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Story Mirror Profile |

I successfully completed this challenge of composing Poem A Day for the month of May. I received the participation certification along with a book of Poetry in Hindi by Story Mirror. Thanks a lot, Story Mirror for that.
Streamlining random thoughts with words....✍..✍ by Swati and Sweta
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Story Mirror Profile |
I successfully completed this challenge of composing Poem A Day for the month of May. I received the participation certification along with a book of Poetry in Hindi by Story Mirror. Thanks a lot, Story Mirror for that.
Bloganniversary ; celebrating 9 years of its existence
The day has come to celebrate this special
day; that special day is the anniversary of this blog. I’m so glad to share
that my blog turns 9 years today and I can’t be happier. When I started
publishing my articles in my personal blog 9 years ago, I had never imagined
that it would be instrumental in inculcating a life-long habit of writing in me.
This blog proved to be a faithful friend of mine whose friendship developed
during the sophomore year of my college life. It feels unbelievable for
me to realize that this blog still continues to reflect my innermost thoughts
and ideologies while I travel through different frames of time and space.
This blog documents the journey of my life by witnessing various stages of my evolution. In 9 years of its existence, it has been successful enough to garner 6-digit-views of people across the world. It has stuck to me during adverse situations and provided me immense support. It’s strange to believe that this inanimate thing has occupied the most important part of my life. It has witnessed me completing my graduation, post-graduation, working in the corporate world, exploring different places and then countries, entering into married life, and striking off many things from my bucket list. When people came and went in my life, it stayed constant. During college days, when many relationships formed and broke off, I feel proud to have invested my time and energy in this relationship which still continues to be with me.
This month is important for me not just for the anniversary of my blog but also celebrates the second anniversary of my marriage. Unlike this blog, I entered into the relatively early stage relationship for a life-long partnership which evolved through the days of struggle of lockdown and following the passion of life amidst all uncertainties. It was then I learned that every decision taken during the phase of uncertainty provides its own rewards but only those who get the privilege to enjoy these rewards have the courage to face these uncertainties. We can never enjoy a movie when we know its climax beforehand and the same concept applies to life as well.
During the last 9 years, I had never
pledged to write only in my blog. I grabbed the opportunity to write on
different platforms and experimented with different forms of writing such as long
and short forms. Not posting in my blog ever implied that I was not writing, in
fact, I was always writing, sometimes in my diary, other times as comments for my
fellow writers. Whenever I got any idea, I would right away draft it on my
mobile. Recently, I have been documenting my journey as a software developer in
my technical blog – coding concoction in Hashnode. I never shy away from complementing
fellow writers there from whom I learned a lot.
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Source: Google Images |
I neither have any agenda nor any plan
to write in this blog, I will keep writing whenever or wherever I can or when I
am completely overtaken by the urge of writing. Writing, for me, is the
ultimate form of expression and I will continue to do it as long as I am alive.
I will write whenever I can
Even under the scorching heat
Holding a pen with my hand tanned
Or trying to write my emotions
With my frozen hands
I will write about the beauty
around
During spring in a foreign land
Like leaves of autumn, I will wait
For thoughts or ideas to be reborn
I will write whenever I am happy
Singing and dancing merrily
To appreciate the life
I will also write when I am sad
Not willing to share my grief
With the world around
I will write whenever or
Wherever I can
To help my words to reach
Those unvisited clans.
All
Rights Reserved
Swati
Sarangi
27.03.2022
Published in Eyes
Magazine - 61st Issue,Feb 2022
I am very glad to share that
story of my Quarantine entitled as “My
Quarantine story of 21 days” has been published in 61st Issue of
Eyes( Feb 2022) which is a Newsmagazine of IIT Kanpur’s campus. I am very
grateful to the editorial board to publish my article.
Source: Google Images |
I got a mail from Team Poetizer for writing poems to support Ukraine which would be distributed to those suffering in Ukraine. Thanks to Team Poetizer for launching this initiative to support those in Ukraine as well as giving poets a chance to express their concern against war.
Here's my
poem
You're in our prayer
You're
in our prayers,
Oh! Yes, we're praying
With all hopes to make
You free from this war.
