Well, I never thought of writing something like this…because living alone in a metro city was my choice entirely. That was necessary, as I belong to a small town, Silchar, in Assam, and at that time, there was less career choices. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives, as well as also questioned a lot of our upcoming plans, like mine.
I wanted to visit my family during the month of April, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. Well, perhaps we all will be spending more and more time at home, than in general, in the coming days, and this makes me more homesick. Sometimes, phone calls, video calls, or chat, long uninterrupted conversations also lead to gloominess as technology cannot replace your beloved ones. Staying alone has its own sets of pros and cons. Of course, it’s not an easy task. However, staying alone teaches you some of the major lessons in your life, and in this period, it has taught me more.
At first, it taught me to be pleased with the small things that I never valued throughout before. I realised that my mom is the best chef ever in my life. I used to often scrap the food I got, but now, I crave the same food that I once used to criticise. I took everything for granted, but now, I realise the real value of everything.
Another thing that this lockdown taught me is that homemakers are as hardworking as we are; in fact in this lockdown also they are working. I can relate to this as my mom is a housewife. Staying alone at this time made me visualise things in a different way. I understood that even the easiest duty needed time and effort which I might have ignored previously.
One more thing that staying alone in this pandemic taught me, is that attaining that total freedom has helped me express myself. This incident taught me to explore a lot of shades of me which I or my family, perhaps, never imagined. As a shy person, I have started to explore the different sides of myself, started to take my health more sincerely, and, writing and photography have been a part of my entire life till now. I challenge myself every day, and my father helps me in that.
There is no sugarcoating here, moving out of my home and to a new city takes practice. However, I never imagined facing these kinds of experiences in which you will have everything – money, time, efforts, wishes everything – but you are restricted within the four walls. Nevertheless, at least digitally we all are connected.
This lockdown has changed my relations with my close ones by teaching me never to take them for granted. This has been, probably, the best lesson of my life and I am sure there are people like me. For me, the understanding has been more enlightening than any lesson that I had ever had. I’m sure there will be a lot of who agree and disagree with me.
I miss my home, my family, everything. But as the proverb goes, “The show must go on…”