Living in lockdown can be easy for some but quite tough for many. The lockdown created started problems for a lot of people, but for some it came as a blessing in disguise fulfilling the dream of a long, laidback vacation at home. Secretly, I have been loving this lockdown and I wouldn’t mind if it got extended.
More ‘Me’ & ‘Family Time’
I am getting a chance to pursue various hobbies now and indulge in activities that I usually skipped due to busy schedules. I can’t remember the last time I could play Monopoly and Tambola with my mom without any disturbance and now every night in my house is game night.
In these unpredictable times, everyone is trying out new things to do. Some are trying to improve their cooking or are catching up with old friends. People now have more time to spend with each other. Even I am doing some writing on Quora and guess what, I got more than 35 thousand views on my content and I am quite amazed! Many are using this time to up-skill themselves that is why many free learning platforms like EDX are recording high user traffic I have also enrolled in courses for coding and have recommended the courses to my friends also.
Lockdown also means that no domestic help can come to the society that is why family members are now dividing chores between themselves. This has made me realise whatmy Mom goes through every day.She is truly a Superwoman. I bet all moms are! I used to complain to dad that our house is so small , but when I tried to mop it other day I realised how big it was. Together as a family we partook in our house management that was a new experience for us.
The Flip Side
This lockdown isn’t all good news, as for many it has come as their worst nightmare. Yes, I am talking about the migrant labour community who have been hit hard with the Covid lockdown. This labour migration is bad for the future infrastructural development of India. My father who works as a Management Head of India operation in a big construction company has also expressed his concern about labour migration. He talks about the effects it will have on future projects.
It has also been a tough time for the house-helps who have not been able to come to work due to precautionary reasons. Livelihoods of a lot of migrant and daily wage earners, especially the likes of rickshaws, auto drivers, road-side vendors have been tremendously impacted.
Our little contribution to this labour migration is that we all have decided in our society to pay the full salaries of all the domestic help and car cleaners even for the months they are unable to work for us. All residents believe that more monetary help should be provided to them as they must be having a hard time living when there is no work available for them and prices of all the essential goods have exponentially risen.
We should also praise the unsung heroes like the electricians working at the power stations, security guards, plumbers and every other worker because in my view if these guys stop doing their duty, things would have been very difficult for us.
The Old Times & Feels are Back
Nature has also hit a reset button. In my locality we can hear birds are chirping more than before, I don’t know whether they are enjoying the lockdown or cursing us for the tortures we had been doing on them?
Then epics like Ramayan and Mahabharat have been retelecasted which is a boon to our grandparents. Seeing them happy makes us also happy. My mom used to make me sit for one full hour just to watch Ramayan! Well the show has ended finally! Fun fact, Bal Dhuri and Jayshree Gadkar who played Dashratha and Kaushalya were married in real life too!
Living in these unparalleled times we don’t know what is coming next, which is why we should be ready for anything. We would have to live with this virus, following all precautionary measures. So let’s not make the efforts made by the doctors go in vain by roaming out for no reason. Please stay safe and enjoy this lockdown because when this situation will get over and everything will be back to normal, you and I would be saying “I MISS MY LOCKDOWN DAYS”.
About the Storyteller: Shlok Dwivedi is a DPS Gurgaon student and enjoys writing, surfing on Quora and doing MUNs. He aspires to become a data scientist.
Excellent article Shlok. Good to know about your thoughts during lock down.