Posts tagged Quarantine Life

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: 18-hour Shifts, Epilators & A New Favorite Book | Lockdown Day 41

Books & Reading Business, Tech & Workplace Family & Personal

Hello! Long time no see. It has been completely manic lately and I feel utterly blessed. Its been 7 weeks of lockdown and while on one hand, we are finally accepting the ‘new normal’, lack of funds and resources are driving people off the edge.

In the midst of these uncharted times, I feel blessed beyond measure that I have some kind of work to earn a part of my livelihood, I know its not the same with everyone. During a Pandemic, business owners and/or product owners wear multiple hats; earlier as my role as a supervisor, I now find myself splitting my day into 11 different functions across 18 work hours which is definitely challenging but also gives me the opportunity to learn new crafts. Turns out, I can build tech products and tabulate a P&L report as well!

When I am not lost among a bunch of metrics, invoicing and Kanban moves; I occupy my breaks with helping around the house. Now that we are home all the time, I decided to finally give my mother what she always wanted – a daughter who can do more than just boil the water. I try to prepare Iftari – Blessed Meal and take care of mopping and dishes. But it doesn’t help much with Mom taking it easy, she feels that tenacious need to do-over everything I just did. May be I am not doing it right or may be she is just being a Mother.

As I scrub down the floor, my baby brother often walks by and elucidates on how I am turning into a Gorilla thanks to all the extra ‘fuzz’ on my body. Two more weeks and I’ll be growing a beard. Years ago, my father was wonderful to get me a Braun Silk Epil that has continued to be my savior but once you go Wax, nothing else comes close! And as much as I hate to admit it, I miss my brow-lady and that familiar feeling of smooth, smooth underarms.

So work is erratic, TV is down, my Tech Lead wants “Flexible Hours”, vinyl gloves are running out, new books on Kindle are $10.99 a piece, Mom thinks I need to get married during Quarantine (as it would be easy to take a leave of absence from work *facepalm*), Areeb wants to have a BBQ party with his friends up on a rooftop which of course Mom forbids and I have absolutely no idea what to do about my growing love handles! All in all, we’ve air in our lungs, potatoes in the pantry and free movies on YouTube, couldn’t be more grateful.

And just when I thought my inability to concentrate on a book was spiralling out of control, I found a new favorite book! That’s right, imagine me advocating a book which is not ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’ or ‘Animal Farm’ or ‘Ghachar Ghochar‘ or the ‘Cormoran Strike Books‘; I fell completely in love with ‘A Gentleman in Moscow‘ by Amor Towles. This book is inspiring, smooth and sparkling filled with hope, perseverance, ingenuity and impeccable manners amid isolation. It felt like the most appropriate story for these testing times. I got my copy from Liberty Books and it is also available on Kindle, highly recommend it. And now back to our regular scheduled whining…

As Rachel said, “The nights are the hardest. But then the day comes and that’s every bit as hard as the night. And then the night comes again…”; I think that’s the one feeling that we all share right now, all it took was 1 pandemic to bring the human race together like never before. Everyday we wake-up, work, eat and sleep in the same surrounding and yet we are confronted with life’s greatest challenges – ranging from tackling the bills on the counter to deciding Saturday night’s movie/film pick.

If you are still reading my babble, I hope you are taking care of yourself and I pray that this ordeal will soon come to an end with nothing but the good and pure remaining.

 

Isolation Diaries: 2 Weeks of Uncertainty, Books & Extremism | Lockdown Day 15

Business, Tech & Workplace People & More

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce that we’ve made it through 2 whole weeks of lockdown without murder, mayhem and only a few breakdowns.

It’s been over 2 weeks for ‘work from home’ and I am starting to lose it – seriously. I miss my office, my team, my desk and the fact I’ve zero tickets to resolve and zero moves on my Kanban board is driving me crazy.

Last Friday, I had my first, official nervous breakdown and I can no longer feel the ‘positive vibes’. People say, all this will end soon and we will go back to our normal lives. Does nobody realize that things will never be the same again. Hasn’t history taught us nothing? Take both the World Wars for instance, did we not witness a global shift? Or the Bubonic Plague and even the Spanish Flu, such pandemics lead only to far-ranging consequences that we cannot even begin to comprehend.

