isolated to be alive. A cross-cultural assignment between India and France

2. Our Experience
The Assignment helped the team to explore and research beyond our home country’s
experience with the pandemic. It helped us to develop creativity and imaginative skills by
brainstorming ideas for designing the comic, in order to make it interesting. The team made
use of the various technical tools for the deliverables which added to their skills as well.
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the corona virus pandemic, is an
ongoing pandemic of corona virus (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona
virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health
Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January
2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. As of 2 January 2021, more than 84.1 million cases have been
confirmed, with more than 1.82 million deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are highly variable, ranging from none to severe illness. The
virus spreads mainly through the air when people are near each other.[b]
It leaves an infected person
as they breathe, cough, sneeze, or speak and enters another person via their mouth, nose, or eyes. It
may also spread via contaminated surfaces. People remain infectious for up to two weeks and can
spread the virus even if they do not show symptoms.
Recommended preventive measures include social distancing, wearing face masks in public,
ventilation and air-filtering, hand washing, covering one's mouth when sneezing or coughing,
disinfecting surfaces, and monitoring and self-isolation for people exposed or symptomatic.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic
organisation with 37 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world
trade. It is a forum of countries describing themselves as committed to democracy and the market
economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems,
identify good practices and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members.
Generally, OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development
Index (HDI) and are regarded as developed countries. As of 2017, the OECD member countries
collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP (US$49.6 trillion) and 42.8% of global GDP
(Int$54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity. The OECD is an official United Nations observer.
Choice of Country – U.S., Theme- Isolation
U.S. had the largest number of COVID cases in the world due to lockdown not being imposed by the
government timely. Death toll in U.S. was higher than any other OECD countries. Whereas lockdown
was imposed in India at an early stage. So these two countries can compared in a very interesting
manner.

3. Story of the Sketch
A girl from Delhi, Natasha was far away from her parents who were in their hometown. Natasha was
stranded in Delhi as she was working in Delhi. During lockdown, isolation was a big part of our
lives and that was the reason she was trying to connect with people to pass her time. She met Ron
on Facebook. During the initial conversation they talked about each other’s interests and hobbies.
On 22nd March 2020, Natasha told Ron about the clapping incident held at 5:00 PM on the same day
in India as announced by Mr. Modi. She also narrated about the lighting of diyas by all Indians on 5th
of April. 9 minutes blackout at 9:00 pm to dispel the darkness spread by Corona virus. Ron on the
other hand, told Natasha about the protective measures that were taken in the US to fight the
pandemic.
She informed Ron about the extensions of lockdown that were happening in India. Ron also
informed Natasha that cases of Covid were rising day by day in his country.
One fine day, Natasha was on a video call with Ron, when he showed her the glimpses of the protest
happening outside his house. The protest was regarding Mr. George Floyd, a poor African - American
man who was choked to death by a police officer in full public view.
This perturbed Natasha, and she started protesting against racism on social media.
After a few days, Natasha called Ron and expressed her happiness as there were rumours about
Unlock 1 in India. On June 1, Natasha was thrilled when PM MODI announced Unlock 1 in India.
She travelled back to her hometown, Kolkata on 5th June 2020 and met her parents finally.
Meanwhile Ron told Natasha about the protests going on in the USA against mandatory wearing of
face masks. To which Natasha replied that in India people were very cautious and careful about the
spreading of CORONA Virus and how people were taking necessary precautions like wearing face
masks and following social distancing.

4. Comic Strip

5. Individual Commitment
Research: Leela Krishna, Gourangi Agarwal
Sketch Content: Krishank Kapoor
Story Writing: Ishita Kumar, Kartik Balaji
Report: Joydeep Kaur
Tool Used: Canva

6. Glimpses of Team Meeting