Corona Lockdown Stories: How do Indian homes keep peace during lockdown?
I’m hanging out with my Indian family. The sun has set, and we just ate chicken pilau. The air is infused with spicy, sweet incense, and the sound of Islamic prayer is ringing from the mosque down the street. The tranquility of the evening is soon interrupted by a family fight — loud voices attacking each other over minor issues. I sit back and relax, sometimes exchanging a little smile with the mother. Families are the same wherever you go, I think to my self as I observe the timeless friction between wife and mother in law unfold.
I quess a three week lockdown would make any family go crazy, especially when you’re seven people living together in a one room house. No, my family doesn’t have a lot of space, but they have really big hearts. The father, Hamdi, suddenly gets up; “Come Sarah, let’s go for a walk!”
His wife and her girlfriend joins us, as we go for an evening stroll to buy fresh milk. “After the walk, we come back, everything good!” Hamdi smiles at me.
The streets are quiet, only a few people are out to buy some essentials, or perhaps they’re also just using the “essentials” as an excuse to get some fresh air.
The milk shop close to Bandra station has the richest, fattiest milk in Bandra West, the mother tells me. It’s worth the 15 minutes walk. The milk wallah ladles fresh buffalo milk from a huge tin bucket into plastic bags. I also buy half a liter for my morning chai. Since the lockdown I’ve been perfecting my own homemade masala chai, as all the chai shops have shut.
When we return back home, the mother makes everyone a cup of rich, sweet chai, and the sugar seems to soften the family. The situation is indeed calmer. I sip my chai and ponder its magic powers; perhaps the little cup of milky sweetness is the secret to family peace in all the one room houses across this vast land of India.