The COVID-19 outbreak has transformed our lives, disrupted markets, exposed political and economical incompetence. This could also very well mean the end of globalization and clearly a shift in the international power structure; from West to East. We are headed for a future with vulnerability and stiffer purse-strings.

Corporations, companies and even small businesses will rethink their decisions, partners and strategies. We will see lower profits but perhaps with much more stable and domestic backup plans plus reserves.

One thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same again and in the midst of all this uncertainty, we need to find a way to “adjust” to the new normal. What actually bothers me is that I cannot even start to work to such habituating. This time space between isolation and working towards the adjustment is killing me.

In other news, I packed away over 700 books for sale and donation over the weekend, kept only my favorites (I think 379) and resolved to switch to e-Reading. I guess Quarantine does things to you!  Don’t get me wrong, this was not an impulsive move, my theory is, I will save more and hoard less when I opt for eBooks. According to my family, my decision will vanish once the Pandemic ends.

Moreover, I did catch-up with Manifest, I am not good at following TV shows especially after FRIENDS or Arrow but I just want to know what happened to Montego Air Flight 828!!! Is that too much to ask??? I’ve also tried a couple of recipes, managed to workout 11 days out of 15, and somehow kept my skincare game up. Am I doing isolation right? Haven’t baked or made Dalgona coffee or enrolled in any online course yet though.

I work from 09:00 AM to 06:00 PM, Monday to Friday, adhere to a routine, constantly look for opportunities, workout in the morning, consume healthy-esque meals and worry about sagging. But nothing works; precariousness eats me from the inside.

And just like everyone else in the Bookstagram or BookTube community, I too was thrilled to have all this time to read and I managed to complete a dozen books in about 10 days but for some reason since April walked in, I don’t feel the inclination. And I guess, I’ve nothing more to say.

Here’s hoping you are doing your best to stay indoors and attempting sanity. And its perfectly all right if you don’t walk out of this pandemic with a brand new set of skills. You are doing fine. We are fine. For This Too Shall Pass...

 

 

 

Isolation Diaries: Tough Times, Tougher Decisions | Lockdown Day 12

Business, Tech & Workplace Family & Personal People & More

It has been close to 2 weeks to a lockdown in my province and things are not looking up. New cases surface every day, few people understand the meaning of social distancing and the rest can’t help but grapple with daily existence.

It has been difficult for both ends of the spectrum; tough decisions for employers and tougher realities for resources. I had to take a few unpleasant calls and come to terms with what I like to call “my career choices”. After all who needs a career in a recession right? (I’ve already stocked up on Potatoes and Condensed Milk). The very first step is to obviously tabulate savings against spending habits, followed by some serious but futile thought-process.

The good thing is my panic-attacks don’t dwell for long, I am able to quickly look away and engage in something productive like updating my resume, hunt for opportunities, watch Tutorials on Software Development or most likely open my blog and start writing.

Sweet lime juice, yoga, my TBR pile, YouTube tutorials and the fact that my baby brother and I watch cartoons every night at 07:30 PM continues to soothe my senses. If only reading made you money, am I right? I thought this would be my time to read everything that I had been putting off but turns out, when you are under constant trepidation of a draconian future, reading seems more like cheating on your responsibilities.

I’ve been utterly blessed with a family who is grateful of the fact that I am home, and my Mom constantly tells me to shut-down my laptop and instead read on the couch. But it doesn’t help with noggin and the constant thinking; the overthinking, never-ending planning and freaking out scenarios!

As soon as I am done posting this blog post, I am going to go down, fight over the remote with my baby brother, have a wholesome, home-cooked meal and then read into the afternoon but that constant “Where will the next paycheck come from” feeling doesn’t go away. Do you feel the same way? I am not really expecting an answer but just sending out my thoughts into the universe, is it the same for everyone out there?

No one knows when this pandemic will end and we cannot even begin to comprehand the lasting financial impact. We can only control what can be controlled, like discretionary spending, prioritize and do what’s best for our family. Right Pa?