Spectator by Seema Goswami: Take a shot

Now that the Covid vaccine is here, it’s time to plan for a post-pandemic reality

Finally, after a year of heartache and heartbreak, there is something to cheer about. The Covid-19 vaccine is ready and about to hit the market all across the world. Actually, make that vaccines – in the plural – because there are at least three to four candidates that have given good outcomes in clinical trials. In India, we are pinning our hopes on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, though there is an indigenous vaccine in the works as well.

The Covid-19 vaccine is ready and about to hit the market all across the world (Aparna Ram)

So, in another month or so, we can expect the vaccination process to begin for earnest in India. There will be two jabs administered in an interval of a couple of weeks, and it will then take a few weeks for immunity to be established – and with a bit of luck that should last for at least a year.

As someone with quite a few co-morbidities (don’t ask!) I am hoping that I will manage to get vaccinated sooner rather than later. And in anticipation of that, I am already making plans for a post-immunisation life. Here’s just a taste of what I am so looking forward to.

• It’s now been nine months and counting since I last saw my sister, even though we both live in the same city. But given that she is in a high-risk category, I desisted from visiting her for fear that she might get infected. Once we are both vaccinated though, it will be time for all the jhappis and pappis that we have been storing up to deploy during better days.

• Going for a walk without a mask. Yes, I know it will be months before we get to a place where enough people have been immunised that it is safe to take off your mask in public. But that day will surely dawn, and I can’t wait to celebrate with a stroll down Lodhi Garden or my current new favourite, Sunder Nursery.

• Getting my hair coloured and highlighted at a salon is next on my to-do list. Many of my braver friends have already ventured forth to visit their hairdressers. But, coward that I am, I have been colouring my hair myself with a home dye kit. And though I have got better at it over the past few months, I still get a pang when I see pictures of mine from the pre-Covid era and see how much better my hair looked when professionals were in charge. And I simply can’t wait to look like that again.

It will be months before we get to a place where enough people have been immunised that it is safe to take off your mask in public

• I’ve never been a great one for manicures and pedicures – all that waiting around for paint to dry bores me senseless – but I am an absolute sucker for massages. In my view, there is nothing more luxurious than lying in a darkened room, with soft music playing, while your aches and pains are magicked away by the soft but firm touch of a stranger. As indulgences go, there is no beating this one. And when spas finally cease to be no-go areas, I will be first in line for some serious pampering.

• Never in a million years did I think it was possible that I would actually miss airports, but guess what, Covid has done the impossible. These days I actually find myself dreaming of checking in for a flight, roaming aimlessly through the duty-free area, picking up the odd perfume or lipstick, and then meandering on to the plane.

• Such is my nostalgia for air travel that even the thought of those disgusting airline meals can’t quite put me off. Instead, I fantasise about quaffing endless glasses of champagne as I watch rubbishy movies on the in-flight entertainment system, dozing off in front of the screen only to land in an entirely new destination, which is just crying out to be explored within an inch of its life.

• And last, but certainly not the least, there is the street food that I have missed so insanely over the past few months. The moment my vaccine kicks in, I am off to my neighbourhood chaat place, standing in line with strangers to eat golgappas and gorge on some aloo-tikkis or even a piping hot plate of channa-bhaturas. I will probably end up catching something other than Covid, but it will be totally worth it.

The views expressed by the columnist are personal

From HT Brunch, December 13, 2020

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