Chp 812. Quarantine in Mizoram

Today is Day 44 of a Lockdown in India, and Day 47 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

In fact, it doesn't even feel like a lockdown anymore here in Mizoram. I mean, movement of the general public is still restricted of course, but compared to the first 30 days of lockdown, as you can see from my past blog updates, things are relatively so much better now.

Public transports are starting to function again, most offices are operational, shops are open, even restaurants have started delivering food again. But most important of all, that immense fear and tension we all felt at the beginning of this bizarre and twisted nightmare are no longer there.

Much credit goes to the people and all those involved in preventing the spread of this CoVid-19 pandemic.

One main reason why most of us are so relaxed now is because there had been no new cases in Mizoram since Day 1. Even our lone positive patient slowly recovered and was moved from the ICU to the Isolation ward and finally to the High Risk ward where he is currently staying as a negative patient!

Yup, Mizoram is finally a CoVid-19 free state.

For now, that is.

The danger is far from over, we need to keep taking the same precautions as before because this invisible monster can be lurking at any corner, ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey at any time. Yes we may have won the first round, but this is definitely not the end of the fight yet.

Take any boxing movies for example, all those Rocky series, or even martial arts movies like Karate Kid or Bloodsport. In the final fight scene of the movie, the villain always wins during the first round. And then eventually towards the end, the hero fights back and beats the villain in a dramatic fashion. Don't be that villain. :)

And now, with the state borders open again and Mizos who had been stuck across India are now allowed to enter Mizoram, we have to be extra careful. Even the official Mizoram mCOVID-19 app shows the number of "Govt. Quarantine" amount jump sharply from 200+ in the last few days to 2111 as of today!

By the way, whoever designed this app, well-done! As somebody who had spent many years developing mobile games and apps, I REALLY love the UI/UX of this app, as it is super simple, minimalistic and very "tunlai" in terms of design aesthetics and usability. In case you haven't installed this app on your Android device yet, you can do so by clicking this link.

So with the number of people returning to Mizoram increasing more than 10 times in just a few days, all Government Quarantine facilities across Mizoram are functioning at full capacity. It had been a common sight to see buses like this in Mizoram too the past few days.

The other day, I was busy blogging when I saw one of the buses in our CCTV as well.

It had just dropped a batch of travelers at Tourist Lodge Chaltlang, which is one of the Quarantine Centres in Aizawl.

In Kolasib district, there are currently 14 Government Quarantine facilities, and these include Tourist Lodge Kolasib, SIRD Hostel, DIET Kolasib, Regional Sports Training Centre, Tourist Lodge Vairengte, Education IB Vairengte, Kawnpui HSS, Polytechnic Thingdawl  and PWD IB Bairabi to name a few.

All images below courtesy my cousin Mapari Khupchawng @ Kolasib.

At Siaha Quarantine Centre, my dear friend Emmy Ci Lawbei too had a pleasant experience staying there, and you can read about her video update at The Quint website.

All images below courtesy Emmy.

Emmy shacked up with another girl she met for the first time. The Quarantine Centre was at the District Panchayat Resource Centre building, Meisavaih, Siaha,

Food was served to them inside their respective rooms.

There were doctors on-call the whole time, ready to check them for any medical ailment or if they require a drip etc.

The government even provided them with free WiFi to keep them company during the day, as they were not allowed to meet other quarantined members. But they could get stuff delivered to them from their families outside the gate.

Food was served twice a day, and there were times that they got non-veg as well, though not in great quantity, but still very impressive for a state-run facility.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience for Emmy, and she thanked the state government for everything.

Meanwhile at Beraw, the Tourist Complex is used as a Quarantine facility.

All images below courtesy Muantea Chinzah.

With the sudden rush in new incoming travelers recently, people are now accommodated at the halls since all the rooms are full. Compared to Emmy's experience above, things won't be that comfortable, but so far, everybody seems to be hanging on, and I guess the thought of seeing your loved ones soon keep all these people sane.

