Eight Things at the End of Lockdown

The government has ended the lockdown from midnight today. This was the news all over the media on the 6th of Shrawan. After four months of chaos and staying inside the home, it was finally legal to step out.

My heart filled with joy as I no longer had to jail myself, or charged guilty of going out. And as I was lying on the bed, processing the information, it struck my mind the things I’ve done, I’ve been through this lockdown period. It amazed me, all the emotional rollercoaster I’d been through, the hobbies I caught, and my boredom led to the places.

So let me start from the very first.

When I finally return home

When I finally returned home, the lockdown wasn’t declared yet. And after two days when the officials announced it, I wasn’t serious about it either. Thinking it will last only a week was my first mistake.

With only four pairs of clothes, a laptop and a notebook, I was home. It barely felt like home at the beginning. As I would only be here once a year for a month and the connection faded away. We were treated as guests and everything was fine.

As the lockdown extended, the frustration and fear grew simultaneously. Bounded inside four walls, I finally get to bend with my family on a deeper level. I went through some certain revelations and at times my folks proved me wrong about how I viewed them.

When we talk about spirituality, mythologies, politics, business, plants, and us. We were provided with a safe space to give our opinions, think critically, and accept contradicting beliefs. But life is all guns and roses right, so was my relationship with my family. We would disagree, complain, and get angry but in the end, we sort things out.

The same goes for society. I was raised by this loving society but they say love alone isn’t enough. I found many flaws this time as I looked deeper, the issues are profound and accepted. Things like body shaming, racism, and gender inequality are casual here.

Which leads me to my next experience.

Dealing with society standards

According to my so-called open-minded society, no matter how well-read a woman is, she is useless unless she’s in shape, fair and takes care of the family single-handedly. She should be married soon or she won’t get a nice groom, eat less or you’ll get fat and ugly.

I have been a survivor of these merciless comments from the men and women in my society. And it’s quite depressing seeing them label you without your permission. More depressing than the people you respect have a sickening mindset. They slammed me for my weight, skin and marriage especially.

Ehh, Chori ko ta Behe garne Bela vayexa, Ali dublauna pareo hola aba ta, natra kta pauna Ali Garo hola kii. Aba ta Behe garnu parxa chori, natra ta tero Behe nakhai marinxa jasto xa. and I go like, hyaa aunty yetro dukha garera banako jeu Kaha ghataunu ho, Baru mero weight le garda kosai le malai man paraudaina vane ta tesko ghata Haina ra. Or things like, hahaha uncle na aatinu na, mero Behe Samman Kei vayexa vane hajur ko photo vane nii side ma rakhera Behe garaula nii.

After so many attempts to embarrass them, some successful and others fail, I get tired and hungry and prepare a plate of food take it to my room and eat peacefully.

Which leads me to my fasting regime.

Relationship with fasting and fitness and peace

As said how I was labelled in the society that affected me to some extent and I looked for ways to make me feel better. Which resulted in me starting with yoga, some hardcore fasting, meditation for the peace of mind, and 10,000 steps a day.

So yeah, I continued with the yoga. I have this on and off relationship with yoga, guess I lack commitment towards it. Then the intermittent fasting, which I’ve been following for two years. I usually did 14:10 and 12:12. Which now shifted to 16:8 and 18:6 on normal days, and if some days I ended up with more calories, then I go with a full 24 hours of fasting a week and 36 hours once a month.

I am a Vipassana Sadhika and Art of Living happiness student; I practice an hour of meditation a day and 30 minutes of Pranayama. It’s a lengthy process and requires patience, and sometimes I go off the track as I skip a day or two. But I get myself back together for the things that matter.

Then I try to walk as much as possible. Tracking the footsteps on my phone makes it easier to get going. And the water intake, I’ve set a target for the amount of water to consume in a day, and I make sure that I exceed the goal.

This is how I take care of myself, but my plants can’t. So I take care of my plants and help them grow bigger and healthy.

My growing obsession with plants

I am obsessed with plants, and it’s been some time. So being in the home provided me with the advantage that I get a lot of space to carry it. I spend quality time caring for the plants, watering them, picking up the weed, looking for the variety in the society and asking for some. By now I have some really good plants, starting from Cacti, Caladiums, Begonia, Oxalis, Spider plant, Snake plant, Roses, Money plant, Dhupi plant, and so many more. The herbs shrubs and the trees bring me joy.

Then I did other things to keep me engaged, things that develop the skill and experience.

Hobbies I picked on the way

With all the free time and boredom, I felt sick of staying still. I needed some stimulation for my mind to keep me occupied.

• So I got an idea of mandala art. I watched some videos online, followed some accounts on social media and started practising. I made some arts and it was a good experience overall. It required dedication, some focus and a lot of hard work. Apart from art, the process made me have huge respect for artists as well, now I just appreciate every artwork as I know the efforts it takes.
• Then I learnt a 3/3 Rubix cube. My friend Kanchan is the greatest fan of Rubix cube and solves a wider range of cubes. She used to teach us how to solve problems as well. For which I am thankful to her, and I thought this is finally the time where I can finish what I started back in the earlier semester. So this one is especially for Kanchan that I can now solve the cube and am pretty proud of myself.
• And some sketches, I am not an artist but I sometimes like to give it a try. I ended up destroying the paper and a pencil but nothing good came out of that. But worth a try.
• I also tried some boxing. I’ve always wanted to join a boxing gym so before actually committing to it, I wanted to see if it’s just my mind wandering or I want that. So filled a sack with sand and started hitting it. Not randomly, I watched some videos again online and got going. And I figured out, I might want to carry it on further.

I became a better rider

I love riding bikes, It gives me a sense of power whenever I go chasing the wind. Makes me feel that I have everything in control whenever I put my hands on the handle. I went places, up in the hill, down the road, paved, gravelled, in the mud and the water. I get connected with the earth, with the air and I liked it. The adventures, some almost accidents and I am always looking forward to more.

Lost some precious people

They say Death is the ultimate reality, It is. I lost people close to my heart during this period. It brought me grief as they were my favourite people. Going through this experience provided me with an insight into myself. How I viewed myself, the world and the reality. The uncertainty of life taught me to live in the now and do whatever you want to. Don’t hold happiness for tomorrow, you never know what the future comprises.

Donated blood

Did I tell you that, I donated my blood! It was a special experience for me as it was the first time I did that. There was this event happening in my community on the occasion of BP Jayanti and I was interested. However I was reluctant to express it to my parents as per my thought, they would reject saying it will bring you weakness and all. But they took it rather positively. Dad was like, sure why not, I will take you there and introduce you to people as well. So I gathered 4 more people and me.

But it was my grandfather’s death anniversary, so dad couldn’t take us to the event as he got busy but called his friend who took us to the donation event. I even volunteered in the registration of the names of the donors and more than 60 people doing the good thing. This happened on the last day of the lockdown period.

So this pretty much sums up my four months of lockdown. I mightn’t have included everything as it’s getting long and boring. But you have an idea now right.

So at the end of this Lockdown, I want to end my words praying for world peace and happiness. And if something adds up, I can always write more. Till then, Bye Bye.