Did you Unlock during lockdown?

These past few months of ambiguity have been difficult, to say the least, as we found ourselves caught unaware in a ‘never- before’ and hopefully ‘never-after’ situation. The novel concept of lockdown and consequent WF(rom)Home and WF(or)Home brought a whirlwind of professional and personal commitments along with a unique set of challenges. While the pandemic has filled us all with fear, hope and worry in equal measure, my mantra to stay afloat has also changed with every phase.

Mantra for this phase: ‘This too shall pass’

In retrospect, the initial phase seems like a prologue to something huge, and we didn’t know ‘what next?’ As people started settling into their new routines while confined in their homes, they also started experimenting with their culinary skills. The next obvious step was of course to flood social media with pictures of food, even from the first-time cooks who were trying their hands at every possible dish.

By god! I never knew what the ‘love for samosas’ meant until I almost started seeing them in my dreams after the barrage of Social Media pictures :) BTW the same Samosa specialists “Makers and Showers” came back after two months, having lost weight too. Puzzled, I wondered how people were making time for all this while I was still busy playing the role of bai cum cook cum gardener… the list is unending (we Indians are a pampered lot! Realized the value of our domestic help finally).

While on the professional front I saw people tapping into their learning potential with everything online (attending courses, the refreshed spotlight on webinars) and emerging as masters of new skills. Here I was working longer hours, even harder, trying to give it my best while still staying sane!

Mantra for this phase: ‘One day at a time, gotta keep that in mind’

Now we’re slowly finding our feet and trying to adjust to what is being called the ‘new normal’. This has also given me a new found sense of clarity, especially when it comes to just how much positive growth has come from the tumultuous times. We need to be thankful to the virus for bringing out the ‘Humane factor’ in us humans, as we became more empathetic, developed better connections with fellow beings, started valuing things which more often than not were taken for granted, and took note of seemingly smaller things in life that would have otherwise gone unnoticed in our fast paced lives.

On 29th Feb (it’s a leap year, yes there were other reasons to remember 2020), a stray cat in our community which we had been feeding, decided to give birth to 7 kittens at my place, which initially was a beautiful experience but soon became a challenge as from “no experience” in pets to having 8 of them around suddenly felt like our house had become home to more than 3 times our normal :) Today, as I write this, I am happy to have seen all of them grow (all alive n kicking) into playful kittens who were also a much needed stress buster for us while in house arrest. 

Togetherness” has been redefined and found an all new meaning which I also witnessed during my parent’s golden jubilee anniversary last week. To celebrate the BIG milestone, senior citizens (talking about 70 years+) and kids (5 years +) were the most active and curious to explore all new webinar software in the first of its kind virtual celebrations in the family. It showed just how adaptive and resilient even the older and younger generation can be. Keeping up curiosity at any age is vital. Not only did this show how much they valued each other, but the fact that this celebration became memorable as it possibly got families who may not have attended the physical celebrations.

To bring home the point with an example closer home (read: SRI-B), I was mighty impressed by the success of our virtual internship program at work. Initially apprehensive about the outcomes, I was taken by surprise as these young professionals shared insightful project reports which possibly wouldn’t have been any different even if they interned with us in the traditional way.

Maintaining that balance between work life and home necessities has seen the best of us emerge from within the cocoon. Although I haven’t been able to master a new subject, I could revive my reading and also reawakened an old skill thanks to my 9-year-old daughter who would want me to be an equal partner with undivided attention to what we were doing ‘together’.

Guilty of not having spent enough time with her, my priority is to make sure that she’s learning and growing too. One simple way was to pick up a pencil and draw, more importantly draw together. What this resulted in was a beautiful experience for me and something which I could never have thought of doing before lock down.

Here are some creations :) 

In the meanwhile, nature also gave me ample opportunity with its mystic hues to unlock my passion for photography and of course our flagship #SamsungNote10 plus came handy. Thank you camera team (#nofiltersused as #nofilterneeded) 

Mantra for this phase: Keep Calm and UNLOCK your Potential to be the BEST version of YOU!

Now that we have ushered in ‘Unlock 1.0′ and are still trying to fathom how it’s going to unfold, with contention of bandwidth at home with Homeschool, multiple UCs/VCs, TV running at the same time and new perspectives emerging, how about sharing your stories of what you Unlocked during the lockdown? Would love to hear your experiences of learning and creativity. And yes, even if you didn’t unlock anything, never mind! Because if you managed to simply stay sane while juggling your work life, home life and hobbies as this pandemic unfolded, that itself is a BIG feat that’s worthy of applause.

Mantra now: We have emerged Better and Stronger. Bring it on I say!