We were sitting around the big table in the lower verandah, our normal meeting place for discussing the Club’s Magazine .

Even though this magazine was entirely private, distributed only to the Club members and covering the Club’s activities for the month, we tried to make it more interesting with stories of general interest.

Month after month we had an issue with a lead story, travelogues by members, health advice by club members from the medical fraternity and of course a page for the younger members who would grow into adulthood soon enough .

So essentially it was more than just a Club’s newsletter and actually had a Magazine Committee meeting every month to decide what we should cover.

Yet , there were many members who thought the magazine was a mere waste of time and consigned their copy to the dustbin without even a glance .

This was disheartening and we carried on, thinking of ways to make it more appealing .

I still remember last March, (which was the last meeting I attended )when we were thinking of dedicating the magazine to the madness or paranoia that was surrounding the Corona virus .

At that time WhatsApp groups were flooded with videos of Chinese dropping like flies in Wuhan, Italians succumbing to the virus and our own Indians slowly being brought home by special flights .

We thought covering the Novel Corona Virus would make our issue go viral especially if we captioned the lead story ‘Going Viral With Corona’!

That would surely grab their eyeballs !

So we contacted a pathologist member to get the low down on the pathology of the virus and how it spreads.

We collected a few cartoons on the virus and the panic it generated.

And we had the matter in place when the first lockdown was declared.

And the magazine went for a toss !

The printing press couldn’t get the issue ready for distribution. And even the Club was closed .

When the Pandemic faced a lull last October, the Club was opened partially. With limited activities and limited numbers of members attending , it was a shadow of its former self.

Fear was writ large on the faces of members who no longer found it a home away from home. A place where they could meet up with friends and share a cup of tea or a glass of beer . People scurried in and out to pick up a library book , have a quick round of tennis, buy some essential groceries , exchange a few pleasantries with fellow members

And the Magazine Committee thought that perhaps we could re-start the magazine. But the material we had collected for the March issue was hopelessly outdated. Our run down on the Virus seemed so basic in comparison to the heaps of information available now .

But with the Second wave and in all probability the Third coming soon after, it seems that we were more than premature in thinking that in 40 days the virus would go away.

Looking back, I feel how naive we were to discount the fear and paranoia beginning to grip the world then .

Truly, the virus is having the last laugh!

On that note , stay safe . Wear a mask and avoid crowded places .

Ciao,