The art to Socialize during Social Distancing

A representation of socializing during social distancing

I grew up with the understanding that 'Man is a social animal', so personally I had taken all my friends and family for granted. Walking into a friend's house or a cousin's house any time of the day without informing, was never considered an offense. Catching up for a drink at our favourite pub or any casual joint was always looked forward to. It was during these times that we used to unwind and let down all our stress and be high on laughter and spirit. God has been merciful to me as I always enjoyed the company of a great group of friends. Friends and cousins that I grew up with, and friends that crossed my path as my journey of life continues.

Reminiscence of Socializing in the Past

I believe life is a journey where experiences are the fruits we should enjoy. Like a fruit, our experiences can be sweet, sour, or bitter but we should always learn from them and keep walking. Like most of you, even my memory of my first group of friends was from my school days. I connected with some of them from Grade 3. They are the people whom I grew up with, who taught me the value of friendship, and also had a strong influence on my life. Along with us our friendship also grew leaps and bounds, going to school was never boring and during every new academic year we used to scan the notice board to see if we still shared the same class. As most of us used to stay around the school, the walk back from school was fun to remember. The memory of all of us halting at every friend's house on the way back, fighting over a single lime-juice, our famous egg-puff from our favourite Royal bakery is still afresh. Sometimes we were true gentlemen, who used to escort our girl-friends to their houses before heading back to our haven. Like all good things that come to an end, we left all these behind for our professional courses. In college, I forged another set of friends those with similar interests, passion, and attitude. It was during college that most of us had the experience of working with computers, software, and the internet. Chatting became one of the most popular activities during those days. It even helped some of us to connect with our old friends. That said chatting had its share of fun too, I know few personalities amongst us who had fallen head over heals to fake handles with an attractive profile picture. I did not know back then that the exposure to chatting was going to be a life skill learned for a later time in life.

During our lives, we have seen and overcome many outbreaks like bird flu, swine flu, H1N1, Nipah virus, and so on but it took a coronavirus to lock us down. We were all busy in our own lives that we did not make time to connect with many of our friends. When offices shifted home and going out was restricted by the government, we saw many people moving online to connect back with what they had lost. All of us started connecting with family and friends over online apps. I have personally been part of many Zoom calls, hangout calls, and WhatsApp calls. These calls helped me understand one thing about life, even when it takes us far from each other, there are some special bonds that withstand the tests of time. I can happily say that, I have a few friends and family who still stay connected, rooted, and in touch with each other. 

Hidden Talents during Social Lockdown

This lockdown made me realize that many things that I took for granted were a blessing. The first to be taken away was my freedom of movement and space. Imagine my plight of having a shadow in the form of a wife, moving along with me around the boundary of our four walls wherever I go, reminds me of the Hutch ad "wherever you go I follow". Having found her new interest in exploring TikTok and making videos, my free time at home was spent supporting her new addiction. With restriction in movement, I could no longer meet my cousins nor my friends. Our weekend gatherings were all things of the past. So to elevate our spirits we started to discuss ideas on how to socialize and keep ourselves occupied during the current norm of social distancing. The lockdown brought out the bloggers, artists, and storytellers in many of us.  Women juggled with office work and domestic chores but never hesitated to utilize this lockdown to try out recipes of exotic dishes and few men decided to show the world that, yes! Men can cook, thus food porn cluttered our phones resulting in insufficient storage pop-up messages. 

 As our group of friends were all interested in making visual content, we too like many decided to make and share videos that made us feel ecstatic. With this newfound interest we decided to create a video to promote the importance of having an egg every day in our lives, reminiscing the age-old jingle, 'Sunday ho ya Monday roz khayein Ande'. Below is the video we put together:

Life takes many twists and turns and the ride may not be always smooth. The lesson I learned during this lockdown is that however strong life's current may be, never forget to take a moment to cherish the finer details of life. I will always remember that it took only a virus to bring the world to a grinding halt. So I hope that the compassion developed during the lockdown in all of us may continue to grow and help us socialize even more once the lockdown is lifted. Pray all remain safe and healthy...

