BHOPAL: Markets have begun to reopen in the last phase of lockdown 4.0 in the city, but the usual delight on the faces of people seems to have gone missing.
Yet, disappointment prevailing in the three other phases of lockdown has ebbed a little, though.
Sweetmeat shops in MP Nagar have attracted crowd. There are queues, but small, outside Manohar Dairy and Milan Sweets.
A few people with sweet-tooth are happy. Sanitising hands has been mandatory in all sweet shops.
The pandemic has done one thing good. It has drummed the importance of cleanliness into the heads of residents in Bhopal.
Else, Bhopalis barely bother about hygiene, even if Swachch Bharat Abhiyan began in 2014.
The pandemic has also drilled into the mind of everyone the importance of wearing mask.
Health has suddenly become so important that other things, especially large social gatherings, have become a thing of the past. People keep away from one another.
In many colonies, residents do not easily allow an outsider. One cannot sneeze or cough in public. A person doing so is in for trouble.
Locusts have attacked crops. Bhopal and its nearby areas are safe from it. Yet, the farmers across the state are freighted with fear of crop loss, because swarms of locust have begun to hover over the state. Many people sight famine on the horizon.
There are barriers on the thoroughfares. At night, policemen stop roamers and question them. Most of the offices have begun to function, but public transport has yet to start.
The corona positive cases are rising with each passing day. Nine staffers in Raj Bhawan have tested positive. This has put the administration on pins and needles.
The city has so far reported more than 1,400 corona cases. The number may go up. Yet, neither the scientists nor the doctors can sight its end. The fight is on.