We might be strangers for you
Or we might never meet
but our hearts can feel
the pain that you're
experiencing
Because it's this war
that pained our ancestors
So we want no more war.
We might not fight in
the battlefield like soldiers
But we're standing with you
To oppose this war,
because we can feel the
Pain that you're experiencing
Let tomorrow's sun shine
so brightly spreading
Positivity and a ray of
Hope for a bright future.
All Rights Reserved!
© Swati Sarangi
03.03.2022
#WeStandWithU
Source : Google Images |
Sharing the reply mail from Team Poetizer
Source : Inbox of my gmail |
Google Images |
As a customary ritual,
I've been reflecting on the bygone year during its last days and deriving
important lessons from it. What could be a better act for walking through the
memory lane than documenting (it alongside)? This year was no less than a
rollercoaster ride for me. It’s going to be a nostalgic moment to recall all
events that happened in my life and for having been survived different phases
of uncertainties during that time. So, here I dive into my flashback and retrieve
all my memories.
The new year 2021 got me an opportunity to appear in the interview for the course that I had applied for. I also tried my luck in two competitive exams which did not turn out in my favor. What is destined to happen will find its way and what’s not, won’t happen in any way. All my failures have taught me to explore options that I am born for as aptly stated by Dalai Lama, “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” I met my best friend after a long time and got quality time to spend with her. It was during that time I started applying for my VISA to go to Hong Kong where my husband had been living for the last couple of months. I did not have any strong plan then to go to Hongkong as it all depended on the allowance of flights by the HK govt from India to HK, I made preparation to go to my native place to spend some time with my family. I stayed at my in-law’s house for a month where I celebrated my first marriage anniversary. I got to know my in-laws better as it was for the first time I got such a long time to stay with them after my marriage. Soon after that, I got the news of charter flights going to HK from Delhi and I had just a week in my hand to plan everything, right from booking tickets to reserving a quarantined hotel in HK. You can read more about my Quarantine Story here: my-quarantine-story-of-21-days.
After my quarantine got
over , I was ecstatic to meet my husband after 6 months and so was he to meet
me( I guess so :P ). He had managed a lot last year from traveling to a
foreign country during the pandemic to starting everything all alone. I acquired my
HKID card which was essential to revoke a hefty medical bill that was the
result of my treatment of COVID at the hospital in HK.
My pre-birthday eve was
well spent watching symphony of lights(a musical light show) in the Tsim Tsa
Tsui Promenade, followed by a treat at an Indian Restaurant. Not many days after
my birthday, I got unfortunate news of the demise of my grandmother who was
battling with COVID. All the memories of moments spent with her flashbacked in
my eyes. She was bedridden when I left for HK, with a hope that next time when
I see her she would be hale and hearty but this did not happen.
I slowly started to
adjust to this new country, culture, and people. I started exploring different places
in this country on my own to be comfortable and get the feeling of being home.
Thanks to the very convenient public transport system and google map which
became my guide in this process. This exploration helped me, invariably, in my
job hunting. I would so optimistically apply for thousands of different
positions based on my skillsets in various job portals of HK and managed to get
interviewed for three-four recruiters. It was the fourth one, I settled for as
other roles didn’t appeal to me much. At the end of the year, I successfully
completed my probation period.
In the latter half of
the year, I witnessed another form of mine which was capable enough to manage
everything, getting up early in the morning to prepare breakfast, lunch for
work, commuting two hours for the job, walking 5-6kms daily including
climbing 600 stairs, I had never imagined that I could ever do this. My
husband always stood as a rock by my side, motivating me whenever I lost my
fighting spirit. During weekends, we would plan to travel different places and
I created a YouTube channel to document my travel experiences - Around
The Globe . There’s another YouTube channel-Swati Sarangi
I created for collecting my selecting recordings from Smule at one place [which
I wanted to do in 2020 but couldn’t]. As a part of my exploration, I visited
various temples such as SaiBaba temple at TST, Kowloon Hindu Temple, Hindu
Temple at Happy Valley, ISCON temple at TST and got a chance to celebrate various
festivals there and sing in the public. I felt to blessed to receive the token
of love from the Hindu temple, Kowloon. All these events transported me to
those days when I accompanied my mother to celebrate various festivals at Shiva
temple on the campus of IIT Kanpur and Jagannath Temple, Bithoor, Kanpur.
