Our corona diary.

[Text and photo by Rajasi Akolkar]

I close my eyes in my self-isolation from corona… and I see myself not being able to sleep. Sprawled in my room that can barely contain all my stuff, let alone all my thoughts, staring at the false ceiling, I yearn to be laying on a cotton mattress, on a warm summer night, on my bua’s terrace. With a gentle breeze once in a while, and the sound of a table fan whirring near our heads, my cousins and I giggle and talk, sharing stories. When we were younger, the stories involved what we did that school year, what cartoon we love, which superhero is the strongest. And as we grew up, the stories changed to who we’re crushing on, which aunt we dislike the most, and how the country is dying. With all these passing years, there was one thing that never changed on that terrace, the sound sleep. The sleep that I long for tonight, on the other side of the world, as the sun rises over that terrace, where nobody sleeps anymore.

“We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my eyes in my self-isolation from Corona… and I see…” Not more than 100 words. With a horizontal-sized selfie, along with your city name… please mail to me at mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com.