COVIDYSTOPIA – December-21, 2021 (Chennai, India)
H and G used to hang out on weekends. Their routine had come to a halt when Lockdown-01 was announced. H's car had clocked exactly 50,000 km when he reached back home after dropping G at her flat, that night.
Quite soon, both were busy working from home. As business dwindled down, many companies regrettably had to let go of a few people at first and then a few more, and then a few more. H and G were still employed and working as best as they could. They had things to do and loans to pay.
Running a business with less people also translated into additional responsibilities to those who were still on. No one really wanted to say no to new responsibilities, lest they also get caught in a spreadsheet filter. In the mean time, organizations started recognizing that the productivity of their staff who were working from home, was pretty good with the right monitoring and incentives.
H and G still kept in touch with an occasional phone call over the weekend. The disease eventually dwindled down, and businesses finally started picking up pace. H called up G one weekend and asked her if she would like to meet up, like the old days. It had been more than a year since they met in person.
They went out for a short drive in the deserted East Coast Road. The city and the landscape had all changed. New memories. H dropped G back at her flat and drove back home. As he turned off the ignition, he noticed with some amusement that the odometer reading was at 50,050 km.
(Disclaimer – this is fiction, exploring the what-ifs, post pandemic. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is coincidental!)