Covid19 - A Guest Blog - Mike

I have convinced Mike to write a blog for you, so that I am not writing about Covid19 again.  It's his turn, enjoy.

Well things must be getting pretty rough now that we’re in day 10 of a 21 day lockdown in India as Sus has turned to me for a first guest blog in the seven years we’ve been away. As I write this the family and I should be on a plan winging our way back to Sydney, alas we’re holed up in our villa in Bangalore. At the start of the year we were looking to get some clarity and certainty on what the year ahead had in store for us and was told that my contract would not be renewed beyond end of June. Ok, that was a bit disappointing but it gave us a timeline to work with which had Sus and I plan out what we wanted to do with our final 6 months as expats:

-       Maldives (a promise given to the boys when we left Hong Kong)

-       Tiger safari in Bandhavgarh (yes, another safari…….)

-       Sydney

-       Sus planned a catch up with her HK girlfriends in Shanghai

-       Me a golf trip to Bangkok with some guys from work

-       Jordan

-       Oman

-       Ley, Ladakh

-       A couple of final IPL games, especially one at Eden Gardens, Kolkata

-       Relocation and repatriation to Sydney

Well we got the Maldives trip in, so paid off that promise made to the boys and then things since have turned sour in a big way. It started about 4 weeks ago with the boy’s school being closed and all classes and learning transferred to “virtual learning”. This severely tested Sus’ patience and ability to multi skill (which is second to none) as she became a semi part time employee and now part-time teacher. Worse was to come as Prime Minister Modi announced a lockdown for 21 days. As you can imagine pandemonium ensued as nobody seemed to know what we could and could not do. All international flights had been banned and then with the further lock down domestic flights were also grounded. The community also went on lockdown meaning our maid and driver were not going to be allowed entry and on top of that the gym, pool, etc would be closed until further notice. This lead to the interesting little problem we had the other day with our toilet having an issue and going on a repeated flush cycle and with a bare minimum helpdesk we finally had an “electrician” show up to assist. At least he knew where the water mains to the toilets for our villa were – nothing is as or where it should be in Indian housing. He was able to “fix” it for us with the standard toolkit of all tradies here, a screwdriver. This was a huge relief for Sus and I as the prospect of a further 2 weeks in lockdown 2 toilets down and with two grubby boys was not a happy place to be in. As we weren’t given any direction from my work we made the decision that we’d try and ride this thing out in India. Last Monday I was able to meet the driver outside our gates and head to the supermarket as the delivery service slots have been booked out constantly. At the supermarket I had to sanitise my hands and use a supplied face mask before being allowed entry. I was able to find the majority of things on my shopping list but some things were completely missing – so not too dissimilar to shopping at the supermarket 6 months ago to be honest. Over the past week the police have cracked down severely on what you can and cannot do, we’re pretty much not allowed to leave our community. The community has also become locked down further as now we can longer use the outdoor basketball court or tennis court, the children’s playground has been closed and we’re unsure if the boys are allowed out other than to ride their bike. Indian’s love a rule.

So as of today the boys are now on school holidays for the next week. I’ve heard the term of a ‘staycation’ used over the past couple of years – I can now confirm, what a crock of crap that is! The next 11 days to complete the 21 day lockdown is very much going to test us as a family and our ability to cope living in each other’s pockets. Very unsure as to what will happen at the end of this 21 days and whether Bangalore will open up again or whether the country will open up again with residents now stuck outside India allowed back in? It’s a very eerie feeling in Bangalore currently as in our 4 years living in India to have it so quite throughout the day and night, no staff and workers in our community yacking away to each other, no horns, no traffic (I assume not anyways, we’ve not left the community – me for a week and Sus and the boys for about a month). What faces us on the other side of this, well nobody really knows but the first Leela Brunch we’re allowed to attend will be HUGE!

Work has been very difficult as we moved into full BCP and about 100% of our staff working from home. All kinds of unique solutions have had to be made to make sure we’re not too inhibited in servicing clients. The largest cause for concern that is driving my anxiety is with the world in such turmoil and the markets whipsawing on a daily basis I’ve seen all job opportunities here or to transfer with a role back to Sydney disappear. Added to this we don’t really know how or when we’ll be able to exit India and return to Sydney. Once we arrive in Sydney there’s additional uncertainty of what will greet us and the requirements that will be imposed on us. All our best laid plans of our pre-Easter week at home to get most of our ducks in a row in terms of the house, whitegoods, schools, etc prior to repatriation have gone up in smoke. Now we know that I’m absolutely not on my own by a long shot (a reason I’ve been unusually for me avoiding the news) Sus has had to snap me out of a few incidents of going down my own rabbit hole of negativity. 

So apologies, it’s all a bit doom and gloom from me unfortunately. We’re all uncertain as is the rest of the world. We think we’ve made the right decision to ride this out in India for the time being, but we’re all very isolated and craving some interaction with the outside world with some good friends already departing India for home. Usually I’m an avid devourer of all kinds of news and many global sports but I’m trying to avoid the news and well, there’s not a single sport to watch for love nor money. All of which leads to too much thinking time which is getting me into a vicious circle.

In a nutshell, this is not how we drew up our departure from India and drawing a curtain on seven wonderful years of being expats. Certainly not the way we were hoping to arrive back in Australia and start on the next journey as a couple and family. I look back on our time out of Australia and I wouldn’t change it to be honest – well a couple of things I may – but not much. We all knew when we left that we were taking risks with our careers, as a couple and family but the rewards have outweighed the negatives. Nobody could have or would have foreseen the circumstances we’re now in but as they say – it is what it is…..deal with it!