Day 20 of Lockdown #COVID- 19

13th April 2020

Diary of a new mother 

My entire series of these 21 days will be based on my experience of being in this lockdown and staying home as a first-time mother of a 5-month-old baby, Anvay. 

Dear Diary,

Since we all got to know that there would be Lockdown Version 2, we were all not feeling any difference thinking that the lockdown was going to end tomorrow. If there was an extension of the lockdown I had to plan my work schedule as I had to take ample precautions if I was going to work and coming home. I was worried about coming home from the hospital/laboratory and feeding the baby. I had to keep adequate time at hand to have a bath, change my dress, and then go near the baby. I felt nervous even as these thoughts crossed my mind. I wanted to feel better and leave the troubled thoughts to the future when I would join work. Yd also advised me not to fret about the future and spoil my present day’s mood. So, I look at some Apps to read books. Juggernaut was offering e-books for free and so were many other Apps like Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle that allowed one-month free subscription and access to their books on the App. Those who had time would have definitely been able to utilize this opportunity to collect books for their children. I was also following audiobooks for children by Karadi Tales where narrations were done by actors/actresses from the film industry. Every day there were book reading sessions on their website and if any toddler had time they would definitely appreciate the storytelling sessions. I was making a mental note of the books and the Apps that I should keep in mind when the time comes to keep Anvay engaged and introduce him to the world of books and stories. I had bought a few board books meant for 6 months+ years babies and kept showing him the pictures and singing to him the rhymes written in them but I wasn’t sure how much he was understanding. All he wanted to do was look at the pictures, feel the book, scratch the pages with his nails, grab them, and put them in his mouth. One of the books had little thinner pages which he had already torn. He gets very excited when I keep books around him. It could be either the color, the texture of the illustration that was attracting him so much. 

This lockdown wouldn’t have been comfortable for anyone without a good internet speed. And with the internet comes the world of entertainment in the form of movies, series, and documentaries on Prime, Netflix, HotStar, etc… It is not just the health care professionals who are fighting hard during this lockdown, but also the people from the entertainment industry who could keep all of us engaged.