Page 6 - My Lockdown Diary- SAYAK MAJI

The School Comes Home

Amidst the global race for success, where every country was running all the day, there arose a
treacherous creature, from somewhere unknown, not gigantic but minuscule, ripping away all the
reigning nations; causing cessation to their process of evolution.

It wasn’t long, when my school shut down after the final exams and I was merrily passing my days,
waiting eagerly, crossing out the dates, for the new session to begin. It seemed all under control and
everyone was as usual involved in their own life. Suddenly I spotted something flashing on the news
headlines, something that trembled my nerves. The news headline read- “India, gripped by Corona”. This
was something I never anticipated; although news about Covid19 sucking the blood of China and Europe
came up to me, but the seriousness of the matter was never felt. Soon after this, India came across nation-
wide ‘Janata Curfew’ and tier-wise lockdowns.

Now, after being at home for over a month, my busy days are back again. My school, tuitions, coaching,
are all back in full form, letting me hardly any time to free my eyes, even when I am keeping home. Back to
School!!! , seems strange, isn’t it? Nothing special, even I felt the same when on the 1 of April, a message
st
peeped into my Inbox. A Message, message from school. I hurried into my mailbox searching for the message,

that read- “Students to get ready, because the School’s going to reopen”. The message header shook me up. It felt
surprising that the school authority wants to reopen school now, when we are in…., have they gone crazy
or might it be a mere April fool message; were the first few questions that stroke me. But wait; the school
authority must not be kidding, or at least, in this period, when the Corona virus is sucking every drop of
blood from the ones called ‘developed nations’. I opened the full message, which took some time due to
network issues, causing my heart to echo a thousand times. Finally the long message appeared and
scanning through each and every word, my curiosity grew deeper with eyebrows arching some miles
above my eyes; it came to a conclusion that the school is going to reopen, not physically but virtually. To
me, an orthodox lad, who never believed that education, at least, is possible online; it took some time the
excitement to settle. To be very frank, I had always been a staunch believer of what is called ‘ Gurukul
Shiksha’ and had been for some while, renowned as the best debater at my school especially opposing the
fact-‘ Schooling is better online, in a modern world’. It felt awfully funny and unproductive, but still as the
order was from school, I thought better to give it a try. And from then till present, I have been continuing
to be on the virtual platform, for over a month now. I have my regular classes at fixed time and my
computer seems busy always. Meanwhile all this, something appeared in my hands; a book, book of my
junior class and surprisingly the first chapter- ‘The Fun They Had’ by Isaac Asimov. The story looked
somewhat special since by coincidence its plot revolved around e-learning, where school is just beside
bedroom with a robot replacing a flesh-blooded teacher. Though for many, including myself, the story
might seem boring and lackluster, but on the contrary it perfectly positioned the feelings associated with
e-learning. It might feel strange, what I mean to say through my peculiar essay, I assure you to stay
turned since its going to give a life’s learning or at least some much needed fun in this lockdown and in-
turn give to me some readers. So, letting not the thrill fade, let’s journey through the world of schooling.