The New Normal

“The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a global pandemic,” the reporter says, his lips pursed.

I sit on the couch, crossing my legs comfortably as I increase the volume of the television, my heart beating faster at hearing the unfamiliar yet easily comprehendible term.

They show a clip of a man sitting at a table, the logo of WHO clearly visible behind him. The director-general of WHO looks worn out; his eyebrows scrunched up in between as he lays out the facts to us.

“Over the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled. There are now more than one hundred eighteen thousand cases in one hundred fourteen countries, and four thousand two hundred ninety-one people have lost their lives. Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher,” he says.

No kidding.

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and the alarming levels of inaction,” he continues.

“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”

The reporter takes over again, talking about the number of cases in the country, the decision to shut down shopping malls and movie theatres, and the possibility that all the exams would be taken online.

I turn the television off, massaging my burning eyes, my body fatigued after a long day of online classes.

I send a message to my friend group, asking them if they are up for a Zoom call. I need a distraction.

Waiting for someone to reply, I get up from my comfortable position on the couch and go to the kitchen, opening various cabinets to try and find something to eat.

Finding the last chocolate chip cookie, I murmur to Mom that I’m taking it, and leave the kitchen.

The phone sitting on the coffee table buzzes, and I reach towards it eagerly, only to find that it was just a notification on YouTube.

Before I can click on it and get sucked into that vortex for the next few hours, I get a reply from one of my friends, who asks me to send the meeting link.

I turn on the laptop and start a meeting, copying the link and sending it to my friends.

Reyna enters first, a wide smile on her face, her hand waving at me.

I wave back, and she starts talking about how her father came home with mango flavoured ice cream last night.

I just smile noncommittally and let in the rest of my friends into the meeting, the words of the reporter still ringing in my head.

I had thought that this was just a phase that would pass like the common cold or flu, and China had seemed so far away at the time.

It only took one couple from Wuhan to come here and change every illusion we had about the virus.

Now the country was under partial lockdown, and by the look of things, it would soon be under complete lockdown.

I push away these thoughts and watch as Lupita, Reyna and Anushka groan about the school teachers and the homework while Anushka simultaneously tries on the latest filters on Zoom, settling for the reindeer one.

Lupita opens a room on Among Us, and we sit there and play, my fingers moving rapidly across the screen as I kill Reyna’s avatar, her real avatar glaring at me through the computer screen.

I hide in the vents and wait for someone to see the body. Then I make up a stupid lie about where I was.

As expected, literally no one believes me, and I get voted out, ending the game even before it properly started.

I’m just about ready to throw the phone out of the window when Lupita asks in a brooding tone, “Guys, what do you think we would be doing right now if COVID hadn’t happened? I know I would be doing homework like a madwoman.”

I check the time.

4:00 PM.

“I would probably be watching a movie and wasting my time. Literally nothing different,” Reyna says with a smile.

Anushka barks out a laugh, still in deep thought.

“I know what I wouldn’t be doing,” I say, uncertain on whether I should say more.

They urge me on with a gesture of their hands.

“Talking to you guys.”

The silence is deafening.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said it.

It’s the truth though.

“She’s not wrong you guys,” Anushka says, while I heave a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, the others nod too.

“If we saw each other in school every day, we wouldn’t feel the need to have a video call every day,” Reyna says.

Lupita is on mute as she passionately explains why she wouldn’t be talking to us, while all of us stifle our laughter.

When she realizes, she shakes her head at us in disappointment, while I and Reyna shrug in unison.

Anushka’s Wi-Fi is quite terrible, so her shrug reaches us quite late.

“No, but seriously, guys, I don’t think I would survived staying at home for so long without you three,” Reyna says, and I roll my eyes, even though I’m quite touched and completely agree.

The others feign disinterest too, even though their hearts are melting on the inside.

“I…guys,” Anushka says, her voice breaking into static in between.

“She sounds exactly like Miss Mason,” Lupita says, comparing her to our chemistry teacher whose voice always cracked right when it was the important part.

Anushka’s image goes stuck, her mouth still open. In a second, she’s out of the meeting. I invite her again, and she comes back, her mouth in a straight line, trying not to blow her top off.

“I love you guys too,” I say, and Anushka stops worrying about her Wi-Fi connection for a second to smile at me.

As everyone says ‘I love you’ to each other, I wonder when this is going to end.

I hope that things go back to normal before this becomes the new normal.