Sutapa Majumdar began learning music at the age of three. She loved it so much that for the next 71 years, not a day went by without her singing. She pursued music as a subject, became a radio artiste, became a music teacher and her latest assignment was teaching at New Town’s Swapno Bhor senior citizens’ park. Along came the lockdown and her world changed.

“For the last three months, I haven’t hummed a single line. My spirit is lost and voice choked,” says the 74-year-old miserably. “My students are sending me recordings of their songs and asking me to correct them but for the first time in my life I can’t get myself to listen to music. I’m stagnating within four walls.”

The lockdown has affected residents in various ways. Some have learnt cooking, some are busy working from home and some have become extremely lonely. The house arrest has taken a toll on residents who feel deprived of the face-to-face company of friends and family.

Life at a standstill

Majumdar is so upset at not being able to hold her music classes that it has made her lethargic. “I haven’t taken a single sari out of the closet since the lockdown. Even if I force myself to go for a walk once in a while I just don a housecoat over my nightie. Halfway through the walk, I remember that I haven’t even combed my hair,” says the resident of Sunrise Point. “Nothing matters anymore.”

Sukumar Chakraborty of Labony says he can see depression all around. “The holiday mood is over and residents are now consumed by worry. Will they get paid their salaries next month? Will their loved ones contract Covid? They are getting irritable and youths are storming out of the house without caring about infection…”

He speaks of a neighbour suffering from dizzy spells, loss of appetite and mood swings. “The doctor has visited her several times and said she is fine but the lady, who lives alone, insists otherwise. I think she’s just lonely.”

The early lockdown days were difficult for Tapas Guha of EE Block as he was bereaved. “We are a close-knit family and have 300 people coming over for our Kali puja every year. But since no one was allowed to travel during the lockdown we couldn’t even mourn the loss of my brother collectively.” Guha has since taken solace, discovered the many facets of his terrace, recognised the writing abilities of his daughter and is playing with his four-month-old grandson.

Aryama Sen, a student of Jadavpur University, says many of her friends are stuck — not at home but — in their rooms. “Not everyone is close to their family members so they are withdrawing to their shells. Even if they had an impetus to study in the initial days of the lockdown, most students have given up now and are binging on books or Netflix.”

Sumona Roy of Baisakhi Abasan doing yoga early in the morning Debasmita Bhattacharjee

Excuse to head out

Unable to stay home any longer, some people are conjuring excuses to step out. “An acquaintance of mine — a bank manager in Ultadanga — has many elderly people come to their branch daily to deposit sums like Rs 200 and 300. Upon asking, the visitors confess that the bank is the only place they have to go and so they go over to deposit nominal sums daily,” says Rupa Ghosh of AB Block. “The vendors at AB-AC Market, too, say residents who used to come weekly are now going daily, and in some cases up to five times a day!”

The other day Isha Dasgupta’s family visited the tea stall outside their Sraboni Abason home after months. “The tea was watery and tasteless but it felt so good. We felt like prisoners out on parole and were enjoying every moment of it,” she says.

BB Block physician Adrija Rahman Mukherjee says that 20 per cent of patients who could have been treated over phone are insisting they come to the clinic just so they can get out of the house. Some youths confess that they sneaked out to friends’ houses occasionally throughout the lockdown.

“I know youths who loitered the streets, and when caught by the police, claimed they were out to buy medicines. Some jumped from roof to roof to escape the police and go buy cigarettes,” says Arunabha Hazra of CD Block. “I even know people who decided to feed the needy as they would get to meet friends while they were at it. Their escapades end when the money they had raised finished but they began afresh after the cyclone.”

Santanu Mitra says his elderly father has been driving off for a spin, off and on. “We are asking him not to, but can understand his helplessness,” says the BF Block resident who lost his mother weeks before the lockdown. “My father needs the support of his friends now but cannot even meet them.”

Santanu and wife Deepanwita Datta are trying to come to terms with the bizarre situation themselves. All the more since they are newlyweds whose reception had to be put off due to the lockdown. Far from taking off on their honeymoon, the couple is now tending to office calls while cooking and sweeping.

Run to the terrace

Those who have access to the terrace are escaping there for some me-time but the option becomes tricky in apartment blocks. “Since residents of all flats in the building are heading upstairs, the terrace is getting crowded in the afternoon,” says Sumona Roy of Baisakhi Abasan, who is now going upstairs at 6am for yoga.

“There’s not enough space to workout in the flat now since everyone is home all the time. I need to spread out my towel, water bottle and it’s annoying to have to move out to let someone walk past in the middle of my asana,” Sumona says.

Dasgupta’s family heads to the terrace of their Sraboni Abason apartment too but not many others join them there. “People are too scared to come up,” she says. “The few who do come walk at a distance. Then there is a pair of siblings - both young adults - who stroll in the farthest corners of the terrace, presumably speaking to their beaus on the phone. Staying locked up in a flat is leading to a lack of privacy.”

Out-of-the-box solutions

Sharmila Sengupta of GD Block has no time to be depressed. She has taken in two puppies during the lockdown and is now either trying to stop her Beagle from chewing the doormat or teaching her Golden Retriever new commands, both unsuccessfully.

A 10-year-old girl of New Town was so disturbed by all the talk of despair around that she had started asking her parents if they would all die from Covid-19. This prompted a friend of the family to start a games night for children in their friends-and-family circuit. The kids now meet once a week over video call for oral games and activities. They chat, laugh and for a while forget that they are away from one another.

Sampita Roy’s younger son — a Class IV student — is part of this kids’ group and she says this is the only online session the boy looks forward to. “Other online classes are too formal and boring,” says Roy. Last week her son made Mango Parfait with the others and ate it together with them. “He liked it so much that he made some again later for us. He’s also been making it for himself to sip during his other online classes. Such activities keep kids occupied productively.”

Chakraborty, of Labony, is so moved by the sights and sounds of the lockdown that he has started writing an audio drama series on them. “I am part of a theatre group called Drammar and we are missing our rehearsals terribly. But the next best thing we can do is an audio drama and that’s what’s keeping us busy now,” he says.

Has the lockdown mentally affected you or any of your acquaintances in the locality? Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abpmail.com