The food served at Beraw is also simple, but definitely edible and filling.

Even other people have commented on the quality of the food, like this one guy spoke about how his friend came home from Manipur and was really impressed with the food considering it is a state-run facility.

As he mentioned above in Mizo, his friend's emotions were really touched because all the workers struggled so hard to give them warm and healthy food while running the risk of catching the virus from any of them. He was moved to tears by their altruism.

This other lady below too commented that she was astonished to find out that the cost of a meal was quite cheap, considering how much effort had been taken by everybody else to cater to such a large group of people.

We have a saying in Mizo: "An sawi khi chu ka leh dan a diklo na in ti hian hnamdang ho in lo chhiar ve rawh se" which means sacrifice of oneself for our fellow Mizos.

The place she is talking about is the Tourist Lodge Chaltlang Quarantine Centre, which is like 10 minutes walking distance from my house.

You must have all seen videos of other Quarantine Centres across India, some of them unfortunately in poor conditions. There were even some videos of people escaping from their Centres! Thank God we haven't seen anything like that in Mizoram so far. The general mindset of the Mizo people is unselfish and caring, and that makes me proud of my community.

Yes sure, the food served may not be ideally that great, especially for those who are used to eating rich and opulent cuisines outside Mizoram, but it is more than enough to fill a starving stomach, not to mention that it is rich in nutrients as well.

But I am so grateful that in our case, when my niece came home to Mizoram, the lockdown hadn't started yet, and so she self-quarantined in my room, as I mentioned in this post The Importance of Quarantine.

I never got to update my blog about her, so here's what happened in our case.

On 31st March 2020, my niece finally completed serving her self-quarantine period. After remaining inside her room for 14 straight days where all meals were served to her inside the room, she could finally step out of the room!

My sister even recorded a video of her stepping out from the room for the first time, lolz.

She could finally start cooking and washing the dishes, which was a big relief for me as well :D

It felt so good to have her dine on the table along with the rest of our family.

Later that day, a doctor came to check up on her, as it was a formality required to sign off the self-quarantine. Every person serving a self-quarantine in our locality had been registered at our Local Council office and the LLTF sent a designated doctor to check up on such people when their self-quarantine period was over.

I was outside standing in a line to collect free vegetables from our LLTF when that doctor visit happened, so I don't have any photos of that visit.

After a few days, we were summoned by the LLTF to our Local Council office to collect the self-quarantine completion certificate for my niece.

This is the same room where Duhawma, our Chaltlang tlângaupa, whom I mentioned in my previous post "Information System in Mizoram" sits.

Once the paperwork was cleared, we went to our Health Sub-Centre which is just 2 mins walk from the LC office to get the final sign-off.

The doctor on-duty gladly signed the certificate and gave it to us.

Thaadaa, my niece is now a certified self-quarantine completer! :D

I just wanted to take you through the whole process to show how organized this whole structure is. There is no question of anybody trying to cheat the system or bunking quarantine because, (a) nobody wants to do that, and secondly (b) we are a small community where everybody knows everybody, especially neighbours, so it would be pointless to try and cheat.

Likewise, I am sure a similar process is being followed at all the Government Quarantine Centres as well, and it really feels reassuring for the rest of the population to know that. Here's to all the government and voluntary organizations helping in managing this process.

Cheers for now.

Chp 811. Information system in Mizoram

"The British are coming, the British are coming!" shouted Paul Revere on a horse clutching a lantern as he hurriedly rode across the town of Lexington on that cold night of April 18, 1775, warning all the colonists about the incoming Redcoat army during the American War of Independence.



Except of course, Paul Revere never actually did shout those famous words in public, and his warnings were apparently done in a more discrete fashion. But his actions were highly exaggerated and romanticized in movies and TV shows to depict his heroism and symbolism of rebellion.

This dramatic overemphasis of what Paul Revere did (especially when immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem) highlighted one fact though, and that is the importance of announcing vital information to the townsfolk.