During my days of
quarantine, I had started learning German in DuoLingo App to ward off the
boredom which later became a habit. I successfully continued the learning
streak for 200 days and received the report of being in the top 1% of the users to
achieve this feat. I also started teaching English voluntarily to underprivileged
students of Odisha online. I got an opportunity to be part of online events
like Toastmaster HK and book clubs. I could complete reading 8 books this year.
2021 gave me myriads of
experiences to revisit and I could strike off many from my wish list like a solo
trip abroad, getting an iPad, working abroad, starting a youtube channel,
working with an NGO, being a local guide in google and starting a technical blog -Coding Concotion. It gave me the confidence to pursue
my hobbies and tap into my unexplored potential which I had always ignored. I
had to deal with minor health issues. 2021 exposed me to two spheres; where
there was an excitement of exploring a completely new world, there was an
uncertainty to return home and meet the family. It is how life is and the greatest
blessing during this phase of the pandemic is to be healthy.
Wishing everyone a very
Happy New Year,2022!
Google Images |
All Rights Reserved
©Swati Sarangi
30.12.2021
P.S : I got late in
publishing this article which was planned to be published before the new year.
From her previous experiences, Sarika resolved to get this issue fixed as soon as possible but never by compromising with her requirements of life-partner. She started to participate in this process actively by taking the initiative and interest to interact telephonically with the prospects. What was she losing in this process; nothing but definitely those prospects were losing someone like her which they could never imagine to have in their lives! She was no longer compromising with her self-worth. The more she interacted with different prospects; she learned a thing or two about different psychologies, stories, view-points, careers, struggles and insecurities. It was enriching her experiences; her journey of self-discovery and search of twin-flame. She, now, wholeheartedly, gave chance to prospects to interact with her as well as bid them goodbye gracefully when the situation demanded to do so. As a result of changing her attitude, she got a chance to interact with some nice guys. She could now discuss on topics that matter more openly and parted ways when she felt compatibility issues on any ground.
Most of the time, the process just ended up with the interaction of parents of both sides; prospects were never in the picture! So, she wanted the prospect to show interest or rather than parents getting involved at the initial stage. She wanted the prospect to have enough interaction with her so that there is not a little bit of doubt about marrying each other. She believed that they should be able to interact without any barrier and let their parents know about their decision. She believed that she was at a stage where she can choose her partner better than anyone else because she had never ever discussed her requirements in this area with anyone in her life, if she doesn’t take full responsibility for her requirements and choices today, who else is to be blamed for, in future?
[It's the biggest responsibility of any parent to find a suitable match for their daughters whom they hold as the most precious entities of their lives (for whom their love is very unconditional, inexplicable). So, this attachment through unconditional love makes them restless every moment and the hunt for the suitable groom continues.]
When
she was left with no live proposals in her hand, she thought of giving this
process a break and focusing on something else. Amidst all these happening, she
kept doing her homework honestly; feeling happy and grateful about the current
situation, enjoying her hobbies, practicing meditation to be calm, praying,
listing the qualities of her dream partner, visualizing spending moments with
him, journaling, watching wedding
videos, healing her mentally, psychologically, spiritually and preparing
herself for the biggest day.
...............................................to be continued.................................................................
All Rights reserved
Swati Sarangi
24.12.2021
The Permanent Roommate
After staying with 16
roommates till now at different hostels (in different cities), Sarika started
developing a feeling of losing them which was something inevitable. This
gave her an idea of pondering about the permanent roommate; soulmate.
After all, at the end of the day, in this ever-changing world, finding someone
to rely upon completely is an obvious desire.
Sarika has always
wondered about the permanent roommate; her soul mate; how he might
look like, will he be prince charming? Will he be full of knowledge and
appreciation for all good things around, that she has always wished for? Will
he be mature enough to understand her as a person as her father does? Will he
be the most comfortable person for her to be with? Will everyday duties
and responsibilities of life get eased down with him through a true sense of
love, emotional intimacy, and understanding of every little thing around them?
Will her life just be straight out of any Hollywood movie where the expression
of love has been portrayed so immaculately? These were just a fraction of
several zillion thoughts going around in her mind at that point of time.
