A Time of Euphoria!
It was March 2020 and the normal semester stress took a low turn as the mid-semester break approached. Hardly did we know that a week’s trip to home shall become such a delightfully long stay.
The pandemic, as unexpected and awful an event can be, dropped like a gigantic boulder in our lives. Uncertainty of events related to work life bothered a large fraction of population. For many humble households, the pandemic served nothing but anxiety of dwindling business and occupation. As the shock of the pandemic starts fading away gradually, it has left everlasting marks on our individual lives. As humans, we have inherent tendency to dwell upon what the future has in store for us, the bright future! Well, now, didn’t a small percentage of that attitude changed into being grateful for the present, and the people around us? I believe we have started finding joy in little things. The pandemic has obligated each one of us to introspect and retrospect our lifestyle. Apart from all the grief and destruction caused in 2020, apart from hundreds and thousands of loved ones who departed us, loss of livelihood, feeling of abandonment, havoc on economy, and apart from all other horrifying experiences we faced or heard about in 2020, the pandemic gave a chance to develop a new outlook towards life. Why not have a conversation about the positive side? In this short piece of writing, I have described how pandemic reshaped the lifestyle of my family and how in general, it made us realise the importance of people around us.
Fig 1: A normal evening on my flat’s terrace. The number of people are still less on this particular day. The evenings gradually passed by and became one of the important events of a day in lockdown.
A major impact was us getting habituated to the ‘online mode’. The need of the situation demanded us getting online, as it rapidly deemed into ‘new normalcy’. We had extended family meetings on Zoom in which all the three generations joined together. People acknowledged the existence of video calls as if they were even a possibility. From mobile data we shifted to WiFi upon the commencement of online classes. However, let us go beyond the virtual and online world. The world beyond ‘online’ has quite more to offer. Though March 2020 was the period of utter confusion, I rejoiced at the back of my mind that I finally have sometime for myself and I can think about other things apart from academics. These other things definitely include lost childhood hobbies and desire to learn and explore new things. I loved capturing photos of spaces, nature and objects. The pandemic gave me several such opportunities as we welcomed a new daily routine.
As the chances of acquiring COVID-19 increased, we vigilantly paid attention to the stuff bought at home and definitely, vegetables topped the list. In the pre-covid time, the vegetables, if required were washed just prior to cooking them, however now, they were directly splashed into a tub of water. In the initial days of lockdown, the work from home regime was still not introduced and people were turning wearisome sitting the entire day in the house. That’s when a new routine kicked in and people in my flat started gathering on the terrace. The evening hours passed by walking and chit-chatting on all the matters around the globe on the previously deserted terrace, and sometimes the folks were so carried away in the affairs that it was soon dinner time, voila! The pandemic is a harbinger of change in our relations with other people. We started realising that we have neighbours and friends physically present around us with whom we didn’t had a hearty laugh in ages.We connected emotionally with our loved ones on a much stronger level now, and trust that no matter what happens, they shall always stand by us. We started valuing each other.
Fig 2(a) Freshly bought vegetables spread out after washing. A pleasant site in the kitchen!
Fig 2(b): Some more vegetables and fruits in the kitchen. I clicked a lot of such pictures. They are so colorful!
While at home, my mother definitely, got a chance to force me improve my life skills, and cooking topped this list. To know how to cook is a life skill every person must know irrespective of any bias. People were stuck in cities far from families when the lockdown was announced in different places. In such times, when one is independent for survival- tasks, life becomes easier and the stress reduces. Definitely, I learned cooking and cooked a variety of dishes at home. On birthdays throughout the year, we baked a cake at home instead of bringing one from a bakery. I explored the possibilities of amusement and learning outside the digital world. Trying out new dishes at home was a thoroughly joyful experience. Therefore, the lockdown witnessed a complete change in the menu at home, with space for variety and experiments. One of the most common routine changes, specially in the lves of tennagers in my age group was to be heavily indulged in routine tasks, like sweeping, mopping, washing, etc. These are horrendously tiring tasks, however, I saw that it was not me working alone, rather a distribution of work at home resulted in high efficiency and everyone got leisure time. Helping people is indeed a great deed, whether it be involved in a social activity in the disastrous time, or a tiny helping hand at home, it counts and eases everyone’s life.
Fig 3: Some white-sauce pasta and a pineapple cake! These are two of the dishes I tried at home during lockdown, definitely with complete assistance from my mother.
As I started growing up and came in high school, I lost myself amidst the pressure of studies and competitive exams. Back at college, I got to explore and become a part of so many new stuff that my childhood hobbies like painting and reading were lost long ago. This might be a common story for many people of my age. Hardly, we are able to follow our passions and side interests. However, many studies have shown that for a fulfilling life, a balance of work and such activities is extremely important. In the lockdown, I got a chance to uncover these frames too. I painted, read and definitely, made the trending Dalgona coffee too! I had never explored trekking visiting sites in my city previously. On Sundays, at my stay at home, we started going on long morning drives visiting breathtaking places that I didn’t even know existed.
Fig 4:Two of my paintings get on the wall! A flower pot and a blue van symbolising travelling!
Fig 5 (a) and (b): Sunday Funday! A morning drive to Timbi Lake in Vadodara, known as the shelter for migratory birds.
Fig 5(c): Yet another Sunday morning. Me and my mom on the banks of Mahisagar River. Masks on!
The pandemic has made all of us question time and it’s importance. Is time in abundance, is it forever? No! Rather, seize the moment, as they say Carpe Diem. The cities became cleaner as the vehicle smoke reduced. People started spending more time with families and loved once. People started investing in their hobbies, truly understanding that life is too short. We started caring for nature and limited our consumption of all sorts. We started adjusting according to circumstances. The list of positive effects on some part of the population can go on. In my opinion, we must be grateful and take learnings for a lifetime. Afterall, a pandemic shall turn out to be unaffordable next time to show us the beauty of little things! Can we request the government to organise such a lockdown once every year if it is in common interest?
Note: All the images are clicked by the author using Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi Note 9.
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