Mebin Thomas' day begins at around 7:00 AM. That is when he gets ready to deliver breakfast packets at two COVID quarantine centres.
A hotel and a home-based catering service prepare the food for these centres on a contract basis. They pack and keep it all ready in cartons for Mebin to pick up. Once, he reaches the centre, he places each of these packets on a chair placed outside the rooms there.
After this has been taken care of, Mebin empties the bins in front of each room and disposes of the waste. Next on his work log, lunch delivery around 12 PM and tea for the inmates at 4 PM. In the evening, he heads back home before returning again with dinner at 7:30 PM.
All this was originally supposed to be done by a group of volunteers. But with the pandemic making people wary, the young man ended up with two obvious options - quit and stay indoors like other people or take on the onus of accomplishing all this by himself. He chose the latter.
For almost five months now, the 25-year-old has been the caretaker of two quarantine centres in Kottayam district's Changanacherry.
From serving food to the quarantined to sanitising containment zones, he has done almost everything a civilian volunteer possibly can. He put on the PPE kit not just to save himself from the virus but to stay hidden from his neighbours. And when more volunteers were needed, he convinced his brother and cousin to join the cause.
Mebin's voluntary work began in late March when he came across online ads asking youngsters to enrol with the local government and become volunteers at community kitchens. The message was passed on WhatsApp, inspiring many youngsters to sign up.
"A day after registering online, I got a call from the Vazhappally Panchayat asking me to attend a class where they taught us how to sanitise places safely along with the protocols to be followed," Mebin said. "These were the initial days of the national lockdown and community kitchens were where the need was. We served food to families and migrant labourers for weeks until most of them boarded the special trains home."
However, he had little idea back then that his part-time task would become a full-fledged job in a matter of weeks.
On May 8, the first flight under the 'Vande Bharat' mission touched down in Kochi. Keralites were returning home in large numbers from neighbouring states too, forcing the government to open quarantine centres for those unable to stay isolated at homes. The Vazhappally local body once again summoned the youngsters seeking assistance. They were needed to turn the selected premises into quarantine facilities.
"Two floors of St. Jude Hospital, Thuruthy and a floor of St. Thomas Hospital in Chethipuzha were to be the quarantine centres here. Around 20 of us joined hands to clean each room of the two buildings. Later, we were taught to wear PPE kits at the Changanacherry government hospital," he said.
On May 20, the first batch of NRKs arrived at Chthipuzha. The Thuruthy centre was opened on May 28. Time tables were made assigning two people each in three shifts with the volunteers taking turns at the centres.
"Soon, my friend Jason and I were posted permanently at the Thuruthy centre as we lived nearby. Others were needed only when we ran out of supplies like gloves or masks," Mebin said.
But things changed when the cases in Kerala gradually started to rise. Families weren't willing to send anyone to the quarantine centres fearing exposure.
"When tests results of a few from our centres came back positive, my friend's family forced him to quit and I had to manage alone," he recalled.
Working alone meant daily collection and disposal of the garbage, food distribution three times a day and disinfecting the entire floor after each batch left. Chethipuzha has 30 rooms while St Jude has 18. Mebin managed to carry on despite mounting pressure.
"I thought this was only for a few days and everyone will convince their kin and return before the next batch arrives. But I was wrong," Mebin recounted.
When St Jude hospital was ready for the next wave of gulf returnees on June 25, none of the earlier squad members showed up. The local body was in no position to force anyone as the situation had worsened. They asked Mebin to do his best.
"I had to manage the centre all alone. Thankfully, my brother Mobin was willing to help. Soon, Chethipuzha also had to reopen but nobody else could come. It wasn't practical to shuttle between the two centres located seven kilometres apart. I asked my cousin Sudhi who lives in Kurishumood near Chethipuhza for help. It was a wild shot but he was very positive," he recounted.
"I have been allotted a room in the hospital. I spend the night there and go home only if the phone battery drains out. The disinfection campaign happens in between these regular duties. If I have to go there, my brother steps in and serves the food," he said.
When asked why he roped in his brothers for a mission that nobody else in the whole village was keen on, Mebin said his experience with the previous batches were moving.
"Mothers worried about their children, sons about their ageing parents... I've seen a lot here. I feel moved when people return home and still keep in touch. Some say they miss the food we used to serve.
"Then there are the officials who toil hard. Some of them accompany me to even burn the waste though they don't have to. I think we all should do our part to make life easy for all of them," he said.
"The two floors of the hospital were converted into COVID centres with the ground floor being set aside for patients. The nurses found time to join us and were very helpful. It was inspiring how they tried to keep people, especially senior citizens, strong amidst the gloom loneliness brings."
Mebin added that when people become nervous after testing positive, he is now able to comfort them thanks to the nurses. "'What is there to be scared of? You can't go home for a few more days, there is nothing more', I tell them."
Service outside quarantine centres
It is easy to manage cases within quarantine centres as people are less likely to mingle with each other thereby cutting down the transmission risk. If a person tests positive, he or she can be moved to the isolation facility easily. However, dealing with local transmissions is a different ball game altogether.
The Vazhappally village authorities decided to disinfect courtyards of infected houses and nearby roads as soon as community spread was confirmed. Unlike managing quarantine centres, this was a job to be done in public and frontline workers had to battle stigma too.
"I have disinfected around 15 such areas to date," Mebin recalled.
"Public ostracise not just those involved but even their families. We know how badly doctors and nurses were treated in many places. My neighbours thought I was just taking the food to the centres at times. It could have spelt trouble if I was seen in the containment zones. Luckily masks and PPE kits hide a person completely.
"But now the pandemic has reached such a stage that nobody cares anymore. But I still try to hide my identity when working," he said with a smile.
Mebin, who left his BA Journalism course midway, was working for an interior design company when the pandemic struck. All contracts remain frozen there, leaving his family in a financially tight spot. They now depend entirely on the meagre sum his father earns at a timber company.
Mebin is well aware of the fact that there are no schemes to pay volunteers like him. But he believes what he is doing now is not about money.
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"Bonds made during tough times like these are likely to last and I am happy. I am not planning to back off midway. My family was a little worried in the beginning, but not anymore. I use to add 'quarantine' at the end while saving the numbers of people who came here on my phone. But by the end of 14 days, they'd have become chettan, chechy, aunty etc. It means something." he said.
No hard feelings
The Changanacherry Archdiocese created a youth brigade to assist the health workers in burying virus victims.
As protocols prohibit family members from attending the event, only this small team is allowed to be with the vicar at the cemetery. He is a part of this team as well.
Mebin said he has no hard feelings for others who had to abandon the job midway.
"Nobody backed off because they are selfish. They had children and elders to take care of and it is reasonable enough. It's alright to be scared during times like these," he said.