The Story Of 2020 Lockdown!

"A lockdown? sounds strange!" said an 8-year-old who stared at me, astonished. That exactly reminded me of the incidence when I heard the same word for the first time, and surprisingly even I had the same reaction! The little boy was my son and as usual, he wouldn't let go of me till I narrated him a sweet bedtime story. However, he was tired of all the fairies, lions, tigers, demons, prince, and princesses. He demanded an exciting, strange yet wonderful story. And whatever he demanded was fulfilled by only one story, 'The story of 2020 Lockdown!'. So there I began. "It all started with a small virus named corona probably from the SAARS virus family. The virus was first taken lightly by all of us, but gradually, it turned out to be a way dangerous one. It was a communicable disease, which means it would spread when one came in contact with the affected person, so the government declared a 'lockdown' and came up with a certain set of rules to be followed to stop its spread. "Oh, this is really something different, but that didn't answer my question still, what is a lockdown?" he interrupted. I continued, " Dear, a lockdown is nothing but just staying at home, or locking ourselves at home so that we don't come in contact with anyone. And the dangerous part is, we had one for 5-6 months! We were strictly told to maintain social distancing and wear masks. All the buildings were shut down including schools, offices, malls, shopping complexes, and many more. All the roads were emptying, all the societies closed their gates even for daily commuters like maids and milkmen. Being ensnared in traffic was now marked as an event in history!"

"Woah! so many changes just because of a virus? That we can't even see?!" he said as he began to have an interest in the story. I continued, "Yes, we didn't go to play, nor did we attend school. Our summer vacations proved to last for many months!" He said, "Oh, so boring! I am so lucky that I didn't experience this melancholy period. I would have got a boredom attack by staying home for months! What a black event of history!" I continued, "Wrong, you are completely wrong dear. Although half or maybe more than half of the population thought in the same way, there were some people like me who had an optimistic approach towards the lockdown. I welcomed the lockdown as an opportunity to bring back all the singers, dancers, cooks, artists, and writers in ourselves who were on the verge of becoming extinct due to our busy schedule. We were just running at an unbelievable pace, forgetting all the family relationships and the peace of life. That lockdown made our parents stay with us and enjoy life to the fullest. We also had to attend an online school. "Agreed! You certainly have a different perspective towards all the problems, dad. But I just can't believe this fact that humans, being the greatest superpower couldn't stop an invisible virus from affecting their routine!" he said. I continued, "Haha, even humans thought that they were the superpower, but the real superpower is our Nature! During that time, nature was turning worse day by day. Rivers were polluting, global warming was taking place, ozone was depleting, etc. Although there were many campaigns conducted for saving nature, none of them actually worked. So naturally, with the help of the virus started to heal itself. And you wouldn't believe even animals started freely roaming on the streets." He said, "Great! But how did you come out of that situation?" I continued, "In addition to all these positive effects, God blessed us with 'corona warriors', who were doctors, policemen, nurses, and social workers, who worked 24/7 to bring things to normal. As the lockdown increased, things started coming to control, the introduction of vaccine helped save many lives, with the dedication of all the corona warriors, and by the grace of God, we were free again! From then on, we started living normally. That's the end of this story!" "Wow! That was indeed a very nice story. I hope this would never happen again, I am happy with whatever is going on." He said. "Now don't think too much about it. Sleep peacefully, tomorrow you have your school again, I said, tucking him up in his cozy bed. That night really took me down the memory lane!"