Even long before the medieval age, town criers or people designated to announce important information to the public had always been an important fabric of society. There were no television, radio or WhatsApp back then, and so the people of a village or town depended on such people to get the latest news and announcements.

Fast forward a couple of hundred years later, and technology has now ruled the market. From Tier-1 cities like Delhi and Mumbai to Class-1 towns like Kalimpong and Tinsukia, a large percentage of the population now get their news and information directly on the palm of their hands, in the form of mobile internet.

In fact there are currently 629.2 million active mobile internet users in India as of 31st March 2020. When most of us can receive and forward news and information in a matter of seconds from our mobile phones, you might think it would be pretty ridiculous and pointless of someone to go around the town or city announcing information to everybody, right? Like, you'd probably peep out from your high-rise apartment window to look at the "madman" shouting in the street below and laugh at him, correct?

Well, in Mizoram, that is still in practice as of today :)


[a sample announcement, on a painting by Pu Tlangrokhuma]

I mean, Mizoram is now much more advanced than in the painting above, and people don't walk around on the streets shouting out important announcements either. Now that would be a funny sight indeed (if you want to see funny town crier moments, watch this animated TV show called "Disenchantment", created by Matt Groening, the same guy who also made "The Simpsons" and "Futurama", and it is super hilarious).



Instead, in Mizoram, all public announcements are made through loudspeakers.

Every locality in Mizoram is governed by the Local Council (political group) along with the YMA (non-political group).  Both the LC and YMA have their own information loudspeakers installed at every section within a locality, and announcements are made by the respective "tlângau", who is the official person designated to make such announcements.

The tlângaupa or tlângaunu, depending on the gender, is what we would call our modern day town crier.

My locality Chaltlang is divided into 6 sections. While our LC tlângau sits at the LC office and has the option to announce at all 6 sections at the same time or just a particular section by simply controlling a switchboard, we have six different YMA tlângau who sit at their respective sections.

All government related information are announced by the LC tlângau, and all YMA related information are announced by the respective YMA section tlângau. 

Example of LC announcements are the distribution of gas cylinders, rice ration, kerosene etc. for a particular section or for those people with serial numbers from X to Y etc., prohibition of parking vehicles on the road during the night, or the release of pet dogs on the streets without the owner leashing it etc., (as my friend Muantea told me, you'll hear that ting ting ting ting doorbell sound before every LC announcement).

Meanwhile, examples of YMA announcements are: Announcing the sad demise of somebody from the locality, or section related group work like washing blankets and clearing farmlands (the money earned goes to the YMA section), or even emergency call-to-arms announcements, like just last month, our locality YMA suddenly announced over the loudspeakers that all able-bodied men were required to put out a forest fire at a nearby mountain, and every young men rushed out from their houses and hopped into their vehicles to put out the fire immediately!









Imagine if such announcements were made over WhatsApp groups, there would be many people who didn't see the message and hence didn't rush to the venue. But the announcement made over the loudspeakers ensured maximum participation, and the forest fire was extinguished by nightfall.

Religious activities like wedding information, church services etc. are never announced from any of the loudspeakers, probably because there are different denominations and Churches within each locality.

Both the LC and YMA information teams are there for each other. Like for example, in my locality, if a YMA announcement has to be made and one of the loudspeakers isn't working, they simply use the LC speakers, and likewise the LC also uses the YMA speakers if one of their speakers isn't working.

All announcements, whether it is by the LC or YMA, are always made in Mizo, as there are just a handful of non-Mizos living in our locality, and since they don't take part in any YMA activities, there is really no need for them to understand most of the announcements.

But then suddenly, on 21st March 2020, exactly at 6:25 PM, for the first time in history, our Chaltlang locality tlângau made announcements in Mizo, English and Hindi!



I still remember the date and time so well because our childhood gang of friends was immediately talking about it on our WhatsApp group. The announcement was about CoVid-19 and the dangers of it, along with lockdown rules and instructions on how to take precautions etc.

