An unexpected journey | A COVID-19 Journal
11 March 9.00 AM
It was a pretty cold month in Berlin. After a week, I and my wife had a planned vacation to India on 20 March. Due to the uncertainties due to the growing pandemic of COVID-19; and the advisory from the Indian embassy in Berlin; we decided to self-quarantine ourselves for a week until our flight.
I moved to Berlin with my wife for a dream international assignment more than a year ago, it was such a long time since we went to India. So we were looking forward for our trip to India for more than 7 months.
We informed our leads in both of our offices that we will be working from home for the week until our travel. My wife loves to plan and had everything set, we had bought many gifts and chocolates to take with us for our families. My wife packed all our gifts in big suitcases. All that was left to pack was our clothing for the trip. Since we had almost a week left, I would say we were all set.
11 March 03.00 PM
My meeting just got over and I was browsing through other Hangout channels to catch up. There was a lot of news were circulating about flights getting delayed and canceled. I had a bad hunch, so I was checking our flights, I found there were no flights displayed for my PNR. To my dismay, Lufthansa informed me they had canceled our flights when I had called them. I was furious, as first there was no intimation on any cancellation; secondly, they asked me to contact my travel agent for any refund or re-booking. My wife was devastated on the news since we were looking forward to seeing our parents and families for quite some time.
11 March 5.00 PM
After waiting for more than an hour over the phone to talk to our travel agent, hoping I would talk to an agent in English. At last, I spoke to a person, he said he could rebook it for only one day prior to our original dates. I agreed and paid 40€ more for the convenience charges and he confirmed he would send the tickets to me in a couple of hours. A bit of relief, a bit of skepticism we continued with the rest of our day.
11 March 10.00 PM
We did not get the ticket yet but hoping and praying it would come through. We had our dinner in silence and went to catch some sleep.
11 March 11.30 PM
I couldn’t sleep, the thought of not seeing my parents after waiting for such a long time kept daunting me. I kept scrolling through some random articles to distracting myself, checking my email every couple of minutes, in the hope of seeing the ticket. A news article caught my eye
“Mandatory quarantine for also Indian nationals, coming from European / Chinese countries after 13 March 00:00”
I woke my wife up and showed this news, my wife hugged and consoled me that it was okay, that we will get 2 weeks to spend with our parents, even if we had to be in quarantine.
I continued to speculate on what would happen if we reach India before 13 March 00:00.
What this would mean is we had to leave immediately in the next couple of hours, as it takes 16 hours minimum (including the time difference) to reach India from Berlin. I was not thinking with a straight mind. I was SWOT analyzing what would happen if we go and if we don’t go. After a couple of minutes, we decided not to go as the risk was high.
I asked my wife to go to sleep. Before going to sleep, she asked me to talk to my friend just in case. My friend advised me against it, as it was risky. I was not sold, still in a dilemma with 90% wanting to go, 10% thinking of the risk.
12 March 12.30 PM
I had made up my mind on going. I woke up my wife, told her that my friend advised against going to India, but I still wanted to go. She understood my point of view and comforted me by saying she will stand by me whatever decision I make.
In the next couple of minutes, I liquidated my savings and booked a ticket to Chennai, India leaving on 12 March, 06:00 AM. With less than 6 hours for the flight, my wife was thrilled and scared at the same time.
12 March 01.30 AM
With the adrenaline rush of excitement, she got up and ran to get ready. We just threw in a couple of our clothes. We had to empty our refrigerator. We had planned lots of things to do before we go, but we couldn’t do it now. I was trying hard to think, what was most essential for the travel: our passports, tickets, work laptops, and our phones. I grabbed them, dumped in a bag, and hurrying around the house preparing for our departure. We booked a cab and left for the airport.
I sent a text to my friend, on the way to the airport, on the change of plans regarding our travel, so that at least one person knew what we were doing.
12 March 05.00 AM
Everything happened so fast. Less than 12 hours before, we were prepared that we will not go to India. Here we were at the airport. Both of us were heavily sleep-deprived. Hundreds of thoughts flooding in both of our minds. We were scared of what would happen if the authorities quarantine us (or) if we get stranded midway in Paris or Mumbai. Putting up a brave face, we got through security and were waiting for our first flight to Paris.
12 March 07.00 AM
As we entered the massive Charles de Gaulle, Paris airport, both of us had mixed feelings, on one hand, we were happy that the first leg of our travel was over. On another hand, we were scared, if we would get stranded in the middle (or) what else the universe had in store for us. My wife made sure, we were extra cautious about social distancing and hygiene. We got through security and were waiting anxiously at our gate for our next flight to Mumbai, India.
12 March 10.30 AM
As we started boarding our flight, for the next leg of our journey, we saw everybody wearing masks and following social distancing. One of our co-passengers was telling his father,
“Do not cough in the flight or in the airport, or they will quarantine you for 14 days”
It was a weird feeling, as it was after a long time, we heard someone talk in our native language, but at the same time, we were scared, what would happen if the same happens to us. In another 10 minutes, they announced the boarding got completed and we were set to go. The flight of 300+ capacity had less than 30 people.
12 March 11.30 PM
We had just landed down in Mumbai and everyone was undergoing a thermal scan in the airport to check for fever. Thanks to my wife and the precautions she took for both of us, we were tested negative and we proceeded to the immigration counters.
12 March 11.55 PM
We waited anxiously for our turn at the immigration counter. At last, our turn came, the person in the counter requested our passports for verification; took our personal details; stamped it, and welcomed us to India. With 5 minutes to spare, we made it. We were jubilant, thrilled to have reached India, just in time before 13 March, 00.00.
13 March 09.00 AM
Our parents and family were very happy on seeing us, as they had never expected we would turn up during this time. We were equally thrilled to see them.
P.S : Both (me and my wife) of us, home quarantined ourselves in our homes in India for 21 days after we reached, and we are thankfully healthy and happy to have reached India.
India closed its borders soon after 15 March for International travelers to control the pandemic. I also learned that my re-booked tickets also got canceled again.
The heaviness of disappointment was replaced by the happiness of being with your loved ones.
It was an interesting journey, that I will remember for the rest of my life. It might have been a hasty decision to come to India during this time, but I am grateful, I took it.
