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This is just a little video of me talking to my future self about my life now, and some things I hope will be true for the future.

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Today is the 4th of May (Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!). I spent my day talking to my friends back home which really made me happy. My friend is in the process of teaching me “Here Comes The Sun” by the Beatles on the guitar (it’s going to be a surprise for my dad because he loves their music!). This song is a little more challenging because I’m learning how to pluck the strings and play the tune/melody line instead of just playing the chords. Later, I took a nice long bike ride as the sun was setting in the most picturesque sky. There were a million birds singing and it started to drizzle softly; I felt so peaceful and content. When I came back in, my brother had cooked churros for us! They were scrumptious; crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. After dinner, I was checking my texts and someone had sent me a link to a news article. For once, this news made me happy — the Arctic ozone hole had closed! This was the largest ozone hole in our atmosphere. It was not related to the coronavirus and staying at home, but due to a polar vortex. It was amazing news and surely was the best ending to a really positive day.

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This is a face mask, which we have to wear when we go out (like when we go buy groceries).

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Today is Friday, May 1st. I cannot believe it’s May already; April seemed to fly by so quickly. It does not feel like we’re a third of the way done with 2020. This evening, my family and I watched a documentary about how our government reacted to the coronavirus on CNN (from December or January to now). They really did respond late, and I think that if they heeded warnings sooner, we would be in a much better place and a multitude of lives would have been saved. Trump announced that half of the country would be partially reopening (only some businesses, not at full capacity) by the end of next week. This is because unemployment is at around 23% and the economy is suffering. I hope that this is the correct choice. I also hope that I can go home to India this summer. As of now, there are still travel bans (and we won’t travel until it’s all clear, even if the bans are lifted), so we need to hope for the best! Experts are saying that the wave in the winter is going to be even worse so I don’t know if we’ll get to go then either. Plus, my grandparents came to visit us in January and have been stuck here ever since; it’s pretty scary for them since they’re so far away from home in a place so unfamiliar. Their flights home have kept getting canceled. All that aside, music is really helping me stay positive. Today, I learned how to play “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella. I think learning guitar has been the best part of my quarantine. I’ve also been swimming, biking, baking, and talking to friends and family (which is probably the only thing keeping me sane 😂).

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This is a video of Dr. Fauci talking about a possible cure for the coronavirus, remdesivir. This news made me feel so happy and optimistic; even though it is not perfect, I hope that it will help get us out of these tough times! (The video was too long to post here; the full article and video can be accessed at https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/29/gilead-coronavirus-remdesivir-220484)

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This is a picture of the beautiful area I live in. I have been spending a lot of time swimming, and I’m so grateful for this peaceful, picturesque sanctuary right outside my home.

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My friend has been teaching me how to play the guitar. This is a clip of me playing and singing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana.

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I interviewed my aunt, Lara, who has just moved to Toronto (from Mumbai) in January.

1. What were your first reactions to the virus and how do they differ from what you think now?
- I didn’t take it seriously at first. I kept thinking it wouldn’t affect me. Viruses like SARS and swine flu would pop up, but they haven’t spread and affected people to this degree before; mortality rates were not as high. It was okay in February, and my parents left Mumbai to go to the US and stay with Anya in March; they are stuck there right now since all flights home are canceled. By March, it was in the news a lot more and I got worried. It became very real for me when a family friend and beloved chef from Mumbai, Floyd Cardoz, passed away from it. There’s good days where I’m staying positive but also bad days when I am anxious for my family’s wellbeing since they are all across the world, far away from me.

2. What action has the government taken which has impacted your life? Do you have any problems with what the government has (or has not) done? How have people responded?
- The Canadian government has taken this very seriously. They have done a really good job in making people practice social distancing effectively. Policemen are stationed everywhere to make sure that anyone together in public lives in the same house. I think the government is doing a pretty good job. Justin Trudeau’s wife was diagnosed with it quite early on (early March), so the whole country took it seriously much sooner. Luckily, the situation here is not as bad as in many other places.

