Items

• 
  2020-04-13

  Online prayers

  For the past 22 years, Indians in Ghana have performed a weekly prayer meeting. Popularly known as the "Vishnu Group", each family used to book a slot a year in advance to conduct this prayer at their house. The gathering consists of nearly 60 people who gathered at the host family's house every week. During this puja, the gathering recites the traditional Vishnu Sahasranamam, Hanuman Chalisa, and prays to Lakshmi and Shiva. The group then proceeds to an hour long bhajan. After this, they proceed to the potluck dinner made up of traditional items. However, due to COVID-19, the group can no longer meet and have instead shifted their prayers online. The picture shows the prayer area in Mrs Gomati Mohan's house. Garlands are seen decorating the pictures and the host couple is seen performing the traditional aarti. In this new, modern form of praying, each member of the group performs the prayer in their own house and updates the other members in a common WhatsApp group.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Indefinite holidays

  All the school buses remain in a standstill due to Ghana’s lockdown.
• 
  2020-04-13

  No Work, No Play

  The picture reflects an empty construction site due to lockdowns in Tema, Ghana. The entire country has been shut down, except the ports that remain open for essential food and medicines. Soaps and sanitizers are given at every shop for customers to use before they enter, without which there’s a strict no-entry policy being enforced.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Empty flights

  My mom took this photo on their flight from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad to Kotoka International Airport in Ghana, Africa. It looks like people had reduced travelling even before Ghana announced a lockdown. The flight was deserted, and so was the airport. Although the virus hadn’t spread to Ghana at the time, the airport authorities checked the temperature of every disembarked passenger before letting them go.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Learning to cook during the pandemic

  This video was taken by Mrs Uma Pujar and shows her daughter learning to make sorghum bread the traditional way. While COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in the outside world, this video shows that people inside the house get to spend some quality family time together.
• 
  2020-04-04

  Adjusting to self-isolation

  My little corner in an apartment that I share with three other people in Boston. Normally, I always study in the library at Northeastern, but with the university closed and the risks associated with public transport, my bed serves as my study space as well. It does save energy though. When it’s nap time, I simply put everything on the floor and go to sleep!
• 
  2020-04-05

  Hyderabad’s empty airport

  A video taken by my mom’s close friend in Hyderabad(my city in India). The airport usually has a daily traffic of around 60,000 passengers. The recent lockdown and travel bans have left it empty. *Original video as taken by Mrs Maneesha Gogte
• 
  04/03/2020

  Can't go home

  India decides to extend the travel ban for incoming international flights until April 14th, 2020. Currently, all of my classes are online and there is not much to do staying here in the US, but going home isn’t an option either.