Lockdown and Leisure

Leisure

noun

Time when one is not working or occupied; free time.

The fact that I am writing this post after more than a year of writing anything else on this Blog is testament of the fact that I have too much time on my hands. I was lucky enough to have come back home before all of India went into a lockdown. I am now with my family and we divide our chores – my mother does most of the cooking and I do the dishes and cleaning. Thankfully, my office is making us work from home so that keeps me occupied on most days of the week. I never thought I would be glad about having office work but I really am. I am the kind of person who doesn’t like sitting free for even a second. I am constantly reading, watching something, surfing through the internet, or doing something or the other.

In the first few days of the Lockdown, I thought it would only last a month. I was reading and wathcing shows like a maniac. Trying to finish as much as possible. I thought this is the best time I could ever get to read and watch as much as I can. Then the Lockdown kept getting extended. It’s been more than 2 months now and I am falling into a rut again. Though I am still more productive then when I was before the Lockdown.

I had always wondered what would I do if ever I went on a sabbatical. I always thought it would be the best version of my life. I got to experience a mini version of it with this Lockdown and I guess it isn’t so bad.

Of course I realize all the privileges I have, to have a nice home, to be with family, to have access to all essentials and to have a steady job (for the time being *fingers crossed*). I count my blessings for that every day.

With all the free time I have had, I have started reading more than I have read in years. I have watched at least a 100 of hours of content – TV shows and movies both. I have started meditating – which is new for me and I manage to workout once in every two days. There was a week when I worked out for a week straight (alternating yoga with cardio). These were some of the pros of the Lockdown.

The cons have been few but have a drastic effect on my life. I have retreated into a shell and do not have the urge to talk to people or to socialize. I had read something about Introverts which talked about how when they have stayed away from people  for too long, they want to stay away even more. It is a paradox but it is true in my case. But I have an incredible set of friends who help me come out of the shell with their constant calls and efforts to have a conversation. I truly feel blessed to have them.

Going forward, all I want to do is to keep up or better the productivity levels and to maintain them post the Lockdown as well if possible. I would also want to maintain a better equilibrium of my social life and productivity – which is going to a difficult exercise.

Mumbai Montage

Last night, me and my friend decided to go on a long drive on a bike in Mumbai. He came to pick me up at two a.m. and then it began. It was a chilly night and the roads, except for the highway were mostly deserted. If it were a movie, I would say it was all in black and yellow with just a few colours and bokehs sprewn here and there. We reached Bandra, after being searched by the police once for signs of drunken drinking. I realised it was a horrible horrible job. Instead of using breath analysers, a policemen would come near you and smell your breath in the pretense of asking your name. It ought to be included in the list for the “worst jobs around the world.” Then there was the ocean. Owing to low tide, the ocean was a huge and still mass of water. The moon was almost full. And believe me when I say it looked like somebody jad mashed up pieces of glasses and spread the shards on a huge black canvas which shimmered and sparkled in the black of the night. And it was hard to believe that this was Bandra. Then came Haji Ali, the glittering blue lights, the colours I talked about earlier, in the midst of the huge canvas. Slowly the architecture begins to change. There is an oncoming of tall buildings with darkened hollows for windows. The horizon is not at all visible, unlike the seaface earlier. And suddenly we have marine drive. It only gets better. The air gets colder than ever before. The huge body of water looks like an even more beautiful artwork. The moon in all its glory, seemed to be proud of its beauty. Then we came across the beautiful colonial past, the architectural heritage of Mumbai. In the dark of the knight they looked like those ancient black and white pictures that we now find printed on postcards. It was nearly 5 a.m. by this time and the beautiful highcourt decided to tell this to us with its beautiful chiming in the silent of the night. We decided to take a break and have some food with some caramel tea (I named it because of its peculiar taste) at an Irani cafe which was the only one open at the time. And finally after that we made our way back home. It was a beautiful night, a night to remember. And it felt as if everything fell into piece just to make it perfect for us, like those five planets that have aligned in the same line for the first time in decades.