3. How is quarantine treating you? What are you doing to keep busy?
- I just moved here from India, so I’m not used to cooking and cleaning this much. I’m pretty busy working on a bunch of projects on my own, since the prospect of searching for a new job seems bleak. I have worked in the music label business so I’m trying to organize some collaborations with new artists using the contacts I have. I’m doing some gardening in our house, playing a lot of games, and trying to figure out how to get married! Something positive is that I get to spend time with my fiancé (we’ve been long distance for a year). We get more time together since he is working from home, and that makes me happy. I’m also sad because I’m in a new place and I don’t really get to see it. I only got to explore my new home for about two months before all this happened. I’m worried because my family is all over the world, very far away from me. I talk to them as much as I can and I hope to see them very soon!

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This is actually a video of dolphins returning to the seas in the city of Mumbai, India. (They’re quite far away and a little hard to see.)

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I organized a Zoom party for my dear friend, Irene.

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I’ve been learning the guitar and the ukulele with some help from my dad and my friend. This has probably been my favorite thing that I’ve accomplished in quarantine :)

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The music community has come together numerous times to create stay-at-home concerts. Watching these make me happy and help me stay positive! This was the Global Citizen Together At Home concert which aired on television and had online livestream broadcasts all over the world.

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Today is Tuesday, the 30th of April, 2020. We have live classes on Google Meets every Tuesday and Thursday and we’re in literature right now. We’ve been having online school for a few weeks now, and we only have three weeks left. I’m getting used to online school now, but before this is was a little bit rough. I really really miss my friends and teachers and normal life in general; I feel like this year has slipped by so fast and I’m not ready to go to high school next year. I would have felt better if we finished the year at real school! In the beginning of the year, it was a lot of stress and I didn’t know anyone yet because I was new, so I really wanted the year to end soon. But now that the year is really ending in three weeks and I’m probably not going to see my friends till high school in the fall, it’s pretty scary.

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To entertain ourselves, my family has been cooking (particularly baking) a lot. Some things my brother and I made were cookies and a strawberry tart. We also baked a scrumptious apple pie for dessert on a rather unconventional Easter Sunday.

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This is me playing and singing “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella. I just learned this one and it has a lot of new chords, so I keep hesitating between chord changes 😬

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More recently, we have baked banana bread. We actually cooked this one a couple of times because it was SO DELICIOUS!

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Although COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic and doctors have been urging people to take it seriously and practice social distancing (staying at home) if they can, some people think that their liberties and daily convenience is more important and are risking many other lives due to this.

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I was going through my pictures, and I found this report from the 20th of March, 2020. It shows the number of cases by state in America and also some countries outside America. At that time, there were 19,658 cases in the USA. As of today (29th April), there are 1,056,705 cases, so the number has grown very significantly in a month.

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Tuesday, 28 April, 2020.

The news is dominated by bleak headlines like this; I feel very scared and anxious when I see how bad the situation is, because these are only the reported cases. Some 1 in 4 people who spread the virus are asymptomatic, meaning that these cases go undocumented.

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One of the bright sides to the whole situation is that the earth is healing. Here in Plantation, I do not really SEE much of a difference, because it is pretty quiet normally. But back at my home in Mumbai, India, residents are shocked. They’ve been on lockdown for about a month now, but they started noticing the somewhat eerie silence from the very first day (Mumbai is one of the noisiest cities in the world). Instead of blaring honking, the birds are singing; even dolphins have returned to the seas nearby! The streets, the air, and the beaches are so much cleaner. Mumbaikars are shocked. This is a picture one of my friends sent me, of one of the busiest streets in Mumbai (it’s at the end of a big highway called Bandra-Worli Sea Link).

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I interviewed my cousin, Keya.

1. What were your first reactions about the virus and how do they differ from what you think now?
- At first, I thought the virus was just a little thing and it would be contained in Wuhan. I thought it would not last very long and wouldn’t really affect the world and the economy or anything like it is now. However, I now understand that deadly viruses like this should have been taken seriously from the start. If we had taken more action earlier, we  wouldn’t be in the bleak position we are in now. This could have all been avoided if we took the same precautionary measures we are taking now, when the virus was first introduced.

