#DayTwo

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

-Aldous Huxley

Day two started with the morning news of more and more people breaking the curfew, roaming around in the streets and increasing the law enforcing workload. The warning of the second wave of COVID-19 in China should teach us to do better than this, but sadly Indians seem to be hell-bent on proving Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s warning of shoot-at-sight orders necessary. The unanimous reasoning behind these wanderlusts appears to be not knowing how to spend time at home, in peaceful solitude or with family.

Don’t worry, I am not here to educate, suggest or dictate you about what all you can do, learn or develop in these 21 days of lockdown—within the boundaries of your home; social media seems to be doing that job just fine. Instead, I thought why not share with you today what I have been doing in this quarantine. After all, the more personal we write, the more global it becomes, or at least I hope so.

A look at the sidebar ‘Count since quarantine...’ may have already given you some clues. Ticking off as many books from my TBR list as possible during this lockdown has turned into an obsession, and so have binging anime and movies. It’s heart-warming to see Marathi books being circulated on WhatsApp along with Google Drive links of movies and drama series. What’s more, I have also been brushing off my dance moves, after the happy realisation of its necessity during my blasphemous attempt of leading the FunTech group dance. My laptop and mobile storage have more free space now, and the bookshelf, cupboard and showcase have been dusted and rearranged multiple times.

Spending an entire day with family seemed like a huge challenge at start, but now each day is turning out to be those family vacations which we never had. Playing carom with dad has become part of the regular schedule and inheriting his Teen Patti and Rummy tricks might come handy in future. Coming to terms with Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma for my sister does not feel irritating anymore. Cooking has become even more satisfactory, now that it’s giving my mom the time she never had to explore her hobbies and to learn that she likes the same author as me is quite exciting. These small things may not sound significant enough, but these are the things completing my bigger picture, which I never realised were the ones missing.

Oh, and just in case if someone finds all of this childish or unproductive—things you can’t add in CV—there’s always the option of short courses on Coursera, edX and similar platforms, not to forget blogging :).

Why not share your plans during quarantine, other than facetiming and playing Psych!, by dropping a comment below?! Eagerly waiting to know them and as always, stay safe and stay invested!

P.S. In case you are looking for some inspiration, check out Institute of Chemical Technology’s fine arts club Meraki’s Instagram account meraki_ict (https://www.instagram.com/meraki_ict/) for awesome artworks on daily basis. They have been doing an amazing job of providing everyone with creative distractions during these hard times.