Ants and Grasshoppers in actual COVID-19 Lockdown

Welcome back friends :). You have seen the situations of Ants and Grasshoppers (we people) during previous weeks in my last post, “Ants and Grasshoppers Amongst Buzzes of COVID-19 Lockdown“. Now the story continues as what happens to Ants and Grasshoppers in actual COVID-19 Lockdown…

Time Period: Mid of March 2020.

Nothing changed in us so far, except the “Time Period”.

Place: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (the country where it’s not easy to acquire the information)

Hyperactive crowd: Mostly expats (Indians of my organization who were living as tenants), some as ants and some others as grasshoppers.

Available Information: Still confusing (everyone has their own database and source of information). In other words, we guys and the WHO (World Health Organization) were on the same page. We all are WHO, the way it is acting.

Since the coronavirus positive cases were multiplying every day. As the days were getting passed, the chances of imposing the lockdown were also exponentially growing every day. Each passed day was bringing the lockdown nearer, which brought the optimism level of the Grasshoppers down. And, since the less optimistic people (Ants) have already accumulated the house hold items, so their optimism level deserves to become higher, and even happened so.

This way, our optimisms came on the same level. And, we both started waiting for the lockdown.

My Lord, point to be noted is that grasshoppers are still not taking any action. They are just waiting for the government decision, so that they can take action accordingly, else what is the benefit in taking the irrelevant actions and wasting the time and efforts by doing reworks.

Holi Vacations

It was only one week remaining for the Holi festival (one of the major festivals of India). People have already planned their vacation and travel to India for the week of Holi (off course, all the employees didn’t get the leaves, otherwise who would support the IT operations here in Saudi Arabia). So, some Ants and Grasshoppers had traveled to India during the weekend of 6^th March, 2020. Our dearest friend Mr. Barney also is one of them. He left all his luggage in Saudi Arabia and carried only little.

(Please refer the post, “Getting Ready to Fly from Saudi Arabia to India during COVID-19” to know about Barney.)

Guys were supposed to return by 14^th March 2020. But the preparation of lockdown in India was on hype. News from India came around 9^th Mar’20 that international flights to and fro from India have been barred and all the scheduled flights also have been cancelled. We, in Saudi Arabia, were worried because it will be difficult while coordinating remotely and there are already less number of resources onsite (in Saudi Arabia) (actually, more jealous because they are at home). And, those guys were happy that they have got more time at home and even their managers can’t do anything about it ;).

The Most Awaited Three Golden Words

Finally, the day has arrived when we would listen the most awaited two golden words, “Curfew Imposed”.

We were in the office on 23^rd March and got a phone call from management that the lockdown and curfew is getting imposed from today itself after 5PM. After 5PM no one must be outside. Hence, we have to leave from office as per our distance from office to home. The curfew timing was from 5PM to 6AM. Authorities restricted International flights/immigration as well.

One of our Saudi Arabian colleague went to Cape Town for honeymoon, South Africa and expected to return by 31st March 2020 but unfortunately (or fortunately?) he couldn’t. His extended honeymoon lasted for another month. The government gave relaxation from 6AM to 5PM to purchase the necessary house hold items, every day. So, the lockdown was not as hard as it was expected.

Coronavirus positive cases were increasing every day. So, after one week the curfew timing extended from 3 PM to 7AM. Only the grocery shops in residential area were kept open during 7AM to 3PM, rest of all the places, shopping malls, markets, offices, etc. strictly shut for curfew duration. We quickly enabled our teams to work from home within two-three days. So, teams started working from home with some struggle, but no impact on business.

Covid-19 (Corona virus) knocking my door

We two persons, living at same place, and one more team member visited office on 24, 25 and 26 March as well during non-curfew hours, and I enabled my team with all the tools, applications, systems and VPN access required to work remotely.

Things were going smoothly but some surprise was waiting to hit us. I was in horizontal position in my bed, laptop was open, business operations were running as usual and one sweet email from client’s top management landed in my mailbox.

They were asking to provide the details of persons, email address, contact number, passport/national ID number, who visited the office premises after 24^th March 2020. Then, I went through the entire trail email, I found that some of the office building staff was found Covid-19 positive, his report came on 13^th April and is awaited for the rest.

Several permutations and combinations started floating in our minds. I provided all the required details on email and started waiting for next course of action for us from management. Neither we observed any medical issues with us nor anyone contacted us ever after that.

But the situation was very adventurous among different kinds of news floating around us.

Now there are no more ants and grasshoppers among us. We all have become the same humans. This Covid-19 worldwide pandemic raised unique challenges for businesses as well. The way we accepted the challenge (was there any options but to accept the challenge? NO) and we overcome it. This has certainly developed next level of confidence in us.

By the time I am writing this post, I am in India.

Thanks for your time. See you soon in new post.

(Please click here to read the post, “How I got flight ticket in Vande Bharat Mission“ and about my friends and last four days in Saudi Arabia, click here “Getting Ready to Fly from Saudi Arabia to India during COVID-19”.)