Pre-pandemic moments: Remembering ‘normal life’ just before coronavirus changed everything
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00:00My best memory of before covid and corona started so or essentially the lockdown that we went under
00:07was when I flew home to India for my dad's 75th birthday and it was a real surprise because I had
00:14taken a night flight and it was an A380 Emirates and it was absolutely fabulous. I've never flown
00:19an A380 so it was a great experience, a flying experience but looking back and I enjoyed it
00:27and I was so happy to go home for that short break but looking back I realized how much we
00:33took our freedom for granted especially the ability to travel as and when we wanted
00:39based on our circumstances so I think that's my favorite memory. The last memorable moment was
00:45the moment with my only son that was back in February so I missed him a lot since I have
00:55waited for him to come for more than 18 years. I have three daughters and this is my only son.
01:02Being apart from almost half a year now is really very sad for me because he just turned two years
01:11when last March and I was not even there to celebrate with him on his second birthday so
01:17it really makes me sad. I just wish that this covid will soon be over so that I can go home
01:23or they can come back here to Dubai where we can all be together and share some happy memories.
01:29My last movie that we actually went to a movie theater and watched was on January 5th. I checked
01:37my online theater account to see when was the last time I purchased a ticket and it is kind
01:44of sad seeing that date on there because it kind of proves how not normal all of this is.
01:51My husband and I go for movies every other week at least. We used to go for movies
01:58every other week at least even if it was a movie that wasn't rated so great we would go because
02:03we like the movie theater experience you know going there getting snacks sitting in the theater
02:09etc. I think that's one thing that I miss the most and I don't think I'm comfortable yet even if
02:15cinemas opened up and we had movies running we have old movies running but if we had new ones
02:21coming up I don't think I'm yet comfortable to kind of go to a theater. I remember seeing my
02:28colleagues full faces and now everywhere you go all you see is eyes people's eyes and it's
02:38it's weird because you can't completely judge you know people's expressions and stuff you can
02:43see a lot with eyes. I remember being in gym that was full and that was normal and that was an
02:47abrupt change but the biggest thing that I remember is more traffic there was more traffic before
02:52lockdown and for me it's been pretty good job wise hasn't really affected me much there wasn't
02:58a definitive like line or time when it just changed it was just this gradual expectation
03:03of lockdown happening and trying to get information about what you need to do or not do
03:08but there was no there was no moment. It's been 171 days since my son and I have stepped out of
03:15the house together we went out it was February 28th I remember and we had gone out in around
03:2110 30 or so we went to the mall we hung around a bit we bought him some new summer clothes because
03:27it was still the onset of summer and after that we went to the park by late afternoon or so
03:35and we had some sandwiches we played around I watched him play till evening over there making
03:40new friends and stuff and I even remember before coming like always he protested mommy 10 minutes
03:47more can I play and I was like no let's go but if I knew that that was the last time we're coming
03:52out for the next few months I would have let him play that day. So my last is actually the last
03:57party I've been to normally I wouldn't be a person who like parties like crazy but I was so
04:05lucky that the last weekend before they sort of closed everything down my friends had flown in
04:11from Amsterdam and we did three days of non-stop partying like I was hardly sleeping I was so
04:18tired and I was this close to not going out because it was like late you know like when
04:21you party in Dubai specifically you leave the house at 11 p.m and like that was just so exhausting for
04:27me but we went to like party at a club on Thursday night and then we had a party brunch on Friday
04:33morning and a party again on Friday night and then a pool party on Saturday all day so I was exhausted
04:40but you know what it was so much fun and I will scroll through my phone and look at those videos
04:45of that weekend and it was just the funnest weekend and that was the last time I partied and I have no
04:51idea when it's gonna happen again like we can't really be in clubs anymore we can't how are you
04:58gonna party social distancing so I have a feeling like clubs are gonna be closed for a while
05:03or they'll be like sit down situations but that was my last weekend where I like just like
05:07let loose and I was like having fun with my friends and it may not be as um you know meaningful as like
05:16my last hug with my parents it was a party and it was worth it the lack of sleep was worth it
05:24it was a good one so I think it was around the first week of March maybe the seventh or eighth
05:29of March when I went to Lamer the beach in Dubai and I was surprised like there were so many people
05:36there were people bathing in the sea there were people singing I saw a group huddled around a
05:43table and a guy had a guitar he was playing something strumming something and his friends
05:48were all over him like they were enjoying it and all those cafeterias which lined the Lamer beach
05:54they were full of people full of people who were dining out on a it was a Friday afternoon so there
06:00were loads of people out there and just the day before I had come back from India and I could feel
06:05the kind of tension that was building up because of coronavirus but when I landed in Dubai I found
06:11things were just normal nobody really seemed to be that bothered about what was happening in the
06:15rest of the world and Lamer was a reflection of that like when I went there it was like a tourist
06:20hotspot and as long as I was there I honestly speaking I wasn't really bothered about what
06:26was going on you know maybe we were not that much aware at that point of time that what was lying
06:32ahead but honestly speaking when I was there I just I just shut my mind out and I just enjoyed
06:39what was there so that was the last time I really went out and I enjoyed being outdoors
06:46I never knew that in the next few weeks things would change so much that the new normal would
06:52really take such a toll on our lives but I'm glad that I actually went out and I
06:57soaked up the sun and the fun getting together with a bunch of friends for a shisha
07:02it was a weekly affair we used to do it over the weekends and every weekend actually the four of us
07:07would get together we'll just talk politics or sports or you know one of those things and I
07:14remember it was early March and we got together planning to meet again the next week but we
07:21couldn't I mean at that time there was some apprehension that the virus was getting hold of
07:27some you know gripping some countries in Europe but we didn't know that it's going to sort of
07:33put the entire world in a lockdown of sorts and also I mean it changed things in a sense because
07:40I think there's this human need to get together to socialize and people do it people have been
07:44doing it over the centuries in this part of the world there's a great oral culture where people
07:50would sit together discuss talk poetry stories etc right up to now where people would get together
07:56or a cup of coffee or a smoke and talk and you know meet friends and extended family but this
08:03was completely sort of unthinkable off we never knew that there was going to be a lockdown where
08:08and the social distancing and face covering and and these sort of protocols in place where you
08:14couldn't get together with your loved ones so yeah that's one thing I remember which I
08:20now in hindsight it feels like as if it was another world you know it feels like a
08:25light year ago you know I never thought that something as simple as a gentle wave from a
08:32school bus would leave such a lasting impression on me I've put my son onto the school bus right
08:38from the time he was in play school and I've seen him transition from a wave like that to a very
08:48gentle casual glance and a wave and I love that transition but when I look at that last wave of
08:56his I just have so many memories in my mind of course we've been sitting together in the same
09:03room on the at the same table me doing my work and he doing his studies but that wave will always
09:10be special.
09:18you