Sarika’s parents and sister started the
process of groom-hunting through a matrimonial site, even when she was not
fully prepared to get married as she was about to complete her Masters's and take
up the best available opportunity for her career. Her parents believed that
arranged marriage process takes time to get materialized into a marriage which
usually starts from matching the birth chart of both the candidates. During
those formal meetings which were of too-conservative-types for her, in which
either the match was fixed even without meeting the guy or not getting enough
space to interact personally with the guy, she realized that this process of
groom hunting was something not working in her case. Every time, these
matrimonial meetings were done at her native place which was around 1800kms
away from her place of work. Each meeting that didn’t turn out to be
successful was testing their level of patience (owing to long-distance travel)
and draining their resources like time, energy, and finance [Even though her
parents were okay with it as long as the right match was not fixed, they were
never in hurry]. So, she started to think about more practical and optimized
approaches to fixing this issue.
It is said that behind every successful man, there lies the strong support of a woman who has always believed in him when the world never had. A responsible lady is one who not only takes care of herself but also the needs of her husband, family, and everyone around. Sarika has always admired and followed those love stories where there has been mutual growth and those stories have prompted her to believe in the power and strength of this intangible emotion called 'Love'. She has always wondered about the lives of famous personalities who have been successful enough not only in their professional lives but also in their personal lives. That's where the concept of balancing these two spheres becomes of utmost importance. Those love stories which I look up to for inspiration are onscreen Dakota Johnson +Jamie Dornan, Mark Zuckerberg+Priscilla Chan, Narayan Murthy+Sudha Murthy, Sundar Pichai+Anjali, and her parents. She wanted to be like those ladies to become a pillar of strength for someone who has lost hope in his potential that once brought him all laurels( that he had always desired.)
The difference between
the above marriages and her parents was that her parent's marriage was arranged.
She always believed that achieving a sense of understanding and care in an
arranged marriage involves a lot of sacrifices when you don't know the other
person well. So, she has been a little bit skeptical about arranged marriage
for her generation but perhaps it was what was destined for her and she has to
accept it the way it is. Perhaps it is going to change a lot of predefined notions
and concepts from her mind.
The image of marriage
in her mind has always been a love one as she has always wanted to be a very
independent woman, capable of finding her own life partner. This image of
marriage that she had in her mind during her childhood started to get hazy in the coming years when her confidence got shattered due to a series of continuous
failures. She has always thought of setting an example to the world by her love
story but little did she know that destiny had a different plan for her.
................................…………..To be continued…………………….
All Rights reserved
Swati Sarangi
18.12.2021
Meenakshi Sundereshwar
Review:
As the trailer suggests, this movie is
about arranged marriage which has been set up in Madurai. The narrator, in the
beginning, describes the possibility of this marriage is majorly due to two
reasons; divine intervention and Rajanikanth. The first reason becomes apparent
within the first 15 minutes of the movie whereas the second reason becomes
clear only at the end of the movie. Their marriage is performed in the temple
of Meenakshi Sundereshwar, Madurai which forms the basis of the success of
their marriage, just like any other arranged marriage which starts with such a
belief. Meenakshi’s grandfather believes that Lord Shiva as Sundereshwar has
arrived at his house to ask for the company of Goddess Parvati as Meenakshi.
It’s Sundereshwar’s desire to work
independently by chasing his dreams, as well as his honesty, are some of the characteristics
which attract Meenakshi whereas it’s Meenakshi’s confidence of bringing a
significant change in the organization she would be working that Sundereshwar
admires the most. Sundereshwar is very passionate about coding for which he
wants to join a reputed MNC and is not at all interested to get involved in his
family business of Saree. On their wedding night, Sunder gets the mail about
the interview of a company for which he starts preparing by promising Meenakshi
to spend some hours with her before leaving for the interview.
He eventually gets selected and
prepares to leave for Bengaluru where he’s expected to do a
6-months-long-internship before he is offered a position in the company. Their
relationship takes a long-distance form which throws a lot of curveballs
towards them. Meenakshi, over time, gels well with different members of
the family, and everyone is impressed by her intelligence and charm.
