The year 2020 was a year of turmoil. Like its name, it is unique in its way. We have lived through various natural disasters. Some among them were a source of immeasurable feelings:
- Top Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, and others were killed in a U.S. airstrike in January near the Baghdad International Airport.
- A Minneapolis officer killed George Floyd. This sparked protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S. and the world.
- Deadly wildfires occurred from California to Washington State.
- A massive explosion rocked a Beirut port.
- Indian origin Kamala Harris broke through another barricade becoming the first female, black and South Asian origin Vice President of the U.S.
All these incidents influenced millions on a global level. Apart from that, I will describe the changes in my life and how 2020 moulded me:
The year 2020 banged amid a lot of disorder on the national level. The country was trembling with the CAA-NRC protests. Protests were fiery all over the country. We were fronting immeasurable problems due to the dictatorship, and then a new curl comes to the limelight, Covid-19.
After the huge destruction of humankind in China, this gigantic virus enters India and things change suddenly. Lots of assumptions have been made by people about Covid-19. We have faced the most significant threat of the century.
Then PM Modi declared a nationwide lockdown and we have been locked inside. Initially, we were assured that it was for a very short duration, but we face a lockdown even now.
I was engaged with my work and exam preparations and thought life was full of trials, but I can’t wait any longer and I am just striving with my ambition to crack the NET test to continue my lectureship in universities. I was planning for my NET and MPhil exams, but Covid-19 comes to take life to a different planet full of chaos and uncertainty. I strived to find a new way amid this vagueness which also made me spontaneous.
I am sharing a thought-provoking journey with the lockdown:
Initially, it looked like bingo as I was wretched with the unchanged humdrum of life. In the beginning, I felt overwhelmed. It was similar to an extended break to drop off and pick up my daughter, a leave from all routine work due to headache, etc.
I enjoyed till June, then realised it was going to be a long path for the nation. A new flick starts as schools are still closed in July. 3 months had passed and the little monsters were still at home. And then an extended gradient of issues came to make us more disturbed.
We could not invite our maid for domestic help. A lot of fear exists because Covid-19 is a transmissible disease and it is mandatory not to meet your loved ones. I always choose face to face meetings rather than phone calls or video chats.
After some time, I realised how accountability has been enhancing after lockdown. Then after some time, I started to feel constrained in a birdcage. All the work was ready to increase my problems in my way:
- All reasonably and severe house chores.
- Teachers’ responsibilities were also on my shoulders as schools are closed, but learning is still going on.
- Arabic teacher’s responsibility has become my duty.
- Living in the same place makes life tedious.
- I love multitasking, but this was beyond my competences.
- It was similar to Catch 22.
- Online classes could not take the place of offline classes in school.
I was anxious and underway to think about what can be done with these barriers because life is still moving on a diverse track and slow pace. Trying to find what can be done in a closed room, I just scheduled numerous activities rather cribbing about the circumstances.
As a writer, I had a weapon to use at home, my writing. I initiate the power of expression to deal with all the dare. I started my Youtube channel to teach English literature, which has given me lots of self-righteousness.
Then I united with Tobehonesst, a news organisation. I added skills of print media as a journalist. Later, I started my web blog, where I expressed myself and connected with social media. Earlier, I gave very little time to my FB profile. Now I have connected with so many people. I also worked as a volunteer with Breakthrough. I also published my articles on feminism India as a guest writer.
I also participated in a workshop of the Muslim Women Forum, where I developed new insight into Islam’s interconnection with modern world connection. Then I started to learn the French language to add some weightage to my CV.
I have entered a new learning zone and fly like a dove. What we feel matters rather than what we see. I realised the significance of several people and objects, importance of schools and teachers, significance of working in the office or anywhere like school, hospitals, bank, labs, etc. and freedom to hang out without any restrictions.
Life is round and I have come back to my ambition to crack the NET exam. I am diving deep into books of English literature. We now understand what our forefathers experienced during the pandemic of those times like the black plague, Cholera, etc.
Finally, I recognise that we are a nonentity in front of the supreme powers because if we do not obey them and continue to play with nature, it can turn from protector to destroyer.
We are still waiting for Covid-19 vaccine.