Posts tagged Lockdown

Isolation Diaries: PK8303 and Eid-ul-Fitr | Lockdown Day 64

Family & Personal People & More

Dear 2020,

Have you had enough already?

Amid a pandemic and global crisis, my nation is now bearing a national tragedy. And that too right before Eid-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. We lost many precious lives and for some out there, it was a loss of a lifetime. Eid this year was different to begin with, many of our traditions were to be held at home, online and in quarantine.

In my household, it has not been the same for many years now. After I lost my father to Multiple Myeloma in 2012 and my brother, Anas to a bike accident in 2014, Eid is more about prayers and missing them even more. So for my family, it wasn’t of a big change anyway. We washed, put on clean clothing, offered prayers, and made Pa and Anas’ favorite repast. And honestly, we prefer the simplicity and the essentialism of Eid.

I’ve been reading, some nasty comments on social media, criticizing people who dressed up for Eid. As long as you stayed indoors and were not responsible for an unnecessary congregation, who cares! To each with its own, we are already at the mercy of an outbreak, and we must do everything in our hands (literally) to keep our overall well-being at best. If you stayed in your pajamas all day long and binged Ertuğrul, that’s okay and if you wore a pair of 6-inch stilettos and posed for that perfect sun-kissed selfie up on the roof-top, that’s perfectly fine as well. Be kind. It is very easy to pour out negativity hiding behind a handle/username and it is impossible to comprehend an individual’s personal life from the outside.

In fact, my baby brother and I spent the day, splashing around the inflatable pool all afternoon and that was okay too. Although I think that made us miss Anas a whole lot more. Not to mention, the Biryani spread, reminded us of Pa’s annual Eid Day Party for our extended family. So, yes, it wasn’t perfect but it was everything to be grateful for.

Its been 64 days of lockdown, Mom is itching to go outside for things that do not involve life-saving drugs and pantry items. Areeb cannot focus on his curriculum anymore and I am scared to think the world might have switched to remote for good. Do you think our work-life will never be centralized again? shudders

 

Isolation Diaries: 16 Things I Am Grateful For | Lockdown Day 06

Books & Reading Family & Personal People & More

Yayyyy! It’s the weekend, as if I had an erratic work-week with no time for myself. In the midst of dark, dark times, I cannot help but feel blessed and grateful for basic necessities of life which we often take for granted. More often than not they seem “just because” or “obvious” but can mean the world to others.

Here are 16 things that I feel blessed and grateful for especially when my province in under a lockdown and there is no hope of a future paycheck.

Mom’s Health

My mom is a diabetic of 22 years and during these uncharted times to to see her hold-up is nothing short of paradise; SHUKARALLHUMDULILLAH. ✨

My Patio

We spend our evenings out on the terrace away from public and close to nature. 🌳

My TBR

At the beginning of the lockdown, I had 23 books on my “to be read” pile and under these circumstances, I couldn’t be more proud of my hoarding (with respect to books only). 📚

Parents’ Medicine Cabinet

Since I can remember we’ve had a fully-stocked medicine cabinet, a habit that has helped us multiple times during our isolation. 💊

Brother’s Spanner

My baby brother is studying to be a CA at the moment but just like Pa he has this natural inclination towards ‘fixing stuff’; during a lockdown his skills have come mighty handy especially when the water pump refused to start! 🔧

PTCL

I have been repeatedly told to chuck out PTCL Broadband and go for a private net provider but boy do I love them or what. Imagine not having internet connectivity; how else would I unleash my negativity onto the world? 📡

Savings

And not I am not referring to what I saved over the years. With pandemonium around us and no frequent visits to the bookstore, think about all the money I am saving during this lockdown. 🙈

Yoga

I have this tendency to gather weight on my cheeks and my yoga mat has been helping me to keep the mass at bay. ☯️

YouTube

And to all those beautiful souls who upload old, murder mysteries… 💻

Tomatoes

Undoubtedly the most versatile vegetable ever – after potatoes obviously. Did I mention I’ve perfected my Shakshuka? 🍅

Zero Maintenance

Bushy brows for the win! 👍

Vitamin D Supplements

If it wasn’t for Osnate-D, I would literally whiter away in my egregiously built room. 💀

To be Brown

Imagine all those young men and women who are isolated inside an empty flat/apartment right now; I am never going to complain about smothering parents. Ever! 👩‍👧‍👦

Babies

And how one big baby living next door is compelled to annoy me every 30 minutes without fail. 🐣

Techy Bae

Need I say more? 💋

Will I Start Sagging TODAY? 🆓

Isolation Diaries: Lockdown Day 03 & My Daily Routine

Family & Personal People & More

“I am not going to talk about it…”

That seems to be the starting point for each and every content creator nowadays and ultimately ends up donating at least 3 minutes to it. But I chose to address it! And why wouldn’t I?

