Lockdown Life Lessons

As the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the whole wide world very hard, the precautions taken against it have become the biggest repercussions.

The economy is suffering miserably, the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) has come down, the sensex rates have deteriorated, conglomerates, companies and independent businesses are doomed. The plight of people in general, and daily wage-labourers, house-help, hawkers, vendors, freelancers in particular is inexplicable.

Amidst the months-long worldwide lockdown, where we are constantly bombarded and hounded with questions of survival and depressing news of death tolls and increasing number of casualties, we, sitting back at our places are struggling like hell to keep our sanity intact.

It so happened that I had to attend my cousin's wedding on the 11th of March, this very year. As i come from Assam, the pandic had yet not spread in here and there were no number of people infected with the same. Still keeping the global scenario in view, we took all the necessary precautions at the wedding. I am pursuing my post-graduation(final semester) from Gauhati University. The wedding was supposed to held at Jorhat, which was at a distance of three hundred kilometres from Guwahati. I took a leave of seven days from my Professor and attended the wedding. This was the most awaited wedding of the family and our joy knew no bounds. I was going to meet my cousins and all my relatives after so long. The excitement was at its peak. The marriage ceremony, the reception and all other rituals went well. I had a blast being there.

On the 21st of March, I was supposed to return to Gueahati and boom! The Prime Minister of our country announced total lockdown in the country. There I was, stuck at their place for months. I stayed there till the 19th of May. On the 20th of May, I, alongwith my first cousin, booked a car which would take us to Tinsukia(Upper Assam), at my uncle's place, which was at a distance of about one hundred and eighty kilometres from Jorhat. It was a four hour journey. Since then, I have been staying at my Uncle's place, here at Tinsukia.

All throughout this lockdown, I have had many experiences-both good and bad; faced many situations, celebrated many occasions, came across many people-good, bad, kind, cruel, naive and shrewd; attended online classes regularly; participated in a number of National and International Seminars; got myself signed up on Facebook; created my own Facebook poetry page; watched 'n' number of movies; binge watched too many series; made use of time in self-contemplation, self-introspection, self-discovery, self-acceptance, self-exploration; dealt with and did away with negativities; written more number of poetries than ever; embarked on writing blogs(which I used to think was not my cup of tea); gained self-confidence; understood the importance of family, friends and loved ones; derived satisfaction from helping others; helped my younger cousins with their lessons and revisited many shows online. In other words, I gathered so much knowledge, satisfaction and understanding that I feel all enriched and enlightened.

I figured out the fact that only your unflappable calm can help you get through any given situation.

To start with, of late, I have started to understand and indulge myself in self-love and self-compassion, which is something I had always neglected. I used to be extremely self-critical until this lockdown. But now I am very much working on this virtue called Self-assertion. The confidence level in me has increased manifold and it will continue to rise. I have also learnt the art of articulating my thoughts better, and swore on myself about staying positive, come what may.

I am trying to provide ample amount of rest both to my body and mind, which I was unable to, as I had a hectic schedule. I have a more calm mind now. The anxiety level has dropped drastically.

I have learnt to differentiate better between the pseudo-intellectuals and the real ones. These days have made me more positive about life, more confident and more clear about my thoughts. The eternal truth of life is that atrocities and adversities will always be there, but we will have to make our way either by fighting them or by avoiding them. Resilience is something which I have inculcated better in myself and I feel everyone out there should exercise this.

Also, I could comprehend the concept of Karma in a better way. No matter what, Karma will get back at you real hard. We should take charge of all our actions and strive towards doing things which are nothing but good, generous and positive. Believing in ourselves, affirming ourselves will actually manifest our all energies in Nature and out there in the Universe.

I have invested a lot of time in understanding myself and I would also like to advise everyone to be unapologetic about themselves. The ongoing global crisis has made us emphasize the importance of both mental and physical well-being.

It has also taught us to manage our assets and resources in a more efficient manner. Time management, Money management and judicious use of resources used in day to day life, helping others in need are some of the good things being taught to us by the Pandemic. While the Nature is reviving, rejuvenating and replenishing, we are also practising and striving towards a sustainable living.

Generosity is also something I had practised this lockdown by helping people, by providing food and monetary help, fed stray dogs, cats and cows and took care of all other animals in our locality.

Living in harmony is the message which I think the pandemic wants to convey to us. We should therefore take care of ourselves as well as others and try to lead a happy and peaceful life.