Skip to main content

UNLOCKED - 1.Freedom realised.

The daily commute to my workplace includes tackling a busy railway level crossing. Increasing rail traffic makes it sure that peak hours are made worse by lengthy closures of the level crossing gate. It becomes a nightmare when an unruly motorist jumps the line and creates chaos. In comes the national lockdown with the trains coming to a halt, leaving the level cross open at all times. It was indeed a huge relief and freedom from painful traffic snarls. The very thought of not being stranded at the level crossing gave an immense sense of joy: one of liberation from not being held up.


Being a doctor, I never got restricted at any police checkpoints. I was enjoying the privileges of my profession and the freedom that came associated with it. Slowly through the days, public life came to a standstill, and so did the number of patients. Now here was a doctor free to go to work with no traffic jams but not much purpose to go for; of course, many of my brethren in the medical profession were battling as front line warriors. Apart from that, the big chunk of the medical community was on par with my situation.


It dawned on me that freedom is the sweetest thing next to sleep.  But does it have a meaning or purpose if enjoyed alone? It is essentially an absence of fear that has to be in everyone's minds, not in a few. It is indeed a wonder how a submicroscopic agent makes us realize our constraints and privileges.



Labels:

Comments

  1. juventus77October 24, 2020 at 7:08 PM

    Way to go Sharky..keep on writing..loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 24, 2020 at 7:17 PM

    Realising our freedom is difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pavan MangiOctober 24, 2020 at 7:51 PM

    Wonderful food for thought . Keep going . Well done !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dr J P SaliniOctober 24, 2020 at 7:53 PM

    Well written Etta... As expected from you 😊

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownOctober 24, 2020 at 8:11 PM

    Nice one. We humana often feel above all. At top in the foodchain, at top of evolution, at top of civilisation process. But actually ended up making life like never before.
    Freedom definitely would be different in perspective of every individual, at different ages, in our own society we can find it differently defined.

    ReplyDelete
  6. anil4natureOctober 24, 2020 at 9:10 PM

    Nicely Explained 👌🙂

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 24, 2020 at 9:25 PM

    Exactly...These micro ones reminds us not to take things for granted..I mean the freedom that we were enjoying to the fullest until now...Post covid era will definitely be sweeter...Taught us many things... at least hygiene sense.well done dear friend..Expecting more

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dr.Sankaranarayanan JOctober 25, 2020 at 6:51 AM

    Thanks dears

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tale of Two Mangalores

 The fishy smell from the bamboo baskets hit my nose at the edge of the railway platform. My friend said fishing is one of the leading businesses in Mangalore. It is a port city.  I nodded, smiling at my childhood memories of Vizag Port and the morning fish smell wafting through the balconies of our home in Maharanipeta.   We were in the town of Golli Bajji for two days. That evening, we downed Ideals chocolate daddies and carrot halwa soaked in ice cream. Later, a literary stroll inside the Sapna book house. That night was reserved for a national meeting, and in a loo break, my eye caught a neon. It was an uptown place. I took a peek inside to see the nightlife in Mangalore. The place was a reflection of the affluence in that city. Rich spirits adorned the shelves, cocktails costing the earth spewed on the oaks and the chairs by people who made statements of fashion houses from across the globe. The rain-soaked morning was lazy, but I didn't want to miss my morning walk. Hot pipin
Post a Comment
Read more

Dining Table Tales

 The guests are arriving at any moment, and it's a situation room in the kitchen. The mother is worried about the dishes that have come off the stove. Will they lose their taste when cold? And of those on the stove becoming too much cooked? The father burns a lot of helping the mother. The kids are not much concerned. They are on a spree having a gala time with intermittent snacks and no one to supervise them with both parents busy in the kitchen. It's time to dress the dining table. The buck gets passed among the members, and those who win the raffle get to do one big task of clearing and cleaning it. From kid's crayons to the grocery shopping, this piece of furniture has the scars of all the things that come and go in the family. When exam time comes, the dining table becomes the study. The kids may have exclusive study tables. But this is where the strict parent spreads out all the texts and pesters the kids to score more marks. Then eating and studying go hand in hand t
1 comment
Read more

The Joys of Borrowing

From the mundane brown and beige uniform, it was an entry to a world of colours when we went for the school tour to Ooty, Bangalore, and Mysore. Even though we pulled out the best from our closets, something was missing. College, too, was no exception. An Armani or the local footpath t-shirt didn't make a difference as the white apron over it cloaked the colours beneath it. We couldn't go beyond a point to showcase our fashion tastes. We had a code. Few teachers used to scold us if we didn't dress up to the dignity of our profession. School and college tours were a break and a breather from the hectic schedules. And we had to look like romantics as tours was the time when most cupids struck. So we had to add to what was missing to complete the effect. The addition was mostly a borrow or an authoritative steal from mother, elder sibling or cousins, sometimes even friends. I remember borrowing my cousin's floral shirt for the school tour. That pattern was a rave in those
3 comments
Read more

Translate