By the time this post gets published, India would have been under full or partial lockdown for 79 days. During this time, I have not left my home and have not received any visitors to meet me. All contacts with the outside world has been through telephone, texting and email. Other than my immediate family who share my home with me, I have not met anyone.
The first thing that the lockdown did to me was to stop my daily supply of newspapers and my morning indulgence of seven crossword puzzles. Luckily for me, the supply has started again a few days ago, though one paper, containing the toughest puzzle, which used to come from Mumbai is yet to restart in Pune where I live. None of the periodicals that I have subscribed to, have resumed supplies again.
This spare time was spent on looking for news on my smartphone which led to getting involved in many debates / arguments with members of some groups with differing ideologies and points of view. An obsession also developed to keep going to the smart phone to check for new postings on WhatsApp and twitter.
In this process I lost my power of concentration and was unable to indulge in my next favourite pastime of reading books. I was simply unable to focus and I discussed with another friend who also had the same problem but, who had diagnosed it as anxiety syndrome. I promptly contacted my Psychiatrist, who confirmed that it was indeed so and also that it is quite widely prevalent now. He suggested that I should not worry about it and prescribed some supplements which improved my concentration and I am now able to read books.
I started attending a web meeting of a social group of which I am a member and it has been a completely new and fascinating experience to me.
Another development was that my eyesight started getting to be blurred, and this was diagnosed by my Ophthalmologist as being due to too much time spent on the smart phone. He too said that this too is quite widely prevalent and asked me to reduce the time I spent on it. I duly dropped out of some WhatsApp groups after explaining and apologising and hopefully, things should improve in the next few days.
I haven’t been able to get a hair cut and so the friar’s fringe is now beginning to look like a strange type of duck tail.
I have been able to meditate for longer and this has been the greatest development due to the lockdown.
Other than these, I have had a fairly comfortable time being fussed over by my son and daughter in love. Lucky me!
This is my take on this week’s Friday 6 On 1 blog post topic. The other five bloggers who write on the same topic every Friday are Sanjana, Padmum, Raju, Shackman and Conrad. This week’s topic was suggested by Shackman. Please do go over to their respective blogs to see what they have to say on the topic. Thank you.
You have laid out an interesting set of responses and I appreciate your candor. What you say makes sense (as usual) and I’m glad you are finding solutions. I’m also glad you have the kids there. I can’t imagine what people confined alone are experiencing.
Conrad recently posted..What has the lockdown done to/for you?
Thank you.
I loved how short, humorous and honest this post was! brilliant job, as always.
Thank you.
What Has The Lockdown Done To/For ME?
1) The gym was closed so with less activity and too much quarantine snacking, I’ve gained back all the weight I lost.
2) We have limited our excursions greatly to just grocery shopping and, a couple of times, home improvement stores — wearing facemasks and staying distant from others.
3) No haircut — I generally let it go for quite a while before getting it cut, but it’s now past that point.
4) Staying home, for the most part, has been a bit frustrating, but our lives have not differed too substantially from our norm.
5) I need to get an eye exam to see if it’s time for cataract surgery, but I’m reluctant to make an appointment for now. The cataracts don’t overly adversely my vision yet, though, under some circumstances, there is a little bit of a fog to things.
Our state is experiencing an unexpected rise in community spread cases of COVID so we’re going to continue social distancing as much as we can for the foreseeable future.
When I did a few calculations this morning, I was shocked to discover that, for our state, the mortality rate for people over 65 years old who have been diagnosed with COVID is 9.4%.
Our niece who just finished a couple years of teaching in Kuwait is stopping by tomorrow. It will be our only opportunity to see her before she goes to her new position in South Korea. Our daughter will be coming to visit as well. It will be outside, on the porch, with adequate social distancing and no hugs.
Thank you for being so elaborate Mike. As always, quite interesting and throws light on how you perceive the shutdown.
Well, since you asked, Ramana, my hair looks worse than at any time in my adulthood. I’ve walked our paved walkway so much that I’ve hurt my feet, and must now do a home gym routine to stay fit, I couldn’t have my scheduled cataract operation and have greatly reduced vision. I’ve watched way too much television, especially news about covid, and some days, I must admit, I’ve lost my sense of humor! We have been fortunate in this area to have a low number of cases, and our businesses and activities are beginning to open. I’m really hoping we will see the end of this soon. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to vent …I loved your account of how you coped!
Your vent recorded and appreciated. And thank you for your last sentence.
Thanks for this most personal post, Ramana.
I dropped my engagement with social media and continue to do so. I do the odd instagram post but restrict my engagement to my blog and other blogs now. Hugely beneficial.
I had constant anxiety (unrecognised) in the over 90 days I’ve been in self isolation, but that is not as bad now as I’ve shared it with other kindreds at Zoom meetings. Part of the alleviation was unfollowing the constant sameness of the news as in how many new cases, how many deaths. There is nothing I can do so I stay where my hands are and enjoy what I can do.
XO
WWW
I refuse to read all news about the pandemic and delete all messages that I get on whatsapp on it and ignore them on facebook. I can relate to your enjoying what you do as that is exactly what I do too.
While I miss getting together with friends, I am reluctant to join ZOOM gatherings. I spend all day doing telemedicine appointments and by the end of the day, I don’t want to be talking by video any more.
I can’t say what the pandemic has done to or for me otherwise. I guess it has made me focus a little more on being able to get out into nature.
I refuse to join Zoom meetings on security issues. I do attend just one meeting on Google Meet which is quite effective.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
We lost a family member early on to Covid-19, so we have had a keen awareness of how serious this pandemic can be on an individual level, I feel it deeply.
The lockdown ended trips to buy food, or any other consumer good, which were weekly events. The online shopping for food was difficult to get used to, the pitfalls soon became apparent, after receiving frozen Stuffed Chicken Breasts instead of Frozen Mixed Vegetables, and rotting fresh carrots; I’ve learned not to order certain types of food, and to unclick the “allow substitutions” box!
Other than the fear of losing people, or of experiencing complications from the virus, and limited access to fresh food and consumer goods, life hasn’t changed much. The loss of income during the lock-down, although it has had serious financial impact for us, is manageable so far.
Having said all that, it is odd that Covid-19 provided my husband and I with the Honeymoon we didn’t have! When we became a couple (28 years ago), I was a single parent with two stressed children, life was challenging. My partner and I faced those challenges together, the children came first until they flew from the nest. Then my husband was working six days a week, I worked, and we had little time together. Then came the lock-down. I was here at home, he was here at home, and we got to spend wondrous, nurturing, relaxing weeks together! It was the silver lining for us, under a global cloud.
Maggie Turner recently posted..Day in the Life
Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. I have been a widower the past eleven years and have been confined to my home except for very important meetings for the past three years due to health issues. I therefore did not find it any different other than what I have listed in my post. With the resumption of daily newspapers, I am back to the pre lockdown routine and so am quite comfortable where I am.
When schools were closed my daughter came home for a month which was lovely, I’m working less hours but with government help I am paid more. I have also been able to do some study i wasn’t otherwise able to do.
It’s been good for me, going back to normal might be a challenge 🙂
You are coping very well indeed. I have been following your blog posts and find how you live now quite interesting.