ShAkhi FF "Just a Pandemic Story", Ch - 1 - Pg 2 - Page 2

Sounds interesting and interwoven with current situation. Looking forward to the story...

Hey welcome to the forum. Plot is unique. Do continue ..

1. The Technological Revolution

"Ahhhhhhh !!!!!!" screamed Anokhi, at the face illuminated by phone's screen near the door of her room, which she had opened at 2:00 in night after incessant knocking or rather banging.

"Did you switch off the Wi-fi ?" her grandmother barged in, " I told you not to turn it off when you sleep. Just because with social life is inexistent with people other than your friends, doesn't mean we don't have one too. Those idiot friends of yours are exactly like you, sleeping all the time !! Quick ! Turn it on. I'm watching a very important video about how applying oil around your nostril prevents Covid-19" .

Anokhi couldn't help but stare at the incredible specimen that her grandmother is. After all, it is not everyday, that your 70 year old grandmother bangs on your bedroom door and scares you with a phone under her face.

"For God's sake, stop yelling Dadi !! Why are you even watching Youtube at 2 in the night ?? That too rubbish !! No, applying oil doesn't prevent covid and if it did, I wouldn't be here listening to you rambling about Wi-fi. I would've been in my hostel. SLEEPING.", she yelled, slipping into nostalgia of good old pre-pandemic life.

"Don't yell at me, you idiot. I don't care about all that. I want to you to restore my wifi !", Dadi yelled, thrusting the phone under Anokhi's nose.

"Freaking hell !!!" Anokhi grumbled under her breath, "Give that phone to me. You probably turned on the Flight mode and now you are yelling at me. I don't get you, you're stuck with that phone 24/7 and we'll need to take you to the Ophthalmologist if you keep up with it".

"That's none of your business. At least I didn't have glasses like you did at in my 20s. I earned these glasses after I turned 50. And stop swearing. I know you think I didn't hear you, but I did. I use a phone, but that doesn't mean, I wouldn't wash your mouth with a soap, young lady ."

"Geez, okay !! Here's your phone and remind me to recharge your mobile data tomorrow so you wouldn't barge into my room at indecent hours and deliver low and totally unnecessary blows about my eyesight"

"Goodnight darling ! Go sleep and wake up early and open the balcony door. I can't reach the latch and I need to do Tulsi puja." , instructed Dadi, leaving behind a very perplexed and not to mention, sleep deprived Anokhi.

Next Morning :

" Wake up !!! Wake up Anokhi or I am going empty this bucket of water all over you. You asked me to wake you up for 9 AM class. It's already 8".

A very lazy AND sleep deprived Anokhi couldn't help but wake up and rush to get ready for class, extremely pissed at her ruthless family and merciless professors.

"Good Morning Nikki, how's your morning?", quipped Ramesh Bhalla, " You really need to watch Marco Polo on Netflix with me. It's so sad that you don't have time to do it. But don't worry, I'll not give you any spoilers."

" Dad, stop rubbing it in. It's sad enough that I barely get time to interact with you guys. The only thing I can binge watch right now is my class recordings and for the sake of humanity, stop discussing Netflix. The lack of entertainment in my life seems pathetic if you do that".

" Why are you blaming him ?", chided Rama Bhalla, "you're the one that keeps wasting your time scrolling through Instagram instead of doing your readings. And then you stay awake all night to do those readings. What kind of logic is that ?"

"Ma! Okay. I'll not blame him. Stop recounting my horrible time management. As it is, I'm disgusted by it"

"Of course, you should be. Have you seen the way Reema works ? She is your best friend isn't it ? Such a punctual child. Apparently, she woke up at 6 in the morning. Learn something from her ! She was the one that called me in the morning to wake you up, knowing you wouldn't get up."

"I'm going to kill that idiot,", muttered Anokhi, under her breath, " She keeps binge watching K-dramas until 6 in the morning and calls my mom just to get me in trouble. This dragon lady doesn't know that I summarise all the readings for her so she doesn't end up blabbering crap in the class."

"What are you muttering ? Stop badmouthing that child and get ready for your class. It starts in 20 minutes. And don't forget to get Coconut milk from the store after your class. Thai Curry isn't going to get milk for itself. And you, Ramesh !! Stop watching Netflix and help me with these mint leaves.

Later in the Day :

"Oh God, all these online classes might be the bad Karma of not shutting the T.V when mom asked me to" grumbled Anokhi, "it's like, we have been cursed to stare at a screen".

