We’re helpless, had to hoard household items for 4 days

During the lockdown, we had maintained a routine. There would be fixed days when we would go out and stock up on necessary things for the remaining days of the week. After things normalised and everything opened up, we let our guards down and started shopping like old times, of course wearing masks and maintaining social distancing norms. Now the old vignettes of the

lockdown

came rushing back once we heard that there would be a total lockdown on Thursday and Saturday. So, the first thing that came to my mind was to stock up till Sunday.

We know that it’s just a two-day affair with a gap but the perception is of a total shutdown till Sunday. And it is not unfounded because the green grocers and

fruit sellers

have told us that a Thursday shutdown will bring a disruption to the supply chain. They deal in perishables that have to be bought either the previous night or in the wee hours of the morning. With a total lockdown on Thursday, they will not be able to procure their stocks on Friday, so bazaars might remain open with skeletal items. The same scene is likely to be repeated on Sunday.

We have a big family with typical needs because there is a kid and elders who have to be taken care of. We have done a stock check of medicines for my parents and replenished them. Since the domestic helps have taken leave till Sunday, I have also bought mops to clean the house. Big jars of disinfecting home cleaners have been bought and since we use a particular brand of hand sanitiser that is not available in the market, I have bought it online. Though the price of fruits and vegetables was high, I bought quite a variety and stocked up in the refrigerator, not to speak of the more than usual stock of potatoes, onions and a crate of eggs too. I know people might call this

hoarding

, but I am

helpless

. Since it’s a big family, the demand is more and I have to keep a variety of supplies handy!

We are not the bread eating kind so I did not stock up on them, but biscuits,

vermicelli

, poha or flattened rice, peanuts and all kinds of grams have also been stocked up till the weekend. We eat a lot of fruits and so we have bought a few kilograms of mangoes and a few pineapples. I hope this will suffice.

(Kohli, a fashion designer, spoke to Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey)

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