It’s July. When the sun sets over the western skies, little golden streaks fill up my room through the window. Then they gradually grow, bathing me selfishly in their warmth but reminding me that the beauty of the day is not over yet. Little children playing childish games in the sand pit, the banter of old ladies, the occasional rustle of the trees and the never fading promise of a nippy evening is a routine this season. I put up my couch next to the window and rest my back awkwardly enough to defy the ergonomics of a rather well designed couch, putting my feet up against the cast iron rails of the window, offering a view of my pedicured feet to the passersby under it. Neither am I a voracious reader, nor am I a movie fanatic. The news about the world does not excite me so much as gluttony and good music. And therefore to satiate my desire to experience the perfect evenings, I often find myself with a bowl of popcorn and songs playing on repeat.
The pandemic has redefined what it is to unwind within the confines of your own home. To be able to rein your unabating desire of picking something here, sorting something there, ordering something here, placing something there, and to be able to let yourself enjoy a quiet hour in the corner of your room is the closest you can get to reviving your otherwise mundane routine that has set in. For inherently introverted people with a limited social circle, life hasn’t changed much except that there is no escape anymore - the kind they need each day to rediscover themselves even if it means finding themselves alone in their car as they drive to work or back, a quick walk to grab a meal by themselves, a casual stroll in the mall, an express job at the salon, and many such little things which helped them snap out of the monotony.
Different people will come out of the pandemic, very differently. Stronger, wiser, leaner, happier, healthier, wealthier (and I am only counting the positives). Unfortunately, I am yet to decide which hashtag suits me the best, which is why there is nothing positive about #self that I have to say. Of course, it has helped me slow down and wean myself from the mad rush that I experienced in the morning hours, it helped me overcome all the guilt as a working mother that I experienced on days when work was disappointing, it gave me a few extra snooze hours and tons of binge watching opportunities while I may not have exploited all of them, it saved me from the Monday morning blues that had started surfacing on Sunday evenings, and the dread of wading through serpentine jams in peak hours.
Like I said, this pandemic is many things all at once, just like this piece that I am writing. The world is never going to be the same again, and possibly even the people that come out of it. I may be an outlier, coming out just the way I was - always wanting to experience the joy of writing.