To suddenly hear the announcement being made in English and Hindi as well, felt so grim, like as if we were in one of those war-time scenarios, you know, like the bombing of London by the German Luftwaffe during WW2. It felt so surreal, and there was that weird, tingling Kafkaesque vibes all around us…

In a way, it felt relieving to know announcements were made in English and Hindi for the very few non-Mizos living in the locality, but at the same time, it also revealed the gravity of the situation we were in.

As the lockdown started, everybody was tensed in my locality, especially since Mizoram just had its first CoVid-19 positive patient. We remained locked inside our homes, fiddling through different WhatsApp group news here and there. One of the people responsible for bringing so much calm and assurance to the public had to be our Chaltlang locality tlângaupa Duhawma.



Oh he was a hoot (and still is). He kept all of us entertained with his regular announcement over our six locality loudspeakers. Sometimes he would announce important information like what time the LLTF were allowing shops to be opened and which shops were opened, and other times he would scold people that were found roaming outside.

And by scolding, I don't mean just announcing on the mic about people on the street, nooo, he would literally pinpoint them out, describing them in detail right from the color of their jacket and pants to their hairstyle! :D Sometimes he would give us useful information and update about CoVid-19, and other times he would call the virus with pet names that made all of us laugh.

Perhaps what he is best known for is the way he announced things, like his choice of words were extremely hilarious, and many of us would just record a video on our phones the moment he was about to speak. It's one of those "lost in translation" moments where you can't translate what he said to English because it would lose its charm and humour.

In fact, he became a celebrity during this lockdown period as many people forwarded the videos they recorded on WhatsApp, FB and IG. Even people from our neighboring localities like Ramhlun North, Ramhlun Venglai and Bawngkawn would eagerly wait and listen to his announcements.

We are so lucky to have him with us during these dark times, and he definitely does shine a light in our midst with his gift of the gab entertainment. Here is a big kudos to tlângaupa Duhawma, the proclaimer of news, the harbinger of calm.


[Duhawma in proper Mizo traditional attire]

Ending this post, I just want to mention that I really love the way things still function here in Mizoram. Some may consider this whole "local public announcement" and town-crier system pretty "old skool", but it is highly effective, and I don't think you'll find that many places in India that practice this method as of today.

Of course we all have our mobile phones with good data network here in Mizoram, and information is transmitted all the time, not just to our phones but through newspapers, televisions and even radios, but all those medium do not guarantee that everybody gets the message. However, a 100 decibel loudspeaker does. :D

Cheers for now, everyone. Take care.

Chp 810. ZMC CoVid-19 warriors

Today is Day 36 of the Total Lockdown in India, and Day 39 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

Today is also 36 days since Mizoram had its first CoVid-19 positive patient, and fortunately for us, there had been no other new cases within Mizoram since then, from a total of 153 cases tested so far as of 28th April 2020.

In fact, our lone positive patient tested negative for the first time 2 days ago, and this could soon pave the way for a CoVid-19 free Mizoram, if things continue the same way.

As I have mentioned in my earlier blog posts, even before PM Modi announced the national lockdown, Mizoram had been taking tremendous steps in preventing the spread of this pandemic. The Village and Local Level Task Force at every locality helped in flattening the curve, not just in terms of maintaining the curfew but also in distributing essential items to all those who are in need. Various people have stepped up and donated vegetables or volunteered to stitch PPE's, while our police forces and brave youth volunteers are sleeping in shabby outposts guarding our borders.

I even talked about what it's like to visit a hospital during this lockdown period in my previous update. People were extremely vigilant and careful at Civil Hospital Aizawl. To enter the gate, you have to compulsorily wear a face mask, practice social distancing at all times, wash hands and sanitize them before entering any department, and the number of inpatients are kept at a minimum, like how my cousin who had a major knee operation was discharged in just 2 days.

And Civil Hospital Aizawl is a non-CoVid-19 hospital.

What about a CoVid-19 hospital? What is life like there? Is it any different from the other hospitals across Mizoram?

