So it has been one week of working from home in a lockdown and there's three more to go. Many of us have been cribbing about the situation so I thought of doing this post on the pros and cons of the interesting situation we find ourselves in currently.
For starters, I am sure like me, many of you would have also come to the realization that work from home is after all not as great as we thought it would be. If we had the freedom to move in and out of the house, meet someone, or even order a nice lunch at home, things may have been much more entertaining. As they stand today, we can't even step out in the evening to chill with friends or catch a movie, so the routine is quickly becoming quite monotonous. But when the Prime Minister of the country himself comes out with a request to stay indoors, it certainly tells us how important these steps are right now.
Gone are the coffee breaks in the pantry to exchange gossip, sampling of delicacies that a certain talented colleague brought to work regularly, and even the post-lunch walks in the office compound ostensibly to digest the strictly average cafeteria food. But now that we have given leaves to the maids and are cooking for ourselves, that food suddenly doesn't seem too bad in hindsight. The only walks we get to do now are either in the corridor or the society compound so this is definitely one of the restrictions we would have loved to skip.
With days now turning into weeks, many people are finding it difficult to distinguish between the weekdays and the weekend with a few continuing to work right through half of Saturday before the realization hits them!
Okay maybe its not that bad but certainly comes close to this...
Whatever the circumstances, now that I am done with the cribbing, let us also look at the positive aspects of the lockdown shall we. As I see it, there are ten excellent reasons for not feeling low and bored and I am going to enumerate them for your benefit below:
1. To begin with, the first and the most obvious advantage is that by staying at home, and limiting our interactions with all and sundry, we DO NOT help spread the Wuhan Corona Virus. Social distancing helps break the cycle of transmission thereby halting the spread of the disease till the time those who are already infected get a chance to become better.
2. The second, and most practical advantage, that I am sure many of you would also be appreciating is that we do not have to get up early and rush to work in crowded trains/metros/public transport. It doesnt matter if it is raining outside (like it was in many parts of the country last week), or the temperature is 35 degrees, we can get our beauty sleep and work from the comfort of our homes every single day.
3. Third, and am sure the guys would have a lot more to say on this than the women - work from home does give you the freedom to work in your boxers - no more stuffy formals in the summer heat!
4. Also, I hope that the fact that we shall be working from home for an entire month would hopefully make our employers understand the futility of calling everyone to work everyday! This should finally help them understand that it is not the attendance at the workplace that makes people work and they are capable of doing their job remotely with or without the scare of Corona.
5. Not going out to party with friends means you have to, per force, spend
more time with your family - something many of us may not be doing
otherwise due to a variety of reasons. Of course the flip side is that you have to spend all your time with the same people for a month so I am not sure how the married people are going to deal with that ;o)
6. For the singles stranded at home, this can also become an opportunity to connect with the dates you have already had on a deeper level through conversations rather than just fun outings. The chat apps also give you a way out of the loneliness adding a flavor of old school romance when people didn't use to directly jump into the bed on the very first meet!
7. The lockdown has also given all of us the time to introspect. This can easily be the time to pamper yourself, work on the things we want to improve, learn a new skill through online tutorials or even find ways to stay fit without resorting to expensive gym memberships.
8. There is also enough time on our hands now to indulge in the hobbies and take up the activities that we have been postponing all this while. Start reading or singing or painting or dancing once again. I am starting a new book, writing new articles (like this one) and creating new videos like the one below, so am sure you can definitely do something new as well!
9. Since we are spending so much time online now, we also get to appreciate the humor that is floating around. There are memes and plenty of videos on Corona, the politicians fighting corona, the lathi-charging police and what not to keep us entertained so let us drop the grumpiness and look at the lighter side of life :)
10. Last but not the least, the lock-down has also shown us how insignificant we, humans are in the functioning of this planet. The cats, dogs, birds and all other animals continue to live their lives without any interruption while we, the supposedly most evolved species on this planet, are scared of even meeting each other!
Perhaps, the most important lesson this virus has given us is the realization that Nature has always been much bigger than our tiny insignificant lives and shall continue to remain so howmuchever delusions of grandeur we harbor within our conceited human minds.
It has also shown us the futility of dividing ourselves on the basis of caste, color, religion, language, ethnicity, nationality and even social status! At the end of the day, we are all the same scared Homo sapiens trying to survive on a planet that has given us a lot and can also sustain us in the future if we just learn our lessons. I wrap up this post with a quote from the Isha Upanishad that I absolutely love and identify with -
ईशावास्यं इदं सर्वं यत् किञ्च जगत्यां जगत।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जिथाः मा गृधः कस्य स्विद् धनम् ॥
Ishavaasyam idam sarvam yatkiñca jagatyaam jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjithaah ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जिथाः मा गृधः कस्य स्विद् धनम् ॥
Ishavaasyam idam sarvam yatkiñca jagatyaam jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjithaah ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam
To paraphrase - There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not their greed.
This is my message from the glass bottle that I am confined in right now and I urge you all to also share your thoughts from wherever you are quarantined :)
This is my message from the glass bottle that I am confined in right now and I urge you all to also share your thoughts from wherever you are quarantined :)
Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:
May there be Physical, Mental and Spiritual Peace in the World
