38 Dark Chocolate: My Bittersweet Experience of the Pandemic
Meet Chauhan
If my experience of the pandemic could be described by a flavor, it would be dark chocolate—rich with meaning, but accompanied by a bitterness I never quite got used to. Being in India during that time made it especially memorable. India currently has the largest population in the world, and during the pandemic it was second only to China. Having such a large population definitely had its downsides, as India was constantly in the news for having the highest number of new cases in a single day. When the pandemic started, I was in 11th grade and 17 years old. By the time it ended, I was in the final months of my school life and was 18.
India announced a full lockdown on the 25th of March, 2020. However, my school principal’s orders were to take precautions even earlier. My online schooling officially started in the first week of March, and I remember being ecstatic about it. All I could think about was being able to sleep longer, hang out with my friends, and play games. For a while, it felt like a long summer vacation. In retrospect, online learning may have had negative impacts on my education because it felt really passive. My mom noticed how my focus was always diverted; I started procrastinating on every homework assignment because there was need to be accountable. I remember struggling to regain my academic momentum for in-person classes because I rarely studied for online quizzes and usually relied on cheating. The International Baccalaureate program I was in suddenly felt unmanageable, and I only overcame it under the sheer stress of final submissions and exams. The whole experience was detrimental to my mental health, and I know this was true for many of my peers as well, realizing that a significant portion of our secondary education had been reduced to staring at a screen. The saddest moment came when my parents received an email announcing that our school trip, a long-awaited trek in Sikkim, was cancelled until further notice. That was the moment it all felt real, like a part of our youth had quietly slipped away.
When the actual lockdown started, I remember being scared of rising cases, but my father assured me that we would be fine. The lockdown lasted for two months, after which businesses were allowed to reopen, but schools remained closed. These two months now feel like a fever dream. My sister, who was in college at the time, had come back home for safety reasons, and our family of four stayed in the house together for two whole months. This had never really happened before, since I would always be at school, my sister was in college, and my father was busy with his business till 8 p.m.. I got to spend a lot of time with my family, and I truly cherished those days. It felt like a blessing to have my father home all day and it was the first time I got to hear surprising stories from his youth. I also cherished the time with my mom and got to bond with her. That came with moments of frustration whenever she asked me to sanitize everything a million times. I spent more time with my sister too, and we shared the TV to watch shows like Jane the Virgin or to rewatch old English sitcoms.
During the lockdown, we had to make several changes, including constant hand washing, sanitizing all groceries, and drinking hot water every morning to avoid symptoms. I also remember trying several different “health tests,” like holding my breath or running for a certain amount of time, to determine how well I would handle getting COVID-19. This was due to all the misinformation spreading on social media at the time. This was also the first time I helped with housework like cleaning the floors and doing the dishes. In India, we usually had maids who did these things for us, so it was a very different experience. I also remember being scared of running out of food since shops were closed. However, my mom told me that we wouldn’t need to worry about this since we could get groceries whenever the need arose. When the lockdown was lifted, it felt like the whole world started moving again—except for the students in school. Schools were still closed due to the high risk. I was glad that I could finally meet my friends, and we made the most of our online schooling time. Even though my education experience was negative, I felt that I was able to spend a lot more time with my friends, as we usually ended up playing games and attending online classes together all day.
The course theme that related most to my COVID experience is probably the theme of secrecy and stigma. I remember when the first few cases happened in my city, and I found out that some people I knew were infected. The first thing I heard from my family and grandparents was not to let anyone know. Having COVID-19 was viewed negatively, and people were being ostracized for it. The situation became so volatile that I remember people in my community avoiding getting tested, even after showing symptoms, trying to dismiss it as just a common cold. I heard many racist comments in the media, especially targeting East Asians. It shocked me to see how negatively Asians were being treated just because of the virus’s origin. I distinctly remember seeing videos of people being beaten up and cursed at. It was as if people had formed the belief that it was the fault of Chinese people and that they should be punished for it.
I noticed widespread misinformation being circulated through WhatsApp, especially when my grandmother sent me one about vaccine doses. I spent a few days researching information from organizations like the CDC and WHO. That’s when a realization hit me: a significant portion of the population in my hometown lacks access to proper healthcare and education. I became especially aware of how treatment varied drastically across social classes in India. Families with wealth and social connections were prioritized by healthcare facilities—they were able to secure oxygen tanks and medicines like Remdesivir, which were in short supply at the time. In response, my friends and I decided to take initiative and we launched an awareness page on Instagram called COVID.HELPRAJKOT to share verified resources specific to our city. I believed that even a small step could make a big difference.
A few weeks later, we reached out to Plexus Government Hospital to volunteer as students, where we helped conduct free medical camps in the rural areas surrounding Rajkot. I suggested that we visit the villages in person and distribute pamphlets printed in our mother tongue, Gujarati to spread awareness. We also created banners and social-distancing floor stickers to reinforce safety protocols. In addition, we conducted workshops in government schools, teaching children about the importance of dental hygiene and reinforcing COVID-19 precautions through skits—an engaging and memorable experience for them.