January 2006, Tullamarine Airport Melbourne, Australia.
The flight landed on time, and I was thrilled to set my foot on the foreign soil for the first time in my life.
The entire Indian shooting team had assembled at a point to get their baggage and equipment. A group of police personnel were entrusted with the task of clearing our sports goods from the customs counter.
But trouble started when a lady officer came up to me and asked whether she could check my bag. The fact that she wanted to check my bag was not an issue, it was the sniffer dog coming too close to me that gave me nervous moments!
Funny, it might seem, but not at all for a young guy travelling abroad for the first time and getting caught by the police, as if I was a smuggler !
However, she explained to me calmly that she was representing the Quarantine Department of Australian Govt.
I thought – ‘what department’? Yes that’s the first time in my life I heard this word. ‘Quarantine’, who knew that after 14 years this will be the most dreaded word for all the earth dwellers!
Well, at the airport, I had an apple in by backpack and that was the root cause of all the trouble.
No, I was not penalised, but was let away with a nice piece of advice.
The reason was simple, they made sure that no fruits, vegetables or livestock with germs or any kind of bacteria entered mainland Australia. This may seem non-serious for many, but it can actually wreak havoc in the continent.
2020 March – The Lockdown
The Indian Army shooting team went for the World Military Games to China in October 2019. The host city was Wuhan. While just in a month or so, nobody knew this city would become so infamous worldwide!
Luckily, no one from the shooting team was infected.
As March saw the tsunami of COVID overwhelming India, the LOCKDOWN began! The curfew-like situation seemed quite normal for the first few days, as busy family members got the privilege of having lunch together daily which They had only during weekends! Little did anyone realise that the lockdown would continue for the next 6-7 months.
For people like me, who eat, sleep and dream sports, the roadblock seemed too mighty and ominous. The Olympic Games got postponed for the first time in history. All my 3 academies in Kolkata & Howrah were shut and all shooters stranded without training or practice. The uncertainty of the situation was making young athletes restless. Few lucky shooters had enough space and equipment of their own to train at home, but the majority were simply stuck! I could feel their pain but could do little to help them. As early as in April 2020, I started motivating my shooters with online sessions, primarily working on their mental part. I had sessions with parents to make them understand the value of patience during difficult times. Soon, I found out that the response from athletes and parents started turning positive from negative. It was a daunting task for all our coaches and trainers to curate the study material, where the physical part of sports training was substituted by mental & psychological part. With a little effort, I could spread the idea of positive ‘takeaways’ from this unprecedented time. While I focused on terming the lockdown as an ‘opportunity’ to go deep within one’s thoughts and dreams, emphasising the fact that never in their lifetime they will get the chance of working on the theoretical and psychological part of the game!
Time treaded slowly, but the ‘acclimatisation’ to the new normal ought to happen.
The last five months were every bit a painful journey for many of us. Relatives, neighbours, friends lost their lives to the deadly virus, but humans as a race have showed remarkable resilience during hard times on innumerable occasions in history, and kept on hoping against hope…’this too shall pass..’ .
As a sportsperson, I was taught not to take our opponents lightly, at times, even respecting them! The current situation demands similar treatment, knowing the enemy is strong and here to stay, we need to respect it. We cannot, at all, take it for granted.
For many, who have lost their jobs or livelihood due to this pandemic, might not get things back. But I am positive as the pandemic has given us some invaluable lessons, which otherwise we would have never realised owing to our hectic life schedule. The only constant in life is ‘change’ and we slowly learned to adapt to it, at times the hard way too.
A lucky few of us, who had a proper roof above our heads and 3 square meals a day, learned to settle with less but with peace. Our brand conscious friends realised, they didn’t need those branded stuff anymore, some basic things can still make them happy. A visit to a top restaurant with family and a trip to some 5 star resort seemed unnecessary for someone accustomed to high life, and managed to protect their pride with ‘self-esteem’. Everything which came for a price seemed so small in front of our inner feelings and introspections, which rather came ‘free’! We found peace with what we had rather than seeking happiness in ‘entertainment.
Families got closer than before. Cooking together and dining in a humble manner at home gave innumerable pleasure missing for years. Kids at home, who were clueless about household chores, went on to clean utensils and wash clothes with mom and dad. If this is not positive, then what would be? Every dark cloud has a silver lining. It’s upon us how we see to it.
2020 August – The New Normal
‘Lockdown’ had become a passe by then -a way of life, an integral part of our existence. Then we realised, authorities slowly started lifting the complete lockdown in a phased manner.
Watching a television would be so depressing, with gloomy news coming from all corners. Visuals of thousands of people flocking together at places, showing no respect to the authorities who in turn tried their best to save people putting their own lives at risk. I felt ashamed as a citizen, when I saw hundreds of our policemen getting infected with COVID-19 just to protect few ignorant people from getting the virus, and still they would flaunt every possible norm and even go to the extent of showing disrespect to police officials.
Today
The number of daily cases of COVID-19 has dipped sharply in Kolkata. We are feeling free by each passing day & the fear is subsiding. We will still try to be safe and follow protocols.. we don’t want this to happen again..
But with a happy note, I will say, collectively we have won! There is a silent PROTECTOR in all of
Joydeep Karmakar OLY
Olympic Finalist &
Arjuna Awardee
