Sunday Brunch: A Quarantine Story by Kartik Bajoria

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The blog post is a part of ‘Prologue’ — a special edition of Creative Writing Workshop by The Open Space Society. All About Jaipur is the digital publishing partner for the workshop.

Sunday morning, the innocent yet utterly delightful novelty of sleeping in for that extra couple of hours, rather than his brisk two-hour walk. Kabir relished every minute of the incremental rest. Then, like clockwork, he jumped out of bed, into the shower, dressed in his Sunday best, decided to walk Rover just before Tara, Trishna and he, would set out for brunch. A ritual, the young family had so enjoyed, each weekend. Their favourite haunt, Anokhi café, where Kabir could partake of a few Vegan & Gluten-free options, Tara would religiously order her Margarita Pizza that she’d share with their daughter, and then while Kabir would devour his Vegan Chocolate Pudding, his well-earned indulgence after week-long abstinence, the mother-daughter duo would wolf-down the highlight of their meal, the famed and quite sublime, baked cheesecake!

Cheese cake at Anokhi — Cheesecake at Anokhi
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As Kabir descended from his apartment, alighted the elevator with Rover leashed, it hit him like a ton of bricks. Lockdown. Quarantine. His world, their world, the world’s world, had come to a standstill since the past month. Because of the alarming spread of Coronavirus, the entire world, India rather strictly so, had imposed what can only be described as a national curfew. The pandemic that Kabir’s mind had unwittingly erased from his consciousness was staring him straight in the face as he signalled his masked & gloved building security guard to open the gates that would otherwise never be shut!

The human mind is a fascinating and mysterious creature. In Kabir’s case, as he now, rather with a sullen demeanour of a defeated sportsman, ambled along with Rover by the pale and vacant roadside; he wondered if he was in denial of the lockdown, of being forced to give-up ‘normality’? Or was it merely force of habit, that had jolted him into Sunday-morning Brunch-action, despite knowing fully well that there had been no such outing for an entire month now! He felt a feeling he hadn’t before felt. His fingers twitched as beads of sweat formed across his brow. His heart felt like it was the erratic drumbeat of a teenager learning how to play, loud but inconsistent. Rover’s ‘job’ done, Kabir promptly turned back towards his apartment building, desperate to have a lie-down.

The bell rang and just as Kabir was entering, he saw Trishna right in front of him. The curious toddler asked, “Papa, why are you all dressed up? We cannot go anywhere till the Coronavirus goes away, can we?”

Kabir’s own petulance, in the few moments that followed his daughter’s comments, turned into a huge smile as he said to Trishna, “But that does not mean we can’t have a yummy Sunday brunch at home missy!”

Taking his daughter into his arms, Kabir changed Trishna into a lovely floral frock, and along with Tara, the trio prepared a delectable brunch-menu, laid a special table on their balcony, and play-acted the entire brunch scenario, complete with Kabir taking the ladies’ orders, bringing out the food to the table, down to presenting a made-up bill to Trishna. The little girl’s delight was palpable as she revelled in the food, her parents’ company, and the sheer novelty of a Sunday-brunch at home.

As Trishna went to the ‘pretend-counter’ of the ‘café’ to pay the bill, Tara and Kabir held hands under the table, and looked at each other, smiling.

— Kartik Bajoria