Reflections on A Month in Lockdown
I have been at home for the last five weeks now due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. This has been an interesting last one month. And I consider myself very fortunate and privileged that my last month has been “interesting”.
I have not been — thankfully & so far— affected by the Corona Virus. I had to do only some minor adjustments and continue working as usual (work from home). I work in the software industry which has probably faced the least effect of the lockdown. I am not a doctor risking my life to save lives. I am not a delivery person moving to several places (and risking my life) to help others eat their daily meals. I am not a policeman or a military guy tasked with keeping things in order. Essentially, I am nothing but a useless person staying at home. My only contribution to the society is to stay at home and ensure I’m net-zero to the country and not net-negative. Am I thankful for all this? I’m definitely safe(r) because of this.
This period has also taught me something very important that I hope (sincerely hope) to take forward once the lockdown is over. That is, the utter uselessness and wastefulness of consumerism. In the past five weeks, I have not ordered food from outside (Swiggy/Zomato etc.) even once though these services are operational. There have been times when Sukriti & I had a strong urge to get an ice cream. We have almost ordered ice cream from Swiggy multiple times but retracted at the very last minute — because why take the risk? Its amazing how that urge vanished after an hour. We have been consuming only home cooked meals and we have survived! No restaurants, no food deliveries, no street-side Pani Puri. And despite not working out, we have not gained any weight.
We have not gone to shopping malls, not bought any new clothes, and — our worst habit — not placed a single order on Amazon/Flipkart. I have not seen those brown cardboard boxes for five weeks and I am still not missing any consumable in my life so far. Our shopping carts have only comprised of aata, dal, sabzi, fruits (and diapers!) — the daily essentials required for our survival. Why was I buying so many things? Why was I spending so much money on needless things? Yes, my home is stocked up with all the non-essentials (including TV and Netflix) but so was the case one year back. And the year before that. The only change that has reprioritised my necessities is the lockdown.
I’m reading daily about how the air is cleaner, the sky is bluer, the rivers are clearer and the nature is reclaiming itself. It is mind boggling how humans have destroyed the nature endlessly through thousands of years. A single month of lockdown has made us realise that. A single month! And there are small things that I’ve experienced myself that has led me to conclude how the earth is a better place to live after just one month of lockdown. I see hundreds of birds outside my balcony every morning and evening. April has not been as hot this year as it was in the last few years (I have not used the AC even once this summer). Blue sky has now become a habit and I’m able to see stars at night (something which was not possible earlier in Bangalore). Air feels cooler and fresher when it touches my skin.
Coming back to me, I have started to appreciate my privileged life and I’m definitely introspecting how wasteful my lifestyle has been. The biggest advice I have read to utilise this lockdown is to learn new skills. Well, one of the biggest “skills” I can learn is to continue this minimalistic lifestyle once life resumes its normal course. If not continue, at least partially or significantly reduce my incessant consumer-centric lifestyle. If it does happen, even partially, I’ll disregard all new skills in favour of this one.
