Quarantine Diaries with my Grandma

Who knew all it took to get me back to blogging is a superstitious grandmother and a self-imposed quarantine?

Hi everyone! As you might’ve guessed, I’m in quarantine! My University got shut down temporarily and they kicked us all out of hostel but I couldn’t travel home because of COVID-19 travel restrictions which means I’m staying at my grandparents – and BOY IS THAT GOING WELL.

Let me introduce them a little first. My Grandpa is 80 years old, no-nonsense, practical and intelligent while my Grandma is sweet, caring, superstitious and EXTREMELY GULLIBLE. The perfect combination to confront the virus right?

Now I don’t know if you’ve received any, but this virus has led to an upsurge of nonsensical myths to protect yourself from the virus, in the form of forwarded messages. A few examples I found online –

And yes, my Grandma BELIEVES THEM ALL.

(Before I begin, everyone PLEASE look for reliable sources of information to prevent infection. You are in no way helping during a pandemic by spreading misinformation. You can consult the WHO website for advice on prevention.)

Anyways, I decided it might be fun to tell you the weirdest, most illogical things rules my grandma has imposed thanks to these darned forwarded messages over the next few posts. Today’s ridiculous myth is –

WHITE CLOTHES PREVENT INFECTIONS

Overhear on a call with my mom:

Grandma: I’m asking your father to buy me a white sari but he just doesn’t listen!
Mom: Why do you want a white sari?
Grandma: To prevent corona, obviously!
Mom: Wait what? Why would that prevent corona?
Grandma: (exasperated) White clothes prevent infections!

At this point both mom and I burst out laughing and my grandma decided to get grandpa to back her up.

Grandma: Tell them that white clothes prevent infection
Grandpa: (laughing) Where did you hear that?
Grandma: (indignantly) Fine. Don’t believe me! I’m just trying to help

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Even though its pretty obvious I’ll state it – Wearing white clothes doesn’t prevent coronavirus. Try social distancing instead!

I tried to track down the origins of my grandma’s theory and here’s what I found:

1. Many people believe that wearing white clothes repel mosquitoes. While this has nothing to do with the coronavirus, I presume that whoever is propagating this rumor has made the jump that if white clothes repel mosquitoes, they must repel viruses too.
2. As far as I have found, the above fact is partly true. Mosquitoes aren’t repelled by white. However, they are more attracted to people in dark clothes. Its presumed this is because black clothes absorb heat, and mosquitoes have heat sensors.

Sigh. This is just the beginning in a series of ridiculous myths my grandma believes. Stay tuned for my next post where I tell you what days the coronavirus is most likely to infect you according to her!

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That’s all for today! Everyone out there please do take care of yourselves and let me know how your self-quarantines and/or life is going! Have you come across any such ridiculous myths?