Sunder, on joining the company in
Bengaluru, finds that the company hires bachelors who can dedicate more time to
the work without getting distracted. He hides his marital status and tries to
get acquainted with this new culture. At the same time, he also keeps searching
about ways to keep their long-distant-relationship active and alive. Meanwhile,
Meenakshi has also joined a small firm in Madurai to keep herself engaged.
In the company, the interns are
expected to design an app and the best design will be awarded and that intern
will be offered a permanent position in the company. Sunder gets busy in
executing his idea in the app and lack of communication, distance, etc. become factors
for the misunderstandings between them. Meenakshi decides to take a break from
the house of in-laws and accepts the offer of one of her college friends to help
him with the finance of his family business.
On the day of the final presentation, one
of Sunder’s roommates creates chaos. He sends a message from Sunder’s mobile to
Meenakshi asking her to meet him at his office and he reveals Sunder’s marital
status to the CEO of the company. Just a few minutes before the turn of Sunder for
the presentation, he receives a message from Meenakshi who is waiting for him
in the cafeteria of the office which infuriates Sunder. He meets Meenakshi and
loses his temper while explaining his situation. Seniors and CEO also arrive
at that place while searching for Sunder and ask him to get back to the
conference room for his presentation. Meenakshi leaves the place by being
offended.
Sunder overhears his senior’s
interaction with his roommate and comes to know that he’s the culprit behind
all those chaos. He enters the conference room on being called and presents his
app which is to test the emotion of the person. He has created this to understand
his wife better while being in a long distant relationship. At the end of his presentation,
he states that he won’t be working in that company in the future as he’s married
and he has hidden his marital status throughout.
On returning to home, Sunder becomes
saddened by Meenakshi’s absence in his home. He resolves to bring her back and
visit his in-law’s house who say that Meenakshi has been away without informing
them. Sunder continues searching Meenakshi everywhere he can but he fails. The
poster of Rajnikant on a wall ignites his hope of finding Meenakshi in the
movie hall as he recalls from their first conversation that Meenakshi never
misses any first-day-first-show of Rajnikant. Eventually, he finds Meenakshi in
the movie hall enjoying the movie of Ranikant and their love story kicks start
from where it has left.
My
opinion:
Dangal
girl Sanya Malhotra has portrayed Meenakshi to be a confident and intelligent
girl just like her character as Renee in the movie Badhai
Ho.
This is the third movie of her that I finished watching and I really admire her
acting style which comes out to be so natural. Not to forget, Abhimanyu Dassani
as Sundershwar has performed equally well in this movie. Sundershwar is that
shy, ambitious, quiet, and obedient guy whom every parent pushes for an
arranged marriage.
This
movie revolves around the life of a newly married couple where Sundershwar
juggles between his ambition to perform his best in his IT career lest he
should look after his family business and long-distance relationship. In an
arranged marriage, a long-distance relationship at the beginning of the
marriage becomes tough when they've not given much time to understand each
other. In such cases, it's obvious to have arguments and misunderstandings
which the gadgets make even worse. This motivates him to design an app, as a
task of the internship, to understand his wife better.
For
me, it's a one-time watch movie with a relatable script. I wish I could
understand those Tamil lines in the middle of Hindi dialogues. It would have
made the regional influence of the movie more understandable for me. I
personally feel that the storyline could have been much stronger to render a
lasting impact but the songs have been very suitable for different situations.
My rating goes 4.4/5, the best part is that this movie ends on a happy note, thereby making my weekend-watching more enjoyable and satisfying because I believe in happy endings.
#moviereview #MeenakshiSundareshwar #Netflix #SanyaMalhotra
©Swati
Sarangi
13.11.2021
MY QUARANTINE STORY OF 21 DAYS
It is said that it takes 21 days to make or break any habit provided you do it every day for 21 days without any fail. This number 21 seemed frightening to me at first, when I got the news of the HK government’s policy of 21 days Quarantine at Government designated hotels(supposedly 5-starred) for those traveling to HK from high-risk countries like India but I could hardly anticipate the myriad of experiences that it would provide me.
I have always wished to have a solo trip abroad, luckily this year my wish got fulfilled amidst the pandemic. I took a chartered flight to Hong Kong from Delhi in April. I got to know about the flight just a week before my departure and there was a lot of stuff to do.