In this post, I would like to take you through what goes on at ZMC Hospital, Falkawn, which is the official hospital designated to treat all CoVid-19 patients in Mizoram. Here are some of the brave doctors of ZMC hospital who are currently battling CoVid-19 for us.

First and foremost, perhaps the biggest difference between the medical staff of ZMC and other hospitals is that, the ZMC staff do not have the luxury of going back to their cozy, comfortable homes after a long, hard day at work. Protocol commands that they live within the hospital itself, with no physical contact with the outside world except new incoming patients, for as long as this battle may rage.

That is why I call them true warriors. People who are willing to give up everything they have in the line of duty. Reminiscence of the Coliseum days of ancient Rome, when a gladiator would salute the emperor with "Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!" which means "Hail Emperor, those who are about to die, salute you!"

[A painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1859]

These selected few, from the doctors and nurses right down to the Group D personnel, are our modern day gladiators, the relentless samurais, the swashbuckling knight in shining armour, and their weapon of choice is not an AK-47 or a Valyrian Steel sword, but their knowledge in Science and Medicine.

Today is also 36 days since my cousin Dr. VL Hruaii, or "Mash" as we lovingly call her, left our colony to fight this invisible enemy at ZMC hospital. I miss hearing her banshee shrill laughter resonate from her bedroom into mine, or how she would drop into our house on her way back from her clinic just to talk about how much she loves Jon Bon Jovi, for the millionth time. :D

[Our recent family photo with Mash]

By the way, I just want to point out that no sensitive or confidential information had been shared with me about ZMC hospital or the CoVid-19 patient. This dedicated team reports directly to the Director and Health Minister of Mizoram, and they're not even allowed to discuss their ongoing case with their doctor-friends or the medical fraternity outside ZMC hospital.

I know the boundaries of what can and cannot be disclosed in public, and in this post, I just want to take you all through what these people go through every day.

First up, the CoVid-19 doctors of ZMC are divided into different teams. There are those who handle the confirmed cases, and these include both the Isolation and ICU wards. The other teams handle the high-risk, low-risk and screening wards, and they also manage the incoming suspected cases, check their history and send out samples for testing.

Doctors of a particular team can only treat patients belonging to their jurisdiction. For example, Mash is a part of the team that is currently treating our lone CoVid-19 patient. Doctors from other teams cannot come and treat him, and likewise, Mash cannot go and treat patients in the other wards.

When it comes to "rounds", since there is only one positive patient so far, all the doctors who are handling his case do not visit him at the same time. This guarantees that the patient is continuously visited by one of the doctors within a good interval of time, and that he is also kept accompanied and engaged in a friendly conversation from time to time.

To visit the patient, the doctors must first change into their protective gear in a "donning area", where they put on their scrubs and wear their PPE on top of that. The PPE comes in a package, and each package consists of a jumper type suit with a hood, shoe cover, goggles, and 2 pairs of gloves, along with a separate N95 mask. Each piece must be worn in a specific order.

They had been thoroughly trained on how to wear the PPE outfit on their own, and they must take utmost care in doing so because they are entering the eye of the storm after that. Consider it like a parachute jump from a plane. You better make sure you are thoroughly trained in how to wear a parachute and deploy it properly before jumping, otherwise... toodles.

Once every PPE piece is in place, they enter the ICU and carry on with their business of checking the patient or conducting tests or any other medical procedures.

After they are done with their visit, they say goodbye to the patient and then go to a "doffing area" where they slowly remove each PPE piece one by one. Again, there is a specific order to follow while doing that. Extreme care must be taken to ensure that they do not touch any of the exterior parts of the suit, mask, gloves, shoe cover etc., as they are now considered to be contaminated.

Try to imagine yourself removing your clothes without touching the outer layer! It seems easy at first, until I actually tried it out myself, and it is hard AF. And that is just my pyjamas and t-shirt I'm talking about, these doctors have to remove the whole PPE gown, hood, shoe cover, gloves and goggles that way.

And oh, not to forget, they must sanitize their hands after every step too!

