Siddharth Raghavan is a student who studies about the armed forces and the defence spectrum of India and doing his Bachelors in Defence Intelligence and Strategic studies. He has also done CIMA (Chartered institute from Management accounting) from UK and stood all India 1st rank.
SIDDHARTH RAGHAVAN: What do you do when you’re under house arrest for a crime you didn’t commit? I think we’ve been on lockdown long enough to have such looming thoughts echo through our minds, almost taunting our wits. These are indeed difficult times. The novel coronavirus is spreading rampantly across the globe with countries shutting their borders, restricting all travel and closing all businesses, almost flat-lining their economies. What started as a local outbreak (who’s origin story still remains as mysterious as the virus itself), the Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2 has now claimed more than 228,000 lives and counting.
Like most countries who see their people falling tremendously ill, India decided to act swiftly and seal off the entire peninsular nation from the rest of the world, with the last flight out of the country on 21st March. The national lockdown which began on March 24th has reshaped our lives, limiting any and all movement of nearly 1.3 billion people, all facing confinement to their homes. This may continue to extend in the foreseeable future and is a reality we must all come to terms with. Life as we know it has completely changed.
LOCKDOWN- WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME?
As a 20 year old college student, I have spent the past 2 years of my under graduation exploring life around me, taking in as many experiences as I can, meeting a plethora of like-minded people and dwelling into the reality of the world around me. Hence, when reality changed over-night (although I should have seen the signs from early January), it was clear that I was not ready to cope with what I knew at the time; a long-term commitment to the square-footage of my house. Initially, I enjoyed time off from my usually hectic weekday. Sitting up late nights watching movies, countless hours on the phone and the phase of procrastination settling in as work started becoming meaningless and an insignificant part of the day. It was clear I needed a framework, some structure to help keep my head on straight and my mind focused to my academic duty as a student.
The next logical step was to build this structure to help me cope with my situation and bring back my old true self. This framework can be changed based on each individual, but the ideal scenario for me included the following daily routine:
Fitness and Exercise: Keeping your body active is the stepping stone to an active and alert mind. It was also the only excuse for my body to wake up at 6 in the morning and start my day. After walking my dogs and taking in some fresh air, I start a workout regime I created myself and follow it thoroughly on alternate days. My workout is my kick-start to the day and also inspires me to eat healthy and maintain a balanced diet.
Work flexibility: While this definitely poses somewhat the irony to the concept of structure, it is very crucial to have a flexible work attitude, that not only allows me to study what I want when I want, but also enable more effective learning. The flexibility in work also allows me to explore other activities and skills that I have always wanted to undertake but always lacked the time to do. Hence, I can confidently say that I have been able to learn more about the world that I live in by being locked away from it.
Sleep Cycle: During the initial period of lockdown, I must admit that I fell into the habit of inconsistent sleep timings. A quick afternoon nap sometimes went on longer than expected because I would have stayed up the previous night. I realized that because of this, my productivity, my eating habits and even my overall happiness changed drastically. Before I reached the point of no return, I immediately plucked myself out of bad habits I had created and set right the consistent sleep timings. I found every major aspect of my body and mind change for the better. Sleep is very under-rated and must not be given any less importance than the food we eat or the water we drink.
Social activity: Social interaction is something we’ve definitely learnt to not take for granted. However, our technological capabilities allow us to talk and stay connected through various social media platforms and communication tools. Serving isolation is certainly a challenge, but I realized that having people around me (virtually albeit) is certainly taking the melancholy out of it. Now, I must mention, that this social interaction doesn’t always have to be with your friends or any acquaintance that lives outside your homes.
The lockdown has absolutely without a shadow of a doubt brought me closer to my family. Every night is now a family night, a movie, a cup of coffee and a dynamic conversation covering everything from geopolitics to the neighbors lawns, or even a board game. I wondered if this is how my parents grew up, in simpler times, when the only source of entertainment was the people with whom you shared a roof. They have been my rock through everything and in times of desperation or vulnerability of being constricted to the house, they are the pillar of support I can lean on for a meaningful conversation or a much needed slap in the right direction.
This is not a summer vacation or a winter break that ceases just as quickly as it commenced. The SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay and we must either accept our reality and find a way to make the best of it or brood in despondency. I have has so many wonderful memories during this lockdown, with family, friends and loved ones; people who share my positivity and hope for a better tomorrow, despite what seems like a chaotic world order at this point.