" Haha, you're probably right. Now get up and start working on that research paper we are supposed to submit tonight. You probably have loads of citations to do and careful with the plagiarism. And for God's sake, remember, you need to cite even if you have put someone else's words in double quotes." lectured Babli, Anokhi's workaholic best friend," and ask Reema to call me. She's supposed send me her paper so I can peer review. She's ignoring my calls because she knows I'll dress her down."

"Yes boss. And are we supposed to cite sentences that we put in double quotations ?"

Anokhi looked up from her phone, after having been met with absolute silence, only to look into the face of a fire-breathing dragon AKA Babli.

"Heheh..Ba..Babli" stammered Anokhi, "Wh..why are you glaring at me ?"

"YOU IDIOT !!! I literally spoke about it a minute ago and you didn't LISTEN ? What is wrong with you ? I'm soo done with the both of you. One doesn't answer my calls and the other one is useless even if she answers the calls."

"Yell at me later. What am I supposed to do tonight ? WAIT !! OH MY GOD !!", yelled Anokhi while getting up to pace," We have a research paper to submit. I have nothing on the paper except my introduction paragraph and I have 1500 words to write."

" I know !! That is what I was telling you, when your stupid brain decided to zone out. Start writing and I'll help you with the citations. And for God's sake, it's the MLA citation style. Don't forget."

"Wait..it's MLA sty......Ahhhhhhh!!" screamed Anokhi, turning around and tripping on thin air.

"Yes, it's MLA style, not "MLA sty.....Ahhhh", quipped Babli, "What did you trip over this time ? Is it your dog, or is it the bed, or is it the poor soft toy that you keep blaming every single day."

"I didn't trip. The friendly ghost in my room tripped me. I'm telling you, there IS a ghost in my room. The pillow I was holding last night was on the bed on the other side of the room. It clearly wasn't me. I sleep like a log."

"Let's play ghost hunters later. For now, start working on the paper and I'll call you after 4 hours to see how much you've worked on. Bye."

"Yes ma'am. I'll see you later. I have to go to the grocery store. Bye."

Anokhi ran down the stairs of her house and got out with her mask and face shield on.( Her tripping twice over the carpet while searching for the same mask, her mom smacking her over the head for not being able to see a mask right in front of her eyes are secondary and not-so-important details. )

"Hmmmmm..", sighed Anokhi, as the cool air of the grocery store touched her. Travelling with a mask and face shield on, is a real struggle.

Surviving grocery stores is an art. Escaping enthusiastic store help, dodging trolly wheels that are hell bent on ruining your feet, helping elderly people read the MRP, getting lost in the endless number of aisles, getting confused between the domestic supply and body products aisle (Yes, it's a real thing), resisting from picking up and munching on all the chocolates and chips packets and finally waiting in a really long billing line, behind all the customers in the world, because the other 9 billing stations are always, always and always out of service.

Anokhi walked up to the produce aisle to grab a pack of coconut milk, only to find a single carton, waiting in all its glory like a deer being preyed upon by a pride of lions.

She stealthily walked to the carton, looking on either sides to make sure there's no other predator she's competing with. She slowly extended her hand to reach the carton and caught hold of it. Anokhi tried pulling the carton, only to find it stuck!!.

"Urghhh...." struggled Anokhi, " Come out, you stubborn oaf!! Come into my hands. You don't know me, I can destroy your life if you don't agree with me. I can dump you in the drainage while going back home, instead of using you to cook delicious food.

"You know, instead of trying to intimidate the carton and asking it to move, you should probably try to bend it a little and take it out. Usually, works like magic for racks that have flaps with the item display names. It's kinda their job. They make sure that those items don't fall down."

"Shit!!!" cursed Anokhi and quickly let go off the carton, only to twist her ankle and fall flat on her ass because of that action.

She quickly looked up to yell at the cause behind her fall but found a face protected by a face shield and covered by a Shikhari Shambu face mask with mischief shining in the eyes behind glasses.

Andddd Scene !!!

A/N

Hola people !! I hope you're all safe and sound. University decided to be merciful, so there's some free time. Here's Chapter 1 and this is all Anokhi. I would love to know your opinion on it. Constructive criticism is always always welcome.

The chapter had some curse words when I initially wrote it on wattpad and I didn't know if they're allowed in here, so I edited them out. If I forgot to edit some out, please do point out if it's unacceptable.

There might be some grammatical errors. I have 3 languages living in my brain and use all three of them in my brain and shift between them quite involuntarily. So excuse me for any mistakes

Stay safe and Masked and ohhh..get vaccinated if you haven't already. <3

Wow will love to read Shakhi dynamics in covid times.I have read a few stories of covid and relationships is an interesting combination.

The most comedy n equally romantic i have read on wattapad Match Made in Quarantine .

Looking forward to ur story .