Pass that "Energy"

The Year 2019, ended pretty well, for me, wherein I was in the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow from the last four months. The routine was perfectly set, in the form of, classes, exams, business cases, new friends, festivals, chilling winters, drinks, parties, and running or exercising in the lush green campus followed by the food in the mess.

January 2020 I started a new journey of my life with an assurance of finally continue living in India for longer, and relocated to Mumbai, in the modernized PG, located in one of the crowded areas. Since I have been on run throughout my life, it hardly took me a couple of hours to get used to the new place, city, people, and atmosphere.

I was working from home since the day I started my job, which was something new for me, I was getting accustomed to the new daily routine and days started passing, wherein, my basic routine was to get up, freshen up, cook breakfast, order lunch, listen to music, watch the news, work, build proposals, business models, calls, eat, sleep and repeat. In the duo course, I didn't realize that I am punishing my body once again by not punishing it well.

It was March 06th, a usual unflavoured and dark morning of a bachelorette wherein I had to take care of all the groceries, cleaning, and all the daily chores, above all, a hint of covid19 started hitting hard as well. Almost all the time I was locked in my room and applied 0.1% of my extra brain on unwanted things.

I was cooking breakfast for myself when I saw a guy smiling at me while he was filling water from the RO, I smiled back, but, we never exchanged any Hi or Hello. The same evening we crossed paths again, and this time he initiated the conversation with a formal Hi, and soon we started talking to each other, finally, after spending a couple of months in Mumbai, I had a friend with whom I can talk, was my first reaction to him.

Days passed and the time came when the lockdown was announced, for me, it was perfectly fine as I have been working from home and got used to it, but for him, for Sandeep, my new friend, it seemed to be a difficult task, as this was the first time he was away from home, despite such a challenging professional life of 10 + years, almost, all the time he was with family. So he missed his wife and family, who are living in Kolkata, miles away from him.

We decided to meet at the terrace, daily at18:30, post-work, to converse and support each other in this difficult time. That one hour we were literally talking about global politics, covid19, it's impact, sustainability, changing ecosystem, circular economy, GDP, travel, books, articles, and whatnot, and soon we started motivating and learning from each other.

Days again passed, and the first lockdown was over, and second, was announced by the honorable Prime Minister of India, this time Sandeep was losing hope, working in the hospitality sector, moreover, city head in the same company whose PG we were living in, he was of the idea that he might lose his job, as the company was hit hard due to COVID.

Meanwhile, COVID cases were on a rise in that area, soon it was 10 positive cases in the 300 meters vicinity of the building. We decided that here onwards, we will not meet and will just converse on the phone. Days again passed and numbers increased. It was 18th April, he asked me to meet at the terrace, we met, and he insisted on changing the building from this area to another, in a posh area, 5 km away, where no case was reported by then.

20th April, we moved, with permission from local police and building authorities, it was a sigh of relief, though, now, we have to share a room, but the room is huge, with the beds at the opposite corner and bathroom for each, again a common kitchen, but shared among few others and us, a giant window for the sun to penetrate early morning, unlike the last room which was dark as hell. Open and wide roads, green locality, the educated crowd following social distancing while purchasing daily groceries. Almost a 180 degree leap in our lives.

Sharing a room with someone I met a few weeks back was nothing new for me but I haven't shared a room with someone in a while, it seemed okay, until, the first morning, wherein he opened the curtain wide, and let the sunrays lighten up each corner of the room, for me that was new. His living style was quite normal which is followed by every Indian or a Hindu especially, the way which in modern terms we call "way of living", whereas I was living a unique style every time according to the place where I was putting up my base from last so many years. But, I had an urge to learn his way of living, and I started following that up.

Immediately my classes started, and he became my mentor, I told him that I have been practicing yoga from last 15 days, and not drinking or smoking from last 30 days, he was impressed, but he wanted me to improve my overall appetite by eating healthy and vegetarian, I listened gracefully and started following his daily routine, of waking up, listening to prayers, eating 3 proper meals but light food, and soon I started feeling the energy in my abdomen.

Its been 10 days I haven't consumed a gastric medicine which I was having daily from the past many years, in fact, I lost 7 kgs of extra pounds, breathing, pulse, and blood pressure has come to normal. In a nutshell, in the last 40 days or so, I met a person who motivated me to change my lifestyle, who helped me escape from the hotspot zone, who acted as an angel in the time of need. I reciprocated the same, I motivated him, inspired him to give back to the society, lift him up, cheered him, as he incurred a 70% pay cut for the next four months.

Today all of us have enough time to introspect, and thus, I take covid19 as a boon that came to help humanity learn its mistake. Post-Industrial revolution, we humans are working like machines, we destroyed the food-chain, the ecosystem, and the entire universe, today when I see water bodies regenerating, biodiversity flourishing, I take a sigh of relief, I bow down to the creator and thank him for helping me evolve in my journey of life, from once a heavy consumer to a minimalist today, I flatten my curve, inch by inch, day by day, by learning.

My theory of evolution made me realize that someone is there to pass that "energy" to you, all you have to do is learn and don't restrict yourself, don't let the complex strike in any way.

Just imagine it took us ages to differentiate between the essential and the non-essential commodities and now when I know where I can save my money, my health, and my mental peace, why won't I? I will continue the same lifestyle post lockdown end and things normalize, will you? I will become a responsible consumer. will you?

I will assist the world in inclusive growth, to reduce the gap, to uplift the poor, to invest in relationships, to motivate others, to impact the triple bottom line, to follow social distancing, to consider health and hygiene above everything. Will you?

Will you learn from yourself and from the master? Are you, your own Master?

SHIVAM BATRA