“We are all in this together – we need to work towards ensuring the health and safety of all. It is one of our greatest weapons in the fight against COVID-19.”
Himanshu Parikh has been a part of the IIT Gandhinagar family for the last two and a half years. A resident of Majra village in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, he works at the Amul outlet on the campus. His father is a farmer and his mother, a housewife.
Expressing his views on the current pandemic, he said that he is constantly trying to follow all the guidelines issued by the Government of India to limit the SARS-CoV-2 infection. He implements the precautionary measures to ensure the safety and health of his customers along with his own.
“While selling the products, I maintain the recommended (physical) social distance and frequently wash my hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer,” he stated.
Discussing how the novel coronavirus disease has affected his lifestyle, Himanshu explained that the changes have been drastic. His pre-COVID-19 life was perfect. Since he worked at the store from 2 PM to 10 PM, his routine was relaxed. He woke up around 10 AM, completed his daily chores, ate the delicious lunch prepared by his mother, and met his friends before coming to work on the campus each day. Post his working hours, he used to take a long bike drive back home (which he enjoyed extremely!) and chit-chatted with his neighbors after dinner until late at night. But none of this was possible after the nationwide lockdown was implemented. He explained, “Before the lockdown, the shop owner managed the shop in the first half of the day. But now, I have to run it alone. During the initial days of lockdown, it was getting too difficult for me to manage everything single-handedly, from morning till night.”
So how did he overcome this situation? In his words, “I informed the IITGN authorities about this situation and requested them to help me. Immediately, the outlet’s timings were revised from 10 AM to 1 PM and from 3 PM to 9 PM. The break in between the two slots greatly helped me to adjust to this new work regime. Now, I can handle all the work in this shop more effectively than before.”
Elaborating further, Himanshu said that the entire IITGN community is aware, helpful, and concerned about each other’s health and safety, and this is what he likes the most. Before the onset of this pandemic, people made online as well as offline payments at the shop. But in the present times, they understand that SARS-CoV-2 can spread through currency notes also. Hence, most of them are paying through their mobile wallets with modes such as Paytm, BHIM, Google Pay, and others. While on the one hand, this digital payment saves a lot of time, on the other, it is secure as well as safe!
“Moreover, the community people wear masks whenever they come to purchase something from the shop as an effort to combat this viral illness. I have developed friendly relations with all of them. Earlier, they sometimes requested me to open the shop for a few minutes (in case of urgency) when I was having my meals. But it is not the case now. They fully understand that I am currently running the shop single-handedly and therefore, they come to purchase products only at the predefined times. It gives me time to manage all the things efficiently,” he added.
Before the current situation, Himanshu traveled a distance of 62 km from his home to IITGN and back. But after the lockdown was imposed by the Government, he could not travel every day since this commute will not only expose him to the risk of contracting the coronavirus disease but others as well. This is the reason that he, now, resides on campus and is waiting for the lockdown to end. At present, he is staying at the Institute, along with several other essential staff members. He described, “The Institute takes care of our necessities, ranging from healthy food to all the basic amenities. There is a special emphasis on proper hygiene and we are being provided with good rooms and clean washrooms. We also get to use the common washing machine to wash our clothes daily.”
One of the best things that have happened to him during this lockdown is a huge decrease in his habit of tobacco consumption!
“Earlier, I had a habit of consuming a lot of tobacco daily. But from the day this lockdown was implemented, my stay at IITGN led to a significant drop in the amount of tobacco I consume because this place is a tobacco-free campus. I am highly thankful to the Institute for helping me get rid of this bad habit,” he informed happily.
On one side, Himanshu Parikh is grateful to IIT Gandhinagar for supporting him and standing united with him in these times of crisis, and on the other, the IITGN community members are praising him for his wonderful nature, and friendly and helpful services during this lockdown.
“Apart from safety, unity is one of the best strategies that we can implement to defeat the novel coronavirus disease.”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —— — — — —
This article is authored by Apeksha Srivastava, with help from Dhara Vora and Devarsh Barbhaya.