Covid-19 survivor’s tale: Locked up during lockdown in Mumbai

Ameya N Bhise, Senior Associate Editor with Hindustan Times in Mumbai, tested positive for Covid-19 on April 26. He spent 23 days in a quarantine centre before returning home on May 19.

A lot has happened in the last 23 days. On the morning of April 26, I got the phone call I dreaded the most. “Sorry, Ameya, but you have tested positive for Covid-19,” the caller said. Since that day and May 19, Mumbai went from 5,407 positive cases to 22,746, Iqbal Singh Chahal replaced Praveen Pardeshi as the city’s municipal commissioner, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray fended off a constitutional crisis to retain his post, India has gone from Lockdown 2.0 to 3.0 to 4.0, and I returned home to rousing applause from my building neighbours after spending the entire period locked in a 200-sq-ft quarantine centre room.

The writer found solace looking out at trees swaying in the breeze as he didn’t taste fresh air for 23 days in his air-conditioned quarantine room in a hotel-turned-hospital at Goregaon. (Ameya N Bhise/HT Photo)

I finally tested negative on May 18, after testing positive four times in three weeks. It was stressful, yes, but I realised a few things that I could do but hadn’t in over 15 years as a journalist: I slept before midnight and woke up at 7am, and in what could only be described as a miracle, I exercised every morning. The last time I remember doing any form of exercise was three years ago when I climbed 13 floors to reach my home during a power outage. Now, yoga, breathing exercises and suryanamaskars have become routine. In ‘normal’ times, I would sleep at 3am and wake up only after 10am. Now, it feels a bit weird to sleep beyond 7am.

From setting a ‘drink water now’ reminder on my mobile phone, I have been glugging around four litres of water every day to stay hydrated. Responding instantly to all messages and phone calls – almost all to enquire about my wellbeing – has become second nature, leaving my family and friends with no reason to complain anymore.

Vegetables have replaced meat and fish as my staple food. Paneer, which I found in my lunchbox daily, is my new chicken. At dinner, every night, I have discovered biryani can be vegetarian (and, ahem, healthy too).

On the flip side, I didn’t taste fresh air ever since I stepped into the quarantine room on the night of April 26. The room – in a hotel-turned-hospital at Goregaon – had an air-conditioner and sealed windows. I found solace looking out at trees swaying in the breeze. In the beginning, an air-conditioner seems like a boon in Mumbai’s hot and humid weather, but as days went by, I could not breathe fresh air, I could not experience the daily smells of the city.

The only person-to-person interaction I had in the past three weeks was with the medical support staff who came dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) to deliver my meals. They left a food packet at the door and rang the bell. I rushed to the door on hearing footsteps, opened it almost simultaneously as the bell rang and engaged in a conversation before they headed to the next door. On most days, it was just small talk, and I didn’t see any of their faces – covered with masks and goggles – but the voices kept me sane. It was surreal – straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie – but I needed it, and I was thankful for the 20-30 seconds of human contact.

I tested positive four times before finally beating the virus, but realised during my innumerable conversations with multiple doctors that the test results, after a point of time, don’t matter.

What matters, the doctors say, is that one shows no symptoms and feels healthy and fit.

I was both healthy and fit, even after 23 days of being confined alone to a room.

What helped me stay that way? Moving to the world’s #NewNormal, which for me has just been #Normal.

Ameya N Bhise, Senior Associate Editor with Hindustan Times in Mumbai, tested positive for Covid-19 on April 26. He spent 23 days in a quarantine centre before returning home on May 19.