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Isolation Diaries

Dispatches from Isolation: Day 3—Tiny Joys & Massive Heartbreaks

Being a parent is difficult, especially when you can’t see your child.

Early morning I woke up with a lot of pain in the upper back early in the morning. That was the worse of it. Physically.

The Morning

I took two panadols went back to sleep. Woke up late morning and has some breakfast. My wife made all the sick people some French Onion Soup. It was delicious.

The Afternoon

Came across this animated short, Made in Pakistan.

One of the better things to come out of this country. It made me try other Pakistani media. I watched one and a half episodes ‘Ek Jhooti Love Story’, the Zee5 show that isn’t Churails. Like every Pakistani TV serial, nothing ever happens. Being bored and tired in Isolation, I tried watching the now classic ‘Hamsafar’. No. I also came across a dramatic short that was so stupid that it probably gave me more COVID. It was about the Gujranwala rape case.

Suffice to say the animators on SWIPE are an exception, not the rule.

The Evening

Most of the evening was spent on WhatsApp, discussing the restructuring that is going on in the business. The discussion went late in to the night. One day, I would write a memoir about how hard it is to be a filthy capitalist trying to control the means of production. Especially when all your plans are corrupt bureaucrats, incompetent politicians and self-aggrandizing judiciary. There would be at least 2 chapters on the last one. Say whatever you will about Marx, class defines a lot of what happens in this world. He was just wrong about who was the real upper class.

The Night

My wife and I were talking with the door open, distanced, at night. My two year-old accidentally saw me for the first time in the day. This has been especially difficult for him. He has lost access to his father, and also his grand parents. I can hear him around the home, crying. He was so happy to see me, the smile was so beautiful. Then his mother told him he couldn’t go inside, that it was ‘sleepy time’. He did not fight it, but I could see the sadness on his face. It was more painful than any disease ever.

On the health front, everything was better. I was breathing better. There was something in the French Onion Soup(it was still delicious after reheating). I felt awesome, and expected the feeling to continue, going forward.

Spoiler Alert: I was wrong

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