The 14 Days

Text by KK Chong and David Nakayama, DET Corp Comm

No thanks to the pandemic, finally I’ve managed to make my way back home to Singapore after 14 months and two weeks away. I’ve heard many stories about the boring 14 days of quarantine that await me and the boring food and mind-numbing Netflix marathon.

Apart from visiting my family, I’ve planned this trip to coincide with the government’s vaccine jabs and catch up with old friends returning from abroad during the same period. What I’ve not planned is the kind of cathartic experience in the next 14 days.

Upon arrival, I was fortunate to be assigned a business hotel downtown with a great view and decent food. There was hardly time for boredom, not much excitement either, during the 14 days with conference calls, emails, Powerpoints, and more emails. When it’s time for dinner, some days I get surprise deliveries from friends and some days I will browse through all the local foods I’ve missed and then order too much.

There was no Netflix marathon (since I don’t watch enough online movies to justify having a membership) but instead, I was kind of forced to watch a lot of cable news since there were limited good movies on the cable channels. Weekends are indoor workout days. And finally, I’ve been sleeping more than five hours daily for a full 14 nights.

Apart from work, meals, exercises, and housekeeping, there was no distraction from cocktail bars, dinner appointments, unnecessarily long gym sessions and grocery shopping. Therefore, between 7 pm to bedtime at midnight on a normal quarantine day, I’ve some time to read up and clear up personal things that I’ve been procrastinating. From small issues like cleaning up my Desktop files to bigger issues like investment options. 

All in all, I’ve realized I can live with much less, and not leaving the room doesn’t mean I am doing less. I came out of the quarantine feeling more rested, more work done for myself, more aware of the global COVID-19 situation thanks to the news constantly playing in the background, and realizing that the freedom I have is not a given. It’s not a vacation for sure, but it’s certainly not boring.

In this May Day special issue, we introduce our brave COVID responders at DET, in the Focus section, who work every day to keep us safe and help us provide for our families during the pandemic. In the Town Hall column, DET president Jackie Chang has a special May Day video message for all Deltans in our regions.

In the Onsite section, our DET Voices audio series captures the real voices of our DET COVID response team on the field and our article on emotional health during the pandemic addresses important issues that can affect everyone.

We also put the spotlight on the meteoric rise of Delta Group lynchpin- Delta India! In our Up Close column, we meet our new Delta India Managing Director Mr. Niranjan S. Nayak. In the Onsite section, we hear from the head of Delta India manufacturing Booby Lai. In our Focus section, the Delta India CIS head Deepak Singh Thakur shares about the all-in-one data center solutions for the Indian market.

Other regions and business activities featured in this issue include: Innergie’s CSR campaign to stop e-waste in Thailand, Eltek’s successful island power project in Singapore’s Raffles Lighthouse station, and Delta Australia PVI business head Shane Arnold’s trip to one of the largest lithium deposits in the world.

In the Our Success section, we celebrate the milestone merger of Eltek Australia and Delta Australia, DET’s first Leader rank in the Global Child Forum Southeast Asia benchmark and the dazzling 50 Year gala in Bangkok. In our CSR section, you can learn more about our latest donation to a local hospital for COVID protective equipment and the Delta Angel Fund 2021 launch.

As we enter the darkest hour of COVID before the dawn of vaccines, let’s all do the right thing to protect ourselves, our workmates and our families. If you want to have peace of mind in the midst of plague, you can first make sure you do everything possible to stop the spread. Everyone’s small effort can create a big positive impact.

About the Author (DET Corp Comm)

KK Chong and David Nakayama

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