Quarantined in a hotel in Mumbai, with his camera his window to a temporarily shrunken world. AP photographer rafiqmaqbool tells that story in today’s Virus Diary.
I spent that evening on the phone with other COVID-19-positive photographers. We decided to demand that city authorities quarantine us. We wanted to be away from our families, and we wanted to be together. Authorities said they’d put us up at a hotel in north Mumbai.
In a car full of photographers, one said, “Bhai log , we don’t know what’s next. Let’s enjoy our last drive on the empty streets of the city. We may never get another chance!” We looked at each other; in sync, we stuck our heads out of the windows and took gulps of fresh air. Suddenly we were laughing. We knew that we were going to be OK — scared, worried but together.
I got out my prayer mat and beads. I don’t know how long I prayed. When I rose, I decided to be strong and to count my blessings. That evening, my wife told me that our daughters asked, “If everyone was told to remain at home, why did Daddy go out?” She explained that just as doctors and farmers and police and administrators were facing risks every day to ensure that we were safe and healthy, journalists, too, had to do their bit — to gather information about living through this unimaginable time.
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