A Child’s Diary: Idhika Diwan’s Corona Lockdown Days

June 29, 2020

New Normal in Thailand

Now in Thailand, there is no lockdown.  This is a new normal for all the people. School will start soon. I helped my mom to make a list for ‘”Back to School’’. The list has face shield, school shoes, and school milk and snacks.  Our school told us to bring everything from home. Our teacher told us that no borrowing is allowed in school. Earlier, our school gave spoons, forks, and glasses for eating lunch. But now, we need to bring our own our spoon, fork, glass.

This week, we went to a restaurant for lunch. My parents scanned QR code separately. I wrote me and my younger brother’s name in a notebook. The table that had 4 seats now had 2 seats only. And the table that had 2 seats had 1 seat. So four members of our family didn’t sit together. The table had red crosses marked on seats on which you couldn’t sit. Instead, we sat by two. I sat with my dad on one table, and mom with my younger brother on another table. We were sitting on the opposite sides. Earlier, my parents used to feed me in a restaurant. I like sitting this way because now I can eat by myself. But my brother doesn’t like this way. Now he has to eat by himself but he loves to be fed by my mother. In a foodcourt, the spoon and fork are given in a plastic bag. When we leave the restaurant, we need to scan the same QR Code again. Once, my mom and dad forgot to scan and I reminded them.

On the weekend, we went to a coffee shop called “Coffee War”. It didn’t even look like a usual coffee shop.  There were old army vehicles and a bicycle ambulance. We could sit on some vehicles.  I and my younger brother sat on a tractor, a helicopter, a jeep, and an old fashioned bike. When my mom took our photos, she instructed us to keep our masks underneath the chin. But after the photos, we had to lift the mask again on our mouth. Now all the photographs have masks in them. I liked the older way of taking my pictures. CHEESE!!! There was a real upside down parachute hanging from the roof. I was surprised to see a big orange plane inside the coffee shop. There were statues of soldiers inside and outside the coffee shop. They had guns in their hand. But I want to ask you a question “Are wars good?”     

We visited my grandparents (family friends) who had a dog. The dog’s name was Zulu. He is a boy. At first I was scared of him because he was barking. I asked my grandmother, if he bites. She said, “No, he wants to play with you.”  At the end of the day, I talked a little bit to Zulu. My grandmother gave us strawberry yoghurt for snack. But she gave Zulu plain white yoghurt. Zulu won the yoghurt eating competion as he finished it first. Number 1!!! I learnt that dogs eat faster than people as they lick their food. I felt proud of Zulu for finishing the yoghurt.

One morning, we saw a big yellow crane on our street. I wondered why it was there. It cut a big old mango tree that had lots of raw mangoes. But is it good to cut trees? No it is not. Because if we cut all the trees on the earth. There would be no oxygen. And if there would be no oxygen we will die. I felt sad as the fruits of the tree were wasted. I wish that crane will never cut any other tree again!!!