I.C.S.E.

PROJECT 2020-21
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

ESSAY TOPIC - You have gone to a Supermarket to stock food items before the
Lockdown starts. Write a composition vividly describing the scene. Do state
what you saw and heard.

As the fear of Covid-19 remained in the hearts of my family, it had now become
mandatory to quarantine ourselves. Hence we had to arrange for all the necessities of
our house for an approximate duration of a month. Since father was busy handling the
other things, mother and I decided to go to Big Bazar. We put on our masks and gloves
and a list of all the possible things we could possibly need.

As we got out of our car, I looked towards my mother and saw that she was as anxious
as me. Entering the supermarket we had our temperature checked with the portable
scanner and were given to apply hand sanitizers. We could see a few people on the first
floor who seemed to be scared as well and followed the safety norms. It was clearly
visible that half the racks of the supermarket were already empty and that we needed
to hurry in order to get the most we could from our list of essentials. As we made our
way forward in a hurry, I could feel the tension and anxiety in the air that day . While
we were making our way to the rice counter, an elderly couple, all by themselves were
trying to pour rice into their plastic bag when the lady suddenly lost her balance and
we saw the rice fall on the ground with a thump. Normally one would expect people to
rush to help an elderly couple ;however these are no ordinary times, and with people
constantly trying to avoid physical contact we noticed that the people around were
hesitant to approach the couple. The staff members were humble enough to help them.
Nevertheless it was a pitiful sight.

Even though we went to the market to stock groceries and food items to prepare for the
lockdown, my father kept reminding us that we shouldn't stock more than what we
require for our family in such testing times and take more than what we required and
prevent others from procuring their basic needs. Keeping this at the back of our minds
we managed to gather most of the essential items and lead our way to the billing
counter. We had been prepared that we shall carry out the payment through an online
transaction. Keeping a significant distance from the customer in front and behind us in
the queue, we patiently waited for our turn. Not having close contact with any of the
customer or faculty and putting our gloves and masks at all times, we abode by all the
possible precautions we could take, we executed our grocery shopping with full safety
and security.

Finally after completing the billing of all the items we required, we proceeded to the exit
gate. And now that we were calm having successfully completed the worrisome task, I
was able to really grasp the gravity and seriousness of the situation. There was chaos
everywhere and panic on the faces of each individual. As we left the store all I could do
was to hope and pray.