was in 7th grade when lockdown started. Well, it just the start of my boring days. Unable to go to school, gossip with friends face-to-face, doing online classes regularly were frustrating. But my anxiety started from these days. During these days, the pressure of study was light. So, eventually I caught habit of watching chinese dramas, Korean dramas, animes, manhwas e.t.c. The magic of those dramas or anime or manhwa was so beautiful that it made me immersed in them. I got interested in drawing, listening to music and many other things. Well, particularly I have no story about those days except the tension.
The tension of us was being infected by Covid, and about my studies and placement in future because of the new educational boards patterns and marks distribution. The death rate due to this disease increased day by day making us think what would happen next. However in the middle of everything, an unexpected event happened. In 2020, my maternal grandfather died. My grandfather was bedridden from the year 2019, till his last breath in 2020. After being bedridden, he lived only for one year. I am scared of death especially painful one. We live in Kolkata but my maternal grandfather's house is in Berhampore, West Bengal. Nothing much. I was studying Maths in my room for my online exam only to hear the scream and yelling and cry of my mother. I was really scared thinking about what actually happened. I went to the T.V. room only to find that mother was in a video call with maternal uncle who was showing the last moments before grandfather's death. We hurriedly got ready, booked a cab to reach our destination, Berhampore. It was total 6 hrs journey. Trains were unavailable due to lockdown protocol, thus it took us time to reach there. Every member in our family broke into tears. Watching grandfather lying lifeless was one of the worst scenario I had ever seen. My innocent 5-years old cousin only knew that grandfather was just sleeping. But, I could not bring myself to say the fact that he was no more. Till now after grandfather died, the room is not in use anymore. The empty bed makes me really miss him still. My biggest regret is before being stucked in the lockdown we used to go to Berhampore for 5 to 7 times a year. Then why we were unable to go to Berhampore at least once before the day he died, if we are able to go there hastily like this during his death! But, it was not our fault too because it was an emergency situation.
In 2021, my paternal grandmother caught Covid infection but soon got recovered after 1 month. My father had to take a leave in the office to go to Berhampore for a month. At the end, I got an amusing news, that the school would reopen from 2022 february as vaccines were all out. I got vaccinated in school. But, then the environment in the school started to change a lot. The colour of the mood in the school was fading away. I was then thirteen years old in 9th grade.
(To be continued)