Pune Family Locked Out Of Home, Stuck In Hyderabad. Their Story

We are a family of six who have got stranded in this sudden lockdown in Hyderabad. Other members include my sister, one year old nephew, eight years old daughter and parents in their 70s. We have no option but to stay in this Airbnb apartment in this unknown city till the situation normalizes and we are able to return to our respective homes, mine in Pune and my parents to Delhi. Everyday is a big challenge for we sisters. While ensuring mental health of our parents and their special diet needs, we take turns to buy things from the market amidst this curfew and in the absence of public transport. At the same time we juggle our professional commitments by attending to work-from-home needs.

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This is an ongoing blog which updates on our plans to come out of situation and family tales during the lockdown.

Today was a mission day for me and Disha. We changed into fully covered trousers and shirt, masks over face, backpacks, sunglasses and list of grocery items. Our aim was to buy enough ration to last us for at least a week, not that we want to hoard, but because we need to limit our outdoor trips.

Previous day, Telengana CM had made some stringent announcements regarding the curfew, so we decided to follow all the instructions carefully.

Now began the game of Touch me Not.

Disha and I maintained a distance of four meters between us. Thankfully, there was a minimum of traffic on the road, most of them motorists, who were out grocery shopping like us. All shops were closed, and no public transport. Almost everyone was wearing a mask. The scene reminded me of some sci-fi Hollywood movies. There was good presence of policemen on bikes and patrolling car, who were stopping motorists if they were without mask or pillion riding.

Everyday is a big challenge for we sisters. While ensuring mental health of our parents and their special diet needs, we take turns to buy things from the market

DMart is about 1.5 km from our place. We had no option but to walk. Our dependency over Uber has crippled us in such a situation. I wish I had my bike.

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About five hundred meters from the Mart, we were stopped by a police constable. All our apprehensions of the previous night disappeared after talking to him. Disha explained our lockout situation. The police said that we won’t be allowed to move out of Hyderabad during the lockdown, but in case we need help with shifting to some other place, a police car will assist us in that.

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