Sunday, March 22, 2020

Stranded at airport, passenger recalls how virus ruined vacation amid Covid-19 travel restrictions

Mumbai: I had expected the funniest moment of a bizarre vacation to take place preferably in a Woolworths store in Sydney and ideally in the toilet paper aisle. Strangely and somewhat alarmingly, it had taken place surrounded by luxury perfumes in Singapore’s Changi Airport on Wednesday evening when a fellow stranded middle-aged passenger I won’t identify chose the wrong moment and words to try and lighten the mood. “Ab toh Sushma Swaraj bhi nahi hai humko bachane ke liye,” he said, laughing alone.

It is perfectly normal for an Indian citizen stuck abroad to invoke the late external affairs minister when his government can’t make up its mind about whether or not to allow him to return home.

For half a week before we had cut short our three-week trip, my mother and I had gawped at supermarket shelves devoid of toilet paper, serviettes and pasta among others, been taken aback at notices reminding customers to keep their hands on their wallets and not on fellow customers and had attended a baby brother’s wedding in a virus hotspot, all in a carefree manner that said – this will never happen to us.
22/03/20  Srinath Rao/Indian Express
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