A Covid-19 Shopping
Sunday, March 29, 2020
I was just simply sitting in my room, reading a book I had previously read more than a hundred times before and generally be bored out of my mind. (There was nothing wrong with the book, of course. But there are only so many times you can read the same book over and over again.)
Then suddenly my mom burst into the room and told me to get ready to go shopping with my dad. I was fairly shocked at this ‘cause I did not expect to go shopping today. So, while my mom scurried away to write a list, I quickly threw on a pair of denim jeans and a shirt and voila! I was all ready for a shopping trip to LuLu.
Well, I can’t pretend I wasn’t excited to go out after weeks of being cooped inside my home. I know what you are thinking: it was very irresponsible of me to go out during the Covid-19 outbreak and all that. But, I did take all the necessary precautions. I wore a mask and gloves. I also brought a sanitizer with me. So, I was rather well prepared.
So anyway, I raced down and hopped in the car and we zoomed away to LuLu. The thing that surprised me most was the number of cars on the road. I thought that there would be hardly any cars outside at all. There were even more cars than usual. In fact, the roads were clogged with traffic. I guess the people just decided to go outside while they still could.
Then, we finally reached LuLu. After we parked and proceeded to enter the hypermarket, we were not allowed to enter through the back entrance. So then, we got back in the car and parked at the front entrance. Then, when we got out, we saw a looong queue that stretched to the outside of the shop. But luckily, we did not have to wait for long since they let us through early since I was there. (See, there are benefits of being a child.)
Once inside, some of the staff made sure that we had gloves and masks on and then checked our temperature with an infrared thermometer. Then again, we had to wait in a line for a minute or so and then, we were in!
I have to say, the management took a lot of effort to make sure that the virus did not spread any further. Huge banners which reminded us to keep proper social distancing hung from the ceiling. Stickers were placed at regular intervals to indicate the place we should stand on while in line. Even the trolleys’ handles were covered in removable plastic. There were also many alcohol rub dispensers around. But even then, there was a serious shortage of supplies. There were very few vegetables. Onions were restricted to 2kg per person. There were hardly any garlics, small onions, ginger, etc. Even the fish were short in supply. The fish display was almost empty. We saw quite a lot of people buying 5-10 packets of roti, breads and buns. People were stocking up on edible items.
There were a lot of people and TV reporters from Kuwait TV in the hypermarket. They were busy setting up cameras and stuff to film the area.
By the time we got out, there were 2 to 3 police cars outside and the police were restricting entry to people who came late.
Luckily, we reached home before 5 pm, i.e. before the curfew started. So, here I am. Once again stuck in my home. This place is starting to feel like a prison by now.
I am really proud to live in Kuwait. Our second home has taken seamless effort to contain the virus and protect all of us. Hats off to all the policemen, nurses, doctors and government officials who have made it possible to control the virus. So guys, follow the instructions of the government, stay home and stay safe. Remember, ‘i’ and ‘u’ can break the chain of the Covid-19 virus.
s