My name is Eeman, I am 21 years old and I live in the city of Karachi. It’s been over 40 days since I last stepped out of the house and even a homebody like me, who loves to stay at home all the time and has no qualms about staying locked up in her room alone, is fed up of not being able to go outside. There’s also only so much me and my mom can tolerate of each other without getting into an argument and now that she can’t go to work or I can’t go to university, we have to communicate. ALL THE TIME. And I have to bear with her nagging about how I’ll go blind because I’m on my phone all day but to be honest there’s nothing else to do, especially during this time. I’m also surprised I haven’t gotten Dettol poisoning yet since my mom insists on spraying it around the whole house at least thrice a day. Not to mention how a single cough triggers her suspicion and we have to abstain from cold water and anything remotely tasty for days.
I can’t even order any late night food deliveries and I have forgotten what my favorite biryani used to taste like because it’s been so long since I’ve had it. These sound like such first world problems but I need to rant. I haven’t gotten paid by my internship for the last three months and I was going to buy a new phone with that money but even that can’t happen now. I would do absolutely anything for ice-cream or a milkshake at this point. If someone told me I’d be upset over an unprecedented vacation two months ago I’d have laughed but now I want nothing more than things to go back to normal and for IBA to resume formal learning again. I miss physically attending classes, eating fries all the time and well, I miss people I guess. The hustle and bustle of people and the constant activity. It’s been a while and staying at home eventually does get too much.
–Eeman Fatima
April 21, 2020, Karachi
