Life in Times of COVID

Moments in the Pandemic

A collection of photos by members of the Ireland India Institute

Photos by Rituparna Banerjee

Although going out is mostly out of bounds, pictures of a deserted old City of London during our walk on the weekend.

Photo Of An Empty Restaurant in London
Photo Of An Empty Street in London
Photo Of An Empty Restaurant in London

Photos by Arpita Chakraborty

Photo Of An Empty Street in Spain
Photo Of An Empty Street in Spain
Photo of A Paella Dish
Photo Of The Book Drawing Power
Photo Of A Dog And A Plant
Photo of a Indian Dish

Photos by Anish Tiwari

Photo 1: Moments before getting the first covid test (Chhattisgarh) / Photo 2: Flying home from Bangalore / Photo 3: Home Food / Photo 4: Lockdown Readings (Bangalore) / Photo 5: Lockdown Visitors (Bangalore) / Photo 6: Trying to write & failing at it (Bangalore)

Photo of Anish In PPE
Photo Of Anish Pre Covid Test
Photo Of A Plate Of Food
Photo Of A Pile Of Books
Photo Of Two Monkeys Sitting On A Wall
Photo of A Laptop In A Living Room

Photos by Rachna Shanbog

Photo Of a Tuktuk in Kathamndu
Photo Of An Empty Restaurant in Nepal
Photo Of An Empty Restaurant in Nepal

Photos by Aurelie Sicard

Photo of a Woman Playing in A Fake Boat
Photo Of a Woman On A Boat's Couch
Photo Of A Sunrise In A Boat
Photo Of Cherbourg's Ferry Port (France)
Photo Of A Close Restaurant in France
Photo Of An Empty Ferry Port (France)

Photos by Oliver Scanlan

Photo Of Two People Sitting
Photo of 3 Persons in Tuk tuk
Photo of A Person Sitting On A Bed In Front Of A Laptop

Photos by Tim Mayo

These pictures were taken in the month of January, by then, public life had resumed without strict restrictions (unlike the initial months).

Photo Of An Empty Street in India
Photo Of An Empty Street in India
photo a wedding party in India
Photo of a Indian Wedding party
Photo of men preparing meat
Photo of inside a shop in India
Photo of a market in a street in India

In fact, the only UBI (bank) in Ukhrul is overcrowded, with queues extending outside.

Photo of people waiting outside a bank
Photo of a long queue of people wiating outside a bank in India

A church door holds the message “Wash your hands, purify your hearts…” -James 4:8 (Bible)

Photo of A Blue Church in India

Photos by Vidushi Kaushik

‘(UN)Mask’!

Photo a man in a booth for the Macedonia embassy in India and a man waving at the back of the booth

First travel in the pandemic, from Delhi to Mumbai. This was the first round of flights, social distancing, constant temperature checks but limited distancing when it came to security checks.

Once the checks were over, the airline was more particular of maintaining social distancing. No in-flight beverages or food was served (this has changed since then. In my recent flight in January 2021, food was served.) barring a bottle of water. On arrival, I was stamped for 14-day mandatory home quarantine. (attached photo of the stamp).

Photo of Vidushi wearing PPE for travelling
Photo a hand with a stamp for travels

Reunited with cats- the cats had been alone since March 2020 and were tended by a friend in Mumbai. Here is Pop, playing it harder for me to clean.

Photo of a cat in an appartment

Versova beach on a monsoon evening (when the rain had stopped). Mumbai saw torrential rain this monsoon with weeks of rain and no sun (something Dubliners will commiserate with). This photo was clicked on a dry evening, with beautiful sunset around. People, out for walks and kids playing cricket on the beach, some masked and many unmasked.

Photo of people on a beach in Mumbai, India
Photo of a Sunset on a Mumbai beach in India

In August, the lockdown was relaxed in Mumbai with resuming daily work especially housework and daily wagers. The lockdown was harshest on them. In this picture, are Jaya and Alka, who came and celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with me. Jaya and Alka resumed work at home a week ago. We made modaks (traditional sweet made out of coconut, jaggery and rice flour) at home with the hope and prayer for better days.