A personal Narration on the lockdown situation

Go Corona Go! By the time most of us would have seen or heard about this meme it would have been too late. The below story is a recap of how it all began in our neighborhood and the many changes it brought along in our lives.  

The Beginning: No one is Safe!

That day Bangalore had a slight chill of the receding winter and most of the families were preparing for their summer break. The children were busy with their exams with few of them even preparing for their boards. The news was gaining momentum about an unusual virus in China affecting our respiratory system. Who would have thought in their worst nightmare, that the effect of the virus so far-far away will be felt by each one of us. 

Lockdown pic with mask

The media was quick to inform all of us about the deadly virus and the unique way the infection spreads. Suddenly there was a paradigm shift in the lifestyle of many of us with regards to hand hygiene and social distancing. The use of mask and  hand-sanitizer became part of our life. Slowly rumors started to emerge that government might enforce curfew in many places and food supply can take a hit in the coming days. This information began spreading like wildfire through WhatsApp and other social media apps and before some of us could even digest the news, there emerged a state of panic buying among us. People in India were running around to stack food items, whereas on the other-side of the world we saw people on a mad rush for tissue paper as their priorities were different.

The Lockdown Starts: 24th March 2020

As days went by, the virus continued to spread its grip strongly across the world. Europe, especially Italy was directly impacted as they had very close collaborations with China. Also, the Covid-19 cases were increasing in numbers in countries like USA, Canada, Australia and definitely here in India. The government took charge of the situation to curb the free run of the pandemic in the country. The Prime Minister in his address to the nation suggested all of us to stay inside our house. Only people employed in essential services and medical facilities were allowed to move outside. There was also assurance from the govt that there will be no interruption in the supply of any essential items. With all the support and assurance from the government India went into a 21 day complete lockdown from 24th March 2020. The lockdown also had restrictions on flight travel both domestic and international. 

With days into the lockdown, the once deserted streets and roads became active with guardians in khaki. Samaritans on two-wheeler who tirelessly made sure the essentials were delivered to the comfort of our homes. Volunteers who made items like masks, meals, sanitizers and distributed among the needy. Animal lovers who fed the stray animals like their own pets. Finally our angels from the medical industry, many of whom chose to be with their patients rather than their loved ones was the highest level of support humanity has ever seen.

The above being said, the lockdown also had its share of negativity. We witnessed people violate the rules to wander outside. The exodus of migrant workers in many part of India was a sad sight. The closure of state borders even for the transit of essential goods was not highly appreciated. The news of a person from north eastern part of India being spat at was highly depressing. Worried on a news that the virus spreads though our pets, saw many pet owners abandoning their pets on the street. Many places in India objecting the stay of medical staff in there colony or complexes was not acceptable. Finally the government had to intervene to stabilize the situation. 

The Government ways to Unite and Thank 

India being a land of rich culture, even our government brought out innovative ways to unite and thank people. 

• First we decided to thank all the people working tirelessly to serve the nation during the lockdown. So on 22nd March 2020 at 5 P.M we stood outside on our balcony and clapped, whistled and even banged pots & pans for 5 mins to express our gratitude. as requested by our Prime Minister covered by India Today page

• Second, on 5th April 2020 we decided to show our unity by lighting a lamp for 9 mins from 9 P.M. The message from our Prime Minister on this activity was 

"we must move towards the light. We must take the ones who are affected the most -- the ones with less resources -- towards hope. We must move past the darkness and uncertainty that has been created and go towards the light. We must spread the light everywhere." quoted by Business Today

Today with all of us having successfully completed 34 days of janatha-curfew, we live in hope to prevail over the pandemic and emerge victorious. With the lockdown now extended to May, I hope the government will soon bring out a plan to thank all of us who followed the curfew to gather together for 3-pegs of Old Monk at 3PM on the 3rd of May 2020. Cheers...