To organize my writing of sharing my story of Quarantine, I am going to divide this experience into different phases as below;
This phase involved everything
related to booking the flight and the HK govt. Designated Hotels for Quarantine,
arranging required documents for traveling during the pandemic, getting the report
of COVID test done before 72 hours of travel, it was really taxing.
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After finishing off my lunch, I
headed towards the international departure area of IGIA. I had to convert INR to HKD so as to be on the safe side even though I knew I might not
need them there as major expenses like bookings were already taken care of. It
was a great initiative by the travel agent to do one-time luggage check-in
directly from Bhubaneswar to HK.
After completing the document verification at immigration in IGIA,Delhi, I moved to the waiting area. I had around 30 minutes which I used to converse with my family. Then I boarded the flight at 8P.M by abiding by all safety measures.
Phase 3- Journey Begins; Part-2
The flight took off from IGIA, Delhi
at around 7:50p.m. I took a private chartered flight (which used to fly to HK twice a month because of the pandemic) which transported me to the
destination in 5hours and 30minutes. The flight was a little crowded for this era
of pandemic and kids were getting anxious with masks and PPE kits which made
them roam inside the flight. I watched Article 15, which was always there in my
list of movies to be watched along with some episodes of Friends. I enjoyed the
dinner and especially the custard was too delicious.
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HKIA |
![]() |
Waiting for the preliminary COVID report at the airport |
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Entrance of Regal Airport Hotel |
![]() |
Tracker |
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Lunch at Regal Airport Hotel |
During those days, I felt blessed to have across an online coaching platform; Study Table, which provided free education to underprivileged students of class 10th of Odisha.I used to teach English,Maths and Science to these kids through zoom. It fulfilled two wishes of mine; first to teach students; second to help the needy ones.
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View from my window @RAH |
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Cooked food by my husband |
As per the guidelines of the HK govt., COVID tests on the 12th day and 19th day were mandatory to be performed on people Quarantining at the hotel. The result of my 12th day test came to me like a bolt from the blue. By that time, I had got the news of around 80 cases of positive from my flight, especially people sitting adjacent to my seats were already tested positive. Health Department of HK Govt. released a report of COVID cases every day at around 4P.M HKT which I used to follow religiously.
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Dinner at Regal Airport Hotel |
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Ambulance for shifting me to PMH from the hotel |
Two men clad in PPE kit knocked on my room at around 8:45p.m and asked me to follow them with my luggage. I was directed out of the hotel through the emergency exit where there stood an ambulance. I was asked to get into the ambulance. After doing preliminary verification based on my identity in the ambulance, my journey to the uncertainty began. I neither knew those people who were in the van nor the route to the hospital. I even did not have an HK-SIM card with me. All I knew, just a few minutes before the departure of the ambulance, was that I was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital. After the journey of nearly 50 minutes, I reached Princess Margaret hospital(PMH). In those 50 minutes of the journey, I was completely cut off from the communication as I had no network to connect to. I had no choice of my own except to trust the process. Had I been in India under such circumstances, I would not have been alive to tell my story and everyone knows the reason very well.
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View from my window at PMH |
That journey reinforced my trust in the people regarding the safety of women. Those people helped me to shift to a chamber in the hospital. I can never thank them enough. On that floor of the hospital, COVID-positive patients were kept in isolation and under observation. I connected with my family through the wifi of the hospital and got to know some good news lie successful surgery of my father, recovery of my uncle and grandmother who was also hospitalized. I was then, in the interior of the city, some 5kms from where my husband had been staying, unlike that of the Regal Airport Hotel which was situated on a different island than that of my husband’s place. That gave me enough reasons to feel grateful before going to bed.
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My bed at PMH |
The next morning was in a different place than my usual place of stay for the last 2 weeks. The nurse woke me up as early as 6:30 a.m to perform mandatory tests like blood pressure, temperature, and saturation level. Later she did an X-ray, blood, and saliva test. These mandatory tests were performed every day till I was at the hospital. The nurse asked me to wait for the call of the doctor. I started learning German lessons from Duolingo which had been pending for many years. My ward was cleaned regularly and a hygienic environment was maintained. I missed the meals of the hotel very much as the food given at the hospital was bland and tasteless.
