lockdown stories - Let there be milk

As we went through suggested stay at home period we did have option to go get groceries but I stopped doing that after mid March and decided to cut risks by just ordering stuff online. This worked fine by using Amazon Fresh ( for groceries) and Costco / Instacart for bulk order of larger quantity stuff. All this went fine initially in March but as we moved alon so many other folks in the area had decided to go down the same route and Online delivery companies could not scale up to the increased demand.  I found that Amazon was not able to pick up any online grocery orders from nearby whole foods store because of high demand and there went the easy option of getting stuff from a store I was used to.  I switched to online grocery orders through Instacart and tried an order and it worked fine but by April first even that was not available immediately, there were dates out in future through this platform.

We were set for a while with basics and staple foods but milk was one major issue and  with instacart ordering from local stores delayed and Costco online order had a wait time of 5 days because they did not have enough delivery folks we were facing rationing challenge. To be clear - I'm indeed extremely lucky and privileged to be where I'm, being able to live in a first world country and having a job that can be done from home which enables me to live through even such crisis without much of an issue, so in reality it was not a huge deal compared to what lot of folks without this privilege face. But again as someone who provides for a family, having a young child who needs 3 glasses of milk, it was strange to be staring at a scenario where you cannot get milk. To top it further we lost a can of milk which was within its expiry date but the milk had gone sour ( something that I have never seen before in last 7 years! ).  We converted the split milk to paneer and it did work out well to an extent but given our lifestyle where we consume lot of milk and curds this loss of a can of milk ensured we hit end of our milk stock earlier than anticipated. So we decided  its not biggie we will skip Coffee / Tea for a couple of days to ensure our daughter has milk  until one of the online orders gets picked up. Just as soon as we made the decision, I got a text message that my Costco order has been picked up by 'Jesus C'.  Somehow the order which was due only the next day evening got picked up early the previous day morning and got to me when I needed.

There surely is a God somewhere out to help out and listening to you, Jesus did deliver milk that day and the paneer from split milk actually turned out to be pretty good.

Lockdown stories - As it began - Mid March

March 2020

It started like any like usual, nothing untoward and life was moving along at usual pace. COVID19 was getting more news time and we were talking about how it was present in many other places outside of China and the fact that it could spread was getting traction. There was genuine concern all around that this could be much worse than flu to which it was initially compared to. Like anything else the reactions were getting politicized and based on which side of the political spectrum you were aligned to people started churning out very predictable reactions. Again nothing at start of march even prepared us or made us aware of what lay ahead.

One interesting thing that happened was that at work there was an expectation to be always in office and having done a lot of Work From Home over the years including years at a stretch, not something I was comfortable with. But with expectation set this way as a leader from company in my area I had to set the right example so had started turning up daily at work including fridays ( a new first for me in like 7 years). Against this backdrop around in the first week of March suddenly a rumor cropped up that someone on our office floor had tested positive and it spread quickly and informal decision was made that we can work from home for a couple of days until we know the truth. That first weekend we out shopping for groceries as a family and went to a couple of places to get stuff. Sounds unreal but as I type this now, little did I realize that such moments were disappearing quickly. We spent the weekend talking to friends and family in Seattle, WA which was under proper lockdown to cheer them up and also to find out more on how they are handling as there was a slight feeling maybe the entire country could get locked down to ensure nothing gets here as a precautionary step. The local Costco confirmed suspicions that its not just us but so many other folks felt the same way by looking at what people were purchasing during the first weekend in March at Dallas. We grabbed a couple of cartons of milk which is freeze packed or something like that which ensures they stay fresh for 6 months, thought it might come handy for the little one in case supply runs out if they impose like a few weeks lockdown suddenly.

Back at work, things just resumed as normal as it was discovered that someone who didn't like coming to office must have spread the rumor, the building admin/HR folks quickly stepped in to quash the rumor and also called out that the area and county did not have anyone positive yet. But the very next day we heard about someone in the county testing positive and later found his family was also positive. I think was like March 10th and we decided to cut risks and work from home going forward until we know better and pulled our daughter from her day care and decided to let her be at home as we  both worked from home.  On March 12 I had to travel to downtown office for an org meeting as they were going to change some of our teams and roles, I did not want to take bus or train like usual and did car pool with a team mate. At work met a few senior folks and they all were greeting everyone saying nice to meet you but don't mind we no longer do handshakes in current circumstance.  Once the meeting was over by 2 PM, we quickly headed back not wishing to stay much in office space given the risks and I had decided no more office for another month and nothing will make me get out anymore until things stabilize.

The count across the country was going up big time and every place was turning out to be a hotspot, there was no stoppage of work or no closures yet by March 13. I was working from home on that friday and someone messaged me to say he was planning to head to Indian store as he heard that people were doing desperate purchases and stocking up on stuff. Then he updated me later that he had to give up as the store had huge lines and people were just emptying the store buying up everything, the panic had truly set in. As we kept watching the news that day the reality set in, things were really really ugly and the country had missed an outside chance of clamping down early.

Towards end of that workday an email came from my company asking everyone to start fully working from home from coming monday onward as most of our jobs can be done from safety of our homes and we need to do that to ensure this is contained. That was a welcome relief, there was still nothing from Govt on any stoppage but lot of big private employers were taking this stuff to ensure their employees were safe. While chatting with colleagues and also with with friends working elsewhere found out that by 3rd week of March almost all companies with jobs involving computer and not requiring direct customer interaction switched to WFH.

The transformation was startling from how it all appeared to be something interesting and equally scary happening somewhere else in the world to somewhere else in the country where many near and dear ones lived to something that was right where you lived.

Note : This was written in early April based on what happened in March