Ten wonderful things the lockdown has taught us.....

India confirmed the first case on Corona Virus... on 30th January in Kerala's Thrissur district in a student who had returned home for a vacation from Wuhan University in China. Next cases on February 2nd and 3rd in the same state. i.e. Kerala from people returning from Wuhan. Cases started reporting from people returning from abroad and India government declared a lockdown in the country from 25th of March,2020. By then the number of confirmed cases reported was 618.

And today as we stand in Unlock phase1 we ponder, so what did this lockdown teach us? My learning from this lockdown was:

1. To love nature and take care of it.

The pollution all around kept the birds away. The air was pollution-free, and we woke up in the morning with the chirping sound of the birds who have returned. Nature has gone back to its past glory. No flights, no cars, no bikes on the road, hence the air is clean and we breathe pollution-free air. The peacocks and ostriches are dancing and prancing on the road. A delight to see. Men in literal cages and animals roaming free. The reverse of what has been going on for ages.

This does not mean we can be complacent with the #save the nature project but we need to know our limits and the limit nature will allow us to twist and tweak it.

2. Appreciate and love your family and friends

It was all work and no fun. Too tired to even catch up with my extended family or friends. WhatsApp jokes were dis-interesting unless it told me something about my work or office related. Small joys and fun missed out. The two-and-a-half months of quarantine made me anxious and edgy on how are they, whether all safe. I started enquiring about them. Noticed how grown up my kid is whom I had taken for granted. Cooked her tasty meals, which were long forgotten. I missed all the minor details of my life. I learnt to live again.

3. Not to take anyone in life for granted

In the initial phase, life was nightmarish without our maids whom we had all taken for granted, now two months and third month going, it doesn't seem that difficult and now we appreciate all the more, the physical labour they put in to keep our house clean. Their plight during the lockdown made me more unhappy and their pain compared to what we are facing.

4. Learning to live with less

With all the splurging in the shopping mall and supermarkets and e-commerce portals, life was painful in the beginning. Though I was not missing the shopping malls, however missing the non-essential impulsive buying on the e-commerce portals. Only essential products were being delivered and essential services operative. Life taught me to save more money. Yes, something no devastating financial mess also could teach me. I learnt to spend less and save more, which made my Mom happy.

5. Being patient with people

Before a five minutes wait at the ATM or shopping mall queue infuriated us, when we thought people not knowing how to operate an ATM should come in off-hours to learn its technicalities. Now waiting with patience and respecting his/her time has become the order of the day. And with more and more respect, we waited with patience for the other person to complete his transaction in the ATM or complete vegetable shopping(since no malls now).

6. Being thankful to people

In the state of West Bengal, India, we had this super cyclone "Amphan" hitting the coastline and adjoining districts at 155km/hr wind speed so it was another dagger on the wound. Mother Nature rubbed salt on the already wounded people. Trees and electric poles uprooted and cables lying everywhere. This was novel Coronavirus + Super Cyclone= devastation for Kolkata. People were out helping each other in the smallest way and humanity showed itself in the biggest way. Doctors and medical personnel fighting for Corona Virus and Forest department and Fire department fighting to clear the cluttered roads and pavements. It was a scene where you maintain social distancing and help people to re-establish their lives. We had taken their occupation for granted before, but gratitude has now taken over for their service and existence.

7. Upgrading professional skills

Lockdown has taught us to search for hitherto unknown and unappreciated skills within us... With the workforce down to almost 5% attending office, it has forced the rest to work from home with a 50% cut in salary or no salary at all... This forced them to think of other ways of earning. Life had to go on and we had to meet the basic essential ends, so different modes and means of earning also motivated people... Online gigs have become popular. Hence people had to upgrade their talent and skills to meet the deficit.

8. Online Method of teaching by schools

The schools have learnt that there are other methods to educate students other than the traditional offline classroom coaching they have done for ages... They have now shifted to online apps to continue with the classes and complete the syllabus. Children are enjoying this new mode of teaching which is giving them more free time to concentrate on other vocational activities too...

9. The humanitarian face of humans

Men have loaded and reloaded their coffers with money, with many not knowing where to spend. People have given grant now to the PM cares fund where even 10 rupee matters to fight COVID 19. The human face of a human being has come into the fore. Many schools have done away with the first three academic session fees, many of us have provided our help with the salary for the two months which they could not attend. So what is this? My dear friends, it is the face of human beings hitherto unknown.

10. Keeping ourselves fit during the lockdown

Many of us who had to rush out of our house to catch that bus or train for our office and missed the exercise or yoga lessons which will keep us fit for a long time. We are aware of their benefits but full of excuses for not using them. The lockdown has bought these back in our lives. Now rising early, we can complete our regular exercise/yoga lessons with no need to rush our schedule.

So we are managing our time, becoming more human and most of all loving each other and thanking God for allowing us to stay healthy during this lockdown period...