India to New Zealand-A Covid-19 Journey

By Dexter Britto

This book is dedicated to the traveller who is stranded in a place away from home.

The germ of the idea to put my thoughts on paper originated after a conversation with my cousin, Neil D’souza who encouraged me to record my experiences for posterity.

What started as an article gradually evolved into a book – sometimes even taking me back to my childhood memories in Mangalore.

Under normal circumstances; a journey from Mangalore to Auckland is nothing out of the ordinary. However, throw in the dynamics of the Corona Virus and the myriad of challenges it creates and you have a travel that is fraught with anxious moments. There were times when I visualised Sisyphus rolling an immense boulder uphill but there was always a glimmer of hope.

This is my first attempt at writing a book and it narrates my stay in the City of Mangalore, my onward travel from Mangalore to Auckland and my mandatory fourteen day quarantine that I had to undergo due to requirements of the Government of New Zealand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Jul 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9783748748090

Book preview

Chapter 1

Mangalore in the month of March is hot and humid. Today was a day no different from any other. Bright and Sunny - it was great to wake up in the city of my birth where I spent the first 20 years of my life. I looked forward to making the most of every day. All I had were another 63 days and a big list of things to do in my hometown.  Having immigrated to New Zealand, 21 years ago, every trip to Mangalore evoked nostalgic memories and a yearning to spend more time - something only an expatriate would understand.

Armed with ambition and optimism to greet another morning; I jumped out of bed and feasted my eyes on the palm fringed coconut trees from the 3rd floor of my Uncle & Aunts Heritage apartment in the residential locality of Urwa. The warm fuzzy feeling didn’t last for long as my thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of a lone crow perched on the ledge.

As if it wanted to grab my attention; it started cawing nonstop; its volume increasing with every passing second. My intent glare didn’t frighten the crow nor did the congregation of crows it had invited.

Somehow it took me back to my childhood. The sound of a cawing crow always brought a frown on my Grandmothers grave countenance. It disturbed her terribly as she considered it a bad omen or harbinger of death. As if to lend credence to her superstitious beliefs; our family lost 2 Aunts after the raucous cawing of a spasmodically twitching solitary mournful crow. Dismissive of my pessimistic foreboding; I decided to scroll through my phone to check the latest world news.

And so it was on that morning on 18th March 2020 when I saw the breaking news alert: Winston Peters, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs urges 80,000 New Zealanders to return home. At the time; I was yet to comprehend the gravity of the situation. Little did I anticipate the events that would unfold in the next few days and the months to follow!

Aunty Maisy and Uncle Stany

Chapter 2

The Corona Virus had made its appearance in late 2019. While the rest of the world was blissfully ignorant and looking forward to usher in a new decade; a few countries were already battling an enemy that was lethal and deadly. The first country it was known to have affected was China. Subsequently countries like Italy and Iran reported cases of people testing positive for Corona Virus.

The Virus later came to be known as Covid-19 and is said to have originated in wet markets in Wuhan. It is also alleged by countries like USA that it may have been manufactured in a laboratory in Wuhan. While I had heard of cities like Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing; this was the first time I heard of Wuhan. Sadly, it took a deadly virus to make Wuhan a famous or rather infamous city. The WHO decided to name the disease Covid-19 in order to steer clear of linking the outbreak to the city of Wuhan and avoid further stigmatization.

Italy was the first Western country to be slammed by the outbreak; the hardest hit region being the Northern region of Lombardy. Following the news updates; I learnt that the former Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte who had close ties with China had signed the Belt and Road agreement. As a result many Chinese settled down in Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto regions.

Having returned from China after celebrating the Chinese New Year; it is believed that many of these returning Chinese passed the virus into their communities. No health checks were carried out at the ports of entry. Research indicates that older people were vulnerable to the effects of this deadly virus. The regions that the Chinese have settled in Italy had a high proportion of aged people; most of whom succumbed to the virus.