Photo of 2 women offering food to Ganesh in India

Sharda (the lady in red saree and her younger daughter, Shyamal) had invited me to her house in Versova village for Ganesh Chaturthi. Usually, a festival would have worshippers gathering together and on the fifth, seventh and tenth day of the celebrations, a procession would head towards the sea for visarjan (dipping the idol bidding goodbye). This year, the celebrations were small and mostly restricted to people’s homes. Sharda and her three children invited me on day 4 of the festival.

Photo of women praying in India

COVID 19 home test. Private/government certified diagnostic centers across suburban Mumbai offer the option of home tests. The technician here in his safety overall, before he took my samples. The test came negative.

Photo of Vidushi receiving a Covid test

While out for a grocery run one afternoon, noticed these men climbing up the neighbourhood coconut trees to get the coconut. The area is notorious for random coconuts dropping off on parked cars (and some close shaves with humans too).  The next photo shows the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) mini-auto with coconuts collected.

Photo of a wood truck in India
Photo of a tree in India
Photo of 2 women sun lounging in a garden in India
photo of 3 people sun lounging in an Indian garden

Photos of Jivanta Schottli

The seasons of 2020

photo of a tree
Photo in park with a path covered of cherry blossoms
Photo of poppies

And the world kept moving

Photo of Black Live Matters Protests
Photo of black live matter protests

Home School

photo of a young girl in front of a board home schooled

Start to a working day

Photo of a breakfast dish

Photos of Eileen Connolly

Staying in the West of Ireland for the final months of the lockdown.

Photo of Eileen standing in a field in Ireland

Working space the dining table.

Photo of a Computer on a desk

I am lucky to be here -beautiful places to walk even in the winter.

Photo of Eileen smiling on a beach in Ireland

Working post box in spite of appearances – this is what the wind from the Atlantic does!

Photo of a rusty postbox in Ireland
Photo of 3 people standing in front of the sea in Ireland

Photos of Denise Ripamonti

Interrupted fieldwork, New Delhi, Spring 2020

Photo of a desk in front a sunny window in India
photo of sunny window in India

Quarantine, Abbadia Lariana, June 2020

Photo of a Lake in Italy
Photo a chair in a sunny day, Italy

Home, Lecco, since June 2020

Photo of Denise in front of a lake, Italy
Photo Of An Empty Street in Lecce, Italy
Photo Of An Empty Street in Lecce, Italy
Photo of a messy desk
Photo of a landscape
Photo of a snowy mountain top, Italy

Photos of Harikrishnan Sasikumar

The Wait

Photo of people queueing within safety guidance
Photo Of Empty shelves in a shop
Photo of bottle banks

A rare flight

Photo of a plane high in the sky
Photo of a path with a 2 meters marker
Photo of signs on shop door
Photo of Garda at a checkpoint
Photo of trees with crows in the background
Photo of signage of Covid center
Photo of poster for space giving in times of Covid

Photos of Saumava Mitra

Cardinal Scenes:  Fernweh, I am told, is aching for distant places. I get it at the best of times. But even at the worst of times, a sea allows the mind to stretch. And if lucky and locked down by the Irish Sea, you reach out to touch all four cardinal points of the compass.

View West from Poolbeg Lighthouse

Photo of a sea side in Dublin

View East from Clontarf

View East from Clontarf

View South from Sutton

View south from Sutton

View North from Brayhead

View North from Brayhead

Photos of Tapasya Narang

Activities of a lockdown: Painting rocks, podcasting, writing letters & Walking around Dublin (Botanic Gardens, Nubar)

Photo of painted rocks
photo of a colourful writing pad
Photo of the Botanic Gardens
Photo of Tapasya and the owner of Nubar
selfie of Tapsya
selfie of Tapasya
cover of podcast for the poetry ireland podcast event