2. What action has the government taken which has impacted your life? Do you have any problems with what the government has (or has not) done? How have people responded?
- The government implemented a lockdown, so my school is canceled and my parents work from home. The government is presently doing whatever they can to help the situation, but it was poorly planned and they took action too late. They were barely testing, and so gave the rest of the world this false perception that they only had a few cases; this was done for political reasons to show people that they were dealing with the problem well since there were not many cases. I really miss my normal life, but I’m super grateful that we are fortunate enough to have a home and enough money. Homeless people on the street are really suffering since they cannot self-quarantine so they are at risk, and also they do not have enough money to buy food or anything. Daily wage workers like taxi and rickshaw drivers cannot make their money, so it is difficult for them to cover their basic needs.

3. How is quarantine treating you? What are you doing to keep busy?
- Honestly, I feel great being alone. I do miss my friends and I cherish the time I have spent with them more than ever before, but I see this time as an opportunity to better myself. I have time now to do things I have always wanted to do (of course, in the confines of my home), and the earth is healing which makes me really happy. I try not to think about the negativity, because there is no use worrying during a crisis. I feel sad for everyone who is being affected by this, and I do feel scared sometimes, but I focus on the positive! To keep busy, I enrolled myself a month-long online course organized by Parsons School of Design so that I could learn more about what branch of design I wanted to pursue. I’ve tried baking, lots of art and drawing, and I’m reconnecting with more friends.

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Initially, people never expected the virus to become as huge of an issue as it is now. We mostly just joked about it; but now, it is a lot scarier!

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The virus has spread so quickly ALL across the world due to the fact that infected people have decided to travel a lot.

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I don’t usually draw, but I was bored so I did this! I really really love the beach/ocean and I miss it so much (the girl’s dress becomes the ocean). The ocean makes me feel free. Even thinking about it when I’m stuck in my house makes me feel better!

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I interviewed my cousin, Riyanna.

1. What were your first reactions to the virus and how do they differ from what you think now?
- Initially, I did not think much of it. I thought people were overreacting. The problem seemed so far away and I didn’t think it would affect us much. After India reported its first case, I felt scared and shocked that this was actually happening. As cases increased, my fears were amplified. We watch the news at least once everyday; I’m overwhelmed by everything going on. To stay positive, I think about when all this will end. I know brighter times lie ahead! I also think about happy memories and times spent with loved ones in the past which makes me feel comforted.

2. What action has the government taken which has affected you? How do you feel about this?
- The government of India implemented a three-week lockdown on 24th March, and then extended this indefinitely (at least till 18th May). We are only allowed to leave the house to buy essential like food, and only 2 people can go out together. There are policemen patrolling the streets to ensure that people always keep their distance of at least 6 feet (even in stores and lines). If any apartment complexes have cases, they are in the red zone on complete lockdown; you are not allowed to step out of your apartment under any circumstances. Luckily, we have no cases in our complex (there are many in neighboring complexes). My parents go out to get groceries every couple of days. Yes, the measures make sense to me. I understand that things like this must be done for the greater good.

3. How is quarantine treating you? What are you doing to keep busy?
- I feel bored and lonely since I cannot see anyone except my parents, sister, and grandparents (who live in the same complex). I am also really worried about the increasing cases, and I’m scared of my family or friends getting the virus. To keep busy, I’ve started doing art like painting and drawing. However, I have noticed that I am spending a lot more time on technology, like being on my phone and watching TV. We have classes online, so after those I have Zoom chats with my friends; I have also reconnected with several old friends who I had stopped talking to before. My sister’s birthday was in April. We celebrated with friends and family over a Zoom call: we cut two cakes (one with her friends and one with family). The party was bittersweet, because it was lovely to speak to people again after so long, but it just made me miss meeting them more and made me wish we could celebrate her birthday for real.

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For some reason, people started panic-buying toilet paper in response to the virus. It went out of stock (in addition to hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies) due to their irrational, hasty decisions.