A Tamil Writer's Personal Account of Life and Literature During India's COVID-19 Lockdown

During India's COVID-19 lockdown, a Tamil writer in Chennai, India, confined to his apartment with his wife Avantika and seven cats due to a heart condition, wrote 120 semiautobiographical blog posts titled 'Bug'. His peer Jeyamohan produced 120 short stories, both outpacing typical lifetime outputs. The writer laments that Tamil literature, including his 1996 novel 'Zero Degree', which was translated into English and nominated for prizes, remains largely untranslated into European languages like French, Spanish, or German. He criticizes India's inability to enforce social distancing, comparing crowded slums where families of eight live in 3x3 meter spaces to the historical 'Black Hole of Calcutta' incident of June 20, 1756, where 123 prisoners died in a dungeon. India's COVID-19 cases rose to third globally behind the US and Brazil. Police brutality is highlighted, including the June 19 torture and deaths of shopkeeper Jeyaraj, 62, and his son in Tuticorin after a curfew violation, with officers now imprisoned following protests. The writer notes economic hardships, such as day laborers earning ₹200 daily facing tax pressures, and cultural misunderstandings, like writer Dharman being mistaken for a police station scribe. Translated by Vidhya Subash, the piece reflects on systemic issues in India during the pandemic.