It's like that time when you just got married and you're lying in bed excitedly waiting for your wife to join you but she's still busy removing all the jewelleries and make-ups in front of the mirror and then you finally fall off to sleep by the time she is done undressing... Well, it takes much longer than that for the doctors to undress, is what I'm trying to say :D Also, those are the experiences of my friends and I am still very much a bachelor :P

Once the doctors have undressed, they place the PPE pieces for disposal and enter the bathroom directly where they have to take a compulsory long hot shower. Washing their hair is a must as well. The clothes that they are going to wear after the shower are also already placed there in advance.

And that is what the doctors go through for every round they make. Other than the anaesthetist who must be on call next to the ICU room 24/7, the other doctors can go back to their quarters after their round and do normal human stuff again, like reading a novel, listening to music, watching Netflix, taking a nap, dreaming of a blogger etc...

The previous Director of ZMC had recently retired and his quarter was lying vacant, and so these CoVid-19 doctors are currently accommodated there.

They get their food (breakfast and dinner) delivered from the hospital mess to their quarter as they are not allowed to dine and mingle with the other hospital staff members.

One of the few times they can briefly come out from their isolated enclosure is to receive the many donations of vegetables, fruits, beverages and other items from various people and localities in Mizoram.

My sister too regularly sends stuff for Mash whenever my uncle and aunt are parcelling stuff for her. Like here's the time she made Poha and chutney for Mash and her friends, which apparently the team really loves.

As Mash tells me, the nurses are actually the real heroes, because they apparently have it much worse than the doctors. While the doctors take like an hour or so approximately to do their work in PPE suit and be done with it, the nurses have to remain in their PPE suits for 8-12 straight hours, and they cannot even pee or drink water during that entire shift!

Luckily for me, my dear friend HT Lalbiakhlupuii, more famously known as "Hmar Nula" in the online world, slayer of those who try to kill her in the gaming world or win her heart in the real world, was one of the nurses activated at the CoVid-19 ICU ward of ZMC hospital.

"Was" because she fell ill during her posting and after serving her quarantine period, she was tested and cleared of CoVid-19, after which she was relieved of her duties and ordered to go home. In fact tonight she'll be rejoining her team at ZMC again. Thanks to her short break, she was able to feed me enough information on what the nurses posted at ZMC go through.

[Hmar Nula packing her bags to rejoin the ZMC crew tonight]

In preparation of transforming ZMC into a fully dedicated CoVid-19 hospital, the nurses were already involved in preparing the ICU and other wards long before the arrival of the first CoVid-19 patient. All existing inpatients at ZMC were slowly transferred one by one to other hospitals. Even the ones at their ICUs were transferred in an ambulance to the ICU of other hospitals in Aizawl, accompanied by a nurse and wardboy or female attendant.

That was a bittersweet moment for most of the nurses, as they had to say goodbye to patients they had been taking care of for a long time, while at the same time sensing some sort of relief to see that those patients were not going to be near CoVid-19 patients.

The nurses too are divided into different teams, like the ICU team and Isolation team that directly deals with positive patients, and then there are the high risk team, low risk team, screening team and makeshift ICU team that deal with unconfirmed cases. And since some of them are dealing with a positive patient, the teams don't mingle with each other.

The nurses are supposed to work in three shifts - morning, evening and night of 8-hours each, but since there is only one positive patient as of today, they are currently functioning in two 12-hours shifts, so as to minimize the usage of their PPE stock.

In fact they are doing an absolutely great work in preserving their PPE stock. Here is how they typically function - Once a nurse has gone through the entire donning process of the PPE (the same procedure as the doctors mentioned above), she walks into the ICU to relieve the other nurse.

But first, they spend around an hour together, doing all the things that require two people to do, like shifting the patient and holding him while the other person scrubs him or change the bedsheet etc. Once all that is done, the outgoing nurse then collects all the garbage and waste etc. for disposal.

Even though cleaning the room and collection of garbage and waste everyday is the responsibility of the Group D team, since the cleaners have to wear complete PPE sets as well, the nurses are minimizing that usage by cleaning the room themselves, and so Group D comes in to clean the room around once in three days only, hence saving up on PPE's.