It changed the very shape of this planet, how can you NOT address it? But first as you all know I am a Type-A control freak so let us begin today with a quick, smart lesson:

First of all people – it’s not a “Coronavirus” pandemic!

Coronaviruses

are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and SARS coronavirus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

What the world is fighting today is caused by a “Novel Coronavirus”, which brings me to my second point; the virus is called “SARS-COV-2” that causes the newly discovered, infectious disease we know as Coronavirus Disease 2019 or more commonly called as COVID-19.

Now that we are clear about the names, let’s “address” the situation at-hand or as my brother puts it: Its Pandemonium I tell you Sis, Pandemonium!

I am sitting here in my PJs on a Wednesday morning trying to explain to people what is COVID-19 and on the inside, I am screaming knowing very well that I might not be getting my next paycheck. These are uncharted times, nobody expected World War Z to actually happen, did they? Whether you talk about local businesses like Liberty Books or giant corporations like McDonald’s, doors are sealed-shut everywhere you turn. And of course it was need of the hour, the only way we can fight this pandemic is to stop the spread as much as humanly possible. #StayHomeSaveLives isn’t just another trending hashtag on Twitter, it’s our reality.

The path ahead is dark, dubious and daunting, practicing social distancing and keeping the bills on the side is the best we can do. It isn’t a solitary fight, it is a global combat and whether we like to admit it or not, we are in it – together.

We often find ourselves complaining over how quickly a weekend turns to a Monday morning and here I am freaking out on Lockdown Day 03 only. Just goes to show, we as humans cannot be contained and cannot be satisfied.

If you are reading my thoughts from the comfort of your home, trying to look on the positive side, I might not be helping you. Think about it, many of us have already lost our jobs while the rest are pondering on how to scale back operations, announce pay cuts or even lay off resources. A 120 nm virus changed the way the world works and will have changed buying habits of 7.8 billion inhabitants once this is all over.

Instead of mumbling into nothing, should I focus on how the air seems to be a little less polluted? How these dire circumstances have brought us closer together? Or should I be worried when my baby brother declared earlier today, “Sis, I am bored, I just want to blow-up the world and get it over with…”

You (yes, I mean you) are probably lying in bed, reading my anxiety-induced-piece and wondering why you ever clicked the given link but do you know what you just did my friend? You helped #PlankTheCurve / #FlattenTheCurve and we all are playing our part but is that enough? The pandemic will end but our lives will never be the same again. Right now this very moment, we’ve people trapped with an abusive partner or families with zero financial cushioning praying the virus would be far off better. And it horrifies me to my very core to think about the world soon after. We will all have to adapt to a new way of living and working, some of us will lose more than others and will result in intensely vulnerable conditions.

These and so many other questions leave me wondering through the night so what do we do about that. We try to stay calm (or in my case pretend in front of Mom that all is good), try to maintain a daily routine and prepare for a draconian future because for an indefinite period of time, this will be OUR NEW NORMAL.

In order to better grasp the circumstances, I’ve stuck to my daily routine and have made use of all the time we have been blessed with. Majority of us are either working-from-home or self-isolating or even under a lockdown and with uncertainty comes uninvited mental deterioration; implementing a daily routine is proven to help with our overall mental health and productivity. Daily routines can look particularly different from person to person, the end objective is however the same; here’s what my day looks like, feel free to share with someone who might be in search for some motivation.

My Typical Lockdown Day

Wake-up: 06:00 AM

Get Fresh & Make the Bed: 06:15 AM

Chug a Glass of Water: 06:20 AM

Open the Laptop & Put it on Charge: 06:30 AM

Yoga: 06:35 AM

Breakfast: 07:00 AM

Office Work + Personal Blog: 07:10 AM to 12:00 NOON

Chores: 12:00 Noon to 02:00 PM

Lunch Break: 02:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Check Emails & Wrap-up Work: 03:00 PM to 05:00 PM

Me Time (Mostly Spent Reading): 05:00 PM to 07:00 PM

Dinner: 07:30 PM to 08:30 PM

Telly Time with the Family: 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM.

Reading in Bed (And Attempt to Not Scroll through Twitter): 09:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Get Ready & Hit the Hay: 10:30 PM

Ahhh! Feels good to get it all out, doesn’t it?

Time to mop the floors; catch you later!