Episode 13: Lockdown Life- Inside the Homes and Phones of a Covid-Shuttered Country

  On Ram Navami, it rains flowers in Banda, in the hilly Bundelkhand region of southern Uttar Pradesh. A helicopter disburses showers of petals onto the town’s streets, which are packed with a long parade of people floating on a sea of saffron flags, chariots, noise and music. After all, the neighbouring jungles of Chitrakoot are where Rama and company  are said to have spent part of their time in exile.  This year, however, with people banished from the streets and sequestered in their homes, the district headquarters was deserted on April 2, the day of the festival. At the Maheshwari Devi Mandir, one of the Banda’s largest temples, a priest performed a simple, quiet puja.  Ambedkar Jayanti, on April