically acclaimed mask worn by the masses.

Months of the so-called COVID induced behaviour deprived the mind of its past, pleasant memories and thus began the process of accumulating soundless, uninhabited spaces in our mind’s storehouse. We became familiar with the new normal, which surreptitiously became an automatic routine for us; consequently when the lockdown started easing howsoever slowly, the activities increased. But the mind refused to accept the cacophony of sound and started searching for the silence which it had once tried to shun. Dreaming of new pastures was an impossibility as the fear psychosis had us in its ever-tightening claw-like grip. Many individuals suffered a personality shift and had a disrupted sleeping pattern, with dreams of a similar doomsday-like situation having a recurrence.

But then the human being has a beautiful trait of getting into an optimistic flow of mental thoughts which returned to normalcy: “After all, tomorrow is another day.”

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