2020: Life in the times of COVID-19 pandemic
In the first week of February, COVID-19 epidemic was raging in China with a few cases in Europe.
When my husband visited his father in India in early February, he took disinfecting wipes to wipe down the surfaces in the plane that he would contact. For his return journey back in late February, his sister gave him two N95 masks.
When my husband visited his father in India in early February, he took disinfecting wipes to wipe down the surfaces in the plane that he would contact. For his return journey back in late February, his sister gave him two N95 masks.
The U.S. government told the
citizens that they did not need to wear masks. The masks were recommended for
only medical personnel. I had four disposable masks remaining because we had
bought them to alleviate my husband's allergies in spring, and to do dusty
work. I did not foresee the mask shortage that ensued. Otherwise, I would have
stocked up on those. I always have disposable gloves around for my garden work,
but I was running low on those too.
Late February, COVID-19 was raging in
Washington state. I wondered why there was not an urgency to develop a
diagnostic test as the Institut Pasteur in France had published
the genomic sequence of the virus on January 29, 2020. I had thought life
may be crippled for a month or two, but had not envisioned that the restrictions
would last so long.
By March, COVID-19 infections were on the rise
in California. My sister who lives in San Francisco was already working from
home by March 1. On Wednesday March 11, my office instructed us to work
from home for the next couple of days as a trial to determine if our IT systems
would handle the load of the entire staff working remotely. On Monday, March
16, I received notice to work from home until April 1. My husband's office also
instructed him to work from home until further notice.
We were unable to buy masks anywhere.
Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers were sold out too. The ones available on
Amazon and ebay were too expensive. We were able to procure one box of
disposable gloves from Amazon at a reasonable price to help me with my garden
work.
Initially, we felt stifled by this home confinement with trips limited to grocery stores every 2 weeks, deprived of our social interaction with our colleagues, or sharing meals and conversations with our friends, or going to restaurants. I realized how much we take for granted -our ability to go out on a whim without any planning, browse the brick and mortar stores for clothes and furniture, to travel to places near and far, stay in hotels, watch a movie in a theater, borrow physical copies of books from the public library, to go to the doctor.
The weather had already warmed by March and the garden season was coming into its peak. I missed the plant sales organized by the various garden clubs, the visits to public and private gardens, plant exchanges, getting together with my garden club members. By March 23, non-essential businesses were shut. The nurseries were open as they were deemed essential. I planned many wkend outings to the nurseries to fulfill my need to be outdoors. I visited Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, Susanna's Farms in Boyds, Surreybrooke Nursery in Middletown. Of course, there were trips to Meadows Farm, Site One, Fehr's in Burtonsville, Stadlers in Laytonsville, Olney Gardens Wholesale in Olney, Country Boy in Wheaton.
Initially, we felt stifled by this home confinement with trips limited to grocery stores every 2 weeks, deprived of our social interaction with our colleagues, or sharing meals and conversations with our friends, or going to restaurants. I realized how much we take for granted -our ability to go out on a whim without any planning, browse the brick and mortar stores for clothes and furniture, to travel to places near and far, stay in hotels, watch a movie in a theater, borrow physical copies of books from the public library, to go to the doctor.
The weather had already warmed by March and the garden season was coming into its peak. I missed the plant sales organized by the various garden clubs, the visits to public and private gardens, plant exchanges, getting together with my garden club members. By March 23, non-essential businesses were shut. The nurseries were open as they were deemed essential. I planned many wkend outings to the nurseries to fulfill my need to be outdoors. I visited Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, Susanna's Farms in Boyds, Surreybrooke Nursery in Middletown. Of course, there were trips to Meadows Farm, Site One, Fehr's in Burtonsville, Stadlers in Laytonsville, Olney Gardens Wholesale in Olney, Country Boy in Wheaton.
On April 15, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland
announced that wearing masks in public was mandatory. So, we started looking
for masks. We found a vendor, Joola Medical in Rockville. The minimum order was
200 masks, and we placed an order because we figured we would need it in the
long term.
By mid-June, I reconciled myself to this new
normal: working from home, cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening. I kept in
touch with family and friends via phone but missed the joyful feeling you get
from seeing people you like in person.
I learnt new recipes involving the instant pot -sambar, moong dal halwa, ghugni. On the stove, I cooked Palak moong kadhi, stir fried brussel sprouts with curry leaves and lentils, zarda pulao/meetha chawal. I searched the web and youtube for special bengali recipes -Bhojohari Manna's Gondhoraj chicken, chicken dak bangla, chicken chaap, railway mutton curry. When I got bored cooking, my husband took over -dal parathas, quinoa dosa, khichdi. Eggs featured heavily in our diet. I longed for panjiri (rich in nuts, raisins, ginger powder, fennel powder, a touch of black pepper) that my Dadu [maternal grandfather in Bengali] served every Narayan pujo. So, I googled the recipe and made it. My lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive body let me know that it did not like it with bloating and skin eruptions. That did not stop me.
The prolonged mild temperatures of spring and frequent rain showers resulted in a lush garden this year. And I bought some annuals for my pots -verbena, teacup colocasia, canna, coleus, zinnias, begonia.
I learnt new recipes involving the instant pot -sambar, moong dal halwa, ghugni. On the stove, I cooked Palak moong kadhi, stir fried brussel sprouts with curry leaves and lentils, zarda pulao/meetha chawal. I searched the web and youtube for special bengali recipes -Bhojohari Manna's Gondhoraj chicken, chicken dak bangla, chicken chaap, railway mutton curry. When I got bored cooking, my husband took over -dal parathas, quinoa dosa, khichdi. Eggs featured heavily in our diet. I longed for panjiri (rich in nuts, raisins, ginger powder, fennel powder, a touch of black pepper) that my Dadu [maternal grandfather in Bengali] served every Narayan pujo. So, I googled the recipe and made it. My lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive body let me know that it did not like it with bloating and skin eruptions. That did not stop me.
The prolonged mild temperatures of spring and frequent rain showers resulted in a lush garden this year. And I bought some annuals for my pots -verbena, teacup colocasia, canna, coleus, zinnias, begonia.
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| Edible Alocasia -appears deer resistant |
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| Zinnias and coleus in containers |