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!
