#195
For the milestone meeting #600 of the Chennai Wordsmiths Toastmasters Club, there was a story writing contest wherein we had to submit about 600 words on 'my lockdown story.' I won the ice breaker contest (posted on April 2nd) was the first runner-up for the story contest. Here's the story I submitted:
It was a usual morning in the first week of April. I woke up, made breakfast, packed lunch for me and my husband, and started to office in the cab. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We’d only heard of something called the coronavirus, a new type of disease that was spreading across China and places like Vietnam and Thailand. Once I reached office, I opened my email, only to find that a company-wide notice sent regarding working from home for the next 2 months. Two months? For this so-called 'epidemic'? Seemed a little strange. Nevertheless, we had to abide by it, and I was more than thrilled about it, because at the start of April, I had just launched my very first blog.
That was the beginning of the reality slowly sinking in. What we thought might just be a passing phase and get over in a couple of months is still ongoing. Wearing masks, social distancing, not meeting people in person, sanitising and washing hands more than usual, all this is now part of this new normal, which might as well be called 'normal' behaviour now. Rather than meeting rooms, we had to find ways to deal with poor internet connections and repeating sentences during office meetings. The one hour gala office lunch was now replaced with 1 22-minute episode of The Big Bang Theory, allowing more time for a siesta.
The months of April and May went by fairly quickly, with regards to writing more than 50 blog posts in a two-month timeline while grappling with the 'new normal' of many more meetings at work. Since I had more time in hand at home, I decided to kick my amateur cooking skills up a notch and experiment with baking in a pan. Also, rather than hastily preparing untasted food which was like a lottery, I was able to fine-tune my regular set of dishes to make them better. Decent cake-baking became the new normal in my house. My husband and I also found a free one to two-hour slot that we called 'board game time', which we utilised to play Scrabble or chess.
So far so good, right? Then came June and July, the toughest months to get by this year. Work suddenly became more hectic, I grew tired of spending half my time in the kitchen, and we started ordering in food a lot more. What’s worse, I couldn’t focus on my blog either! Amidst all this, however, the silver lining was that I had borrowed over 30 books from my parents so I had ample time to catch up on my reading. That kept me going for those two months.
Then came August and September. The start of fresh, new beginnings. I regained my focus, became more organised in most aspects of my life, and indulged myself in daily meditation to make me calm and composed. Since the previous two months had me eating a lot of junk food, I had to tap into my creativity and find ways to bring back healthy eating like oats into my regime, coupled with fitness goals. My immediate goal was to fit into my 'April clothes!' The cashier at the nearby supermarket was initially puzzled at my unusual purchases like flax seeds and brown eggs. Other purchases included Muesli over idli, 'Aval nice' over rice, and ghee over cheese. These two months too, were as exciting as the previous two pairs of months, where I’d taken part actively in new, unique activities. Here too, the silver lining was my finally joining Toasmasters, after giving a pep talk to myself since a year ago! That journey has been great so far too.
Overall, if you look at different aspects, I’ve either improved or stayed reasonably on the better side. My weight alone, if plotted, would look like a normal distribution graph - low in the initial months, peaked for a while after that, and gradually come down to low once reality hit me. Despite this year being an unpredictable roller coaster, I think it went well. Rather than a 'lockdown' story, it has been a 'set free' story for me. I’ve gotten a fresh perspective from being boxed within the house. I’ve rediscovered myself in ways like never before, and become braver, more confident, and a holistic individual.
The lockdown lifestyle has also taught me to appreciate the small things in life. I’ve been ever so grateful to be able to afford the things I can, to be able to spend time with others, at least over the phone, to be able to help those in need, and to find inner peace within myself along with sparking joy in creative output sessions. I hope and pray for those whose lives have not been as enriching or even worse due to this pandemic to get back on their feet as soon as possible.
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