FEATURE
SOCIAL GATHERINGS IN A PANDEMIC Finding creative ways to have a good time while staying safe By Baisakhi Roy
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all and winter bring important religious events and cultural festivals for many communities, and the need to connect with loved ones in this season is palpable. And then, of course, winter is a few weeks away which might prompt people to spend more time indoors. With COVID-19 rules dictating that social gatherings need to be restricted, Canadians are trying to find creative ways to have a good time while staying safe – both indoors and outdoors.
Gathering inside safely As Indian-born Sanchari Sen Rai and her friends settled down in her Toronto home in October, to watch the livestream from Belur Math – a Hindu temple in India – broadcasting their annual Durga Puja celebrations, there was a familiar sense of warmth and bonhomie. “We were all decked up in our traditional sarees.
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CANADIAN IMMIGRANT Volume 17 Issue 5 | 2020
While the priest was conducting the rituals on the livestream, we were complimenting each other on our clothes in hushed tones. Exactly how we would all be in a temple, excitedly discussing our outfits while the puja (religious ritual) went on,” she says with a laugh. Rai has been in a bubble with her close friends and their families, in line with existing regulations, since the beginning of the pandemic, meeting only on special occasions and keeping up social distancing while meeting indoors. For this particular day – a major festival for the Bengali community – the group made sure that they were spread out in Rai’s home. While some members of the group took the upstairs rooms to hang out, the others took turns to view the livestream in batches in Rai’s spacious basement. Albanian-born microbiologist and associate
above Dasantila Golemi-Kotra