In HK, no-call is considered a great sign, however, after two days, I got a call from the doctor stating that some abnormalities had been found from my test report. A minor infection in my liver was detected and he suspected it to be the action of the Corona Virus. He said that I would have to be shifted to a specialized center, HKICC(HK Infection Control Center), North Lantau Island for further treatment the next day.
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Meal at PMH |
That evening, my husband delivered HK SIMS along with some eatables at the hospital which were provided to me. I had no idea about how HKICC would look like. The next day morning at around 10:30a.m, two govt. officials clad in PPE kit came to pick me up in an ambulance. I thanked the nurses before leaving as they took care of me really well except for handing me a big-fat medical bill!
Phase 6- At HKICC, North Lantau
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HKICC,North Lantau |
It was a huge center with capacities of over 800 beds. Only around 20-30 beds were occupied when I got admitted there. I was put into an isolation hall with 10 empty beds, kept there. I was instructed to perform mandatory tests such as blood pressure test, temperature test, and oxygen level saturation test twice a day and feed these data a PC kept in that hall. It was a quite spacious hall with proper lighting but the windows were closed. The wifi facility was better than the two places where I had stayed before and the food provided was the best as compared to the past. I liked that place very much and I resumed my normal activities like singing, picking up the course where I had left, watching some series and movies, learning German, connecting with friends and family, etc.
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Smart system for mandatory tests |
When I arrived in HKICC, after completing my background verification, a set of tests such as mandatory test, saliva test, x-ray, thyroid test, blood sugar, pregnancy test, etc. were conducted and I was asked to wait for the report. Every afternoon, the nurse would collect the blood sample and perform antibodies test. If reports of two successive tests achieved the desired CT value(which they never revealed), I would be discharged from the hospital. I kept eagerly waiting for the day of my discharge from HKICC. I was given some antibacterial tablets to cure the infection in my liver.
One day, I received a call from the doctor regarding the attainment of desired CT value and I would be discharged the next day after completing all formalities of HKICC. That night I could not sleep with the excitement of going out of HKICC and meeting my husband after six months. Luckily, I was discharged on my 21st day of Quarantine, not a day more! The nurses at HKICC were very helpful and caring. They helped me to carry my luggage out of HKICC and booked the taxi for me after finding the fact that I had come to HK for the first time. I reached my husband’s place after a taxi ride of 40 minutes.
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Lunch at HKICC |
My Top 5 Takeaways from this experience:
1) 1) It’s never wise to form opinions about people and places based on available media and other’s experiences. I found the people of HK very kind and helpful. They always treated me well, not differentiating on the basis of the country I originated from. I can never thank them enough for their unconditional gesture of kindness!
2) 2) Being optimistic in tough situations helps. I learned to trust the process and believe in the plan of the almighty. Not every uncertainty in life is problematic.
3) 3)Constructive hobbies can be developed easily in 21 days. I started learning German during my Quarantine and I am still continuing that. Hobbies literally saved me from boredom.
4) 4) The gift of life is NOW. The present is the best moment. Sometimes, it may appear dull or boring but when it passes, it will definitely provide memories for life. I experienced Quarantining in a 5-starred hotel in a foreign land for 21 days which might not have happened otherwise.
5) 5)There are a thousand reasons to feel grateful in a situation. The quickest one would be to be able to breathe!
COVID-19 has taken a lot of lives
and paralyzed the usual lifestyle of people. It was a very painful situation to
lose my Grandmother due to it. In this tough situation, we need to stay strong and
visualize our lives getting back to normal because it too shall pass!!
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Sham Shui Po, Kowloon,HongKong |
P.S: As promised to me, on the condition of settlement of all my medical bills in HK, to post this experience of mine in my blog, I just can’t express my relief in mere words about the news of me being exempted from paying the bills based on my residential status in HK. I am very grateful to the officials of the Immigration Department for instantly responding to my inquiry through the mail and thoughtfully considering my situation. I feel liberated from an unprecedented debt that could’ve reflected as a medical bill otherwise, if not have been settled. I am immensely grateful to the almighty for that! I am glad this ended on a happy note because of which I am able to share my experience with you.
I've uploaded two videos related to my Quarantine experiences on my YouTube channel ;Around The Globe
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Swati Sarangi
04.07.2021