The outgoing nurse then disposes of not just the garbage and waste but other PPE suits left behind by the previous nurse or doctor. After that she also carefully removes her PPE step by step, taking care not to touch any exterior parts and then hops in to take a long hot shower.

Meanwhile, for the incoming nurse, the long wait of 8+ hours shift begins. 8+ hours without touching her mobile phone (gasp, I'll die), and without peeing or drinking water. She has to disinfect the entire medical equipments and room every hour as well.

I asked Hmar Nula what was the toughest part of her shift, was it the no-peeing rule or the no-drinking rule, and her response actually surprised me. She told me that all the nurses had been trained and were mentally prepared to go through that ordeal of no peeing and no drinking rule, and the one thing she hated the most was actually the goggles she had to wear, as they were not only extremely tight, giving her a headache, but if the goggles became foggy or there was a smudge inside, there was nothing they could do about it. And so they had to stare at a foggy smudged vision for 8+ straight hours!

Man, that is such torture! No wonder my cousin Mash hails them as the real heroes in this.

While the doctors are accommodated at the previous Director's quarter as mentioned above, the nurses have different accommodations. The ICU and Isolation team are accommodated at Mizoram College of Nursing hostel, situated a few kilometres away from ZMC.

The current students have all been sent home due to the lockdown, and so the entire building belongs to these two teams. While the ICU team resides on the third floor, the Isolation team is on the second floor.

There are around 10 rooms on each floor, with two beds in each room, and since each team consists of just six members, they have the freedom to occupy a room by themselves or share it with their colleague in case they are scared of the dark.

It is a typical hostel room, so there is just a fan and table apart from the two beds in each room. There is a small hall on each floor that the nurses use as a recreational room to play carroms, which is their only means of entertainment during their spare time.

Food (breakfast and dinner) is also prepared by the Group D staff, and the nurses have their meals in the hostel before and after their shift at the hospital.

The food is also well provided, and according to Hmar Nula, they get eggs on every meal, along with an alternate choice of fruits or milk in the afternoons.

The Grade D staff who work behind the scene in all this, currently reside in the hospital annex. Just like the teams of doctors and nurses, they too have a dedicated CoVid-19 team as well.

Every now and then, just like the doctors, these nurses too would receive free snacks and goodies from concerned citizens in the city. Like this was the time "Roll and Wrap" came and gave them free pizzas, rolls and fries :)

Seriously, if you are reading this blog post and you are a food related business owner in Aizawl, please by all means go and give these awesome doctors and nurses more stuff to eat! It is the least we can do for our brave warriors. I'm looking at you, my dear friend and classmate Hmingthansanga of Pemarin, you better go and give these wonderful souls some of your awesome restaurant food. :)

Some of my friends have already stepped up as well. Like for example, one of my dearest friends from Bangalore days, Mami Kholhring, a renowned fashion designer, contacted me immediately when she heard that my cousin was one of the doctors assigned to treat CoVid-19 patients in Mizoram.

Yup, lucky Mash! Mami Kolhring will be making a wedding gown for her, on the house! So once this whole pandemic gets over, IF it gets over, and we are all alive and well by the Grace of God, then cousin Mash is all set up to get married! The only thing missing now is... the groom! :D

In case you haven't heard of my friend Mami Kholhring, here are some of her designs...

So great to know cousin Mash will be wearing one of those dresses above :)

As her idol Jon Bon Jovi once sang, "It's is my life", let us all remember to take proper care of our lives during these difficult times, and continue to abide by the law and practice social distancing.

Truth be told, I know many of us in Mizoram are starting to treat this pandemic lightly, probably because of no new cases since the first day, but know that the threat is still very much out there. We may be a disciplined community bonded together by a chain of trust, but also remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

So, let us continue to pray for our good doctors and nurses of ZMC as they continue to risk their lives for us in this battle against CoVid-19. God bless them all.