Page 38 - Resurrection Magazine

Home Away from Home!!

n Do Thuy Trinh

“To the rest of the world, you have no idea what is coming.” It was on a gloomy afternoon that this
desperate message was broadcast by an Italian citizen. You had booked a ticket to go on that much-awaited
vacation or to go back home. You had set a plan to visit your loved ones. You had been looking forward to
these days with hope and joy. And all of a sudden, the novel coronavirus showed up and hit the world like
a global tsunami. Everything was thrown out of loop. In order to contain the spread of the deadly virus, a
lot of measures were implemented; through the combination of quarantine, social distancing and restricting
travel. Even with these measures in place the virus slowly spread, causing up to hundreds of thousands of
deaths. While waiting for the most effective and sustainable treatment – a potential vaccine - we are all
facing unprecedented social restriction during peacetime.

Residing in India during lock down period is an indescribable experience to a foreign student. Our daily
lives have been upended and we all needed to find our own way to deal with it. At the beginning of the lock
down period, it was frustrating to reorganize all of our plans and even the pace of life. The new routine need
to be set up to help ourselves stay grounded for months. A feeling of great loneliness and an all-pervasive
anxiety came with the first monsoon. In Kerala, the first rainy season generally starts in June but this year,
maybe due to the lockdown, the climate had also changed. It was raining heavily from April. Staying in the
house for months without seeing friends, going out for a cup of coffee, enjoying the mild wind, trips to the
city on weekends was not easy at all. After some time, I found myself developing the feeling of inertia and
need to get out of it as soon as possible.
The pandemic has hurt the world and everyone is suffering. We all have our own issues and emotional
vulnerabilities. While it leaves us no choice, we need to do our own searching for hope and grasp the
opportunity to change the situation for the better. It is time for us to be thankful for what we have. The thing
is, we live without knowing for sure what tomorrow has in store for us and we should value every day of our
life. After days of routine and numbly waking to yet another day of doing nothing, I found the motivation
to go through this frustrating time. By staying busy, I can manage to keep myself from negative thoughts.
I started doing the things that I had neglected for ages. Trying to enjoy myself, drink and eat the things I
crave. Learning to cook new dishes. Spending more time to read books and watch movies. We need to find
way to entertain ourselves. We need to survive and feeling joy is an important part of that. My family in
Vietnam call and text me regularly as well as my teachers and my friends in India. We took this time like a
chance to do something we like and show our care to people whom we value. Thanks to the Internet, we are
able to share what our friends and family doing, and we can keep in touch with each other and keep abreast
of the news about what is happening in the world from many sources. We are still connected, no matter how
far we are separated. We are not alone in this silent war. We are not alone in this world.
After a couple of months of social distancing and lockdown, we are somehow changed, to be better and
prepare for unknown things may come in the uncertain world. Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister
has said: “Let’s distance ourselves from each other today so we can embrace each other more warmly
tomorrow.” There have been a host of beautiful messages of hope and love. We will get over this crisis. At
a time like this, all we need to do is be grateful for the little things in life; take a good care of yourself and
never stop believing in the better things to come and the more beautiful world waiting for us beyond the
clouds.

38 RESURRECTION