A COVID-19 World: The Little Things Count

A COVID-19 World:

The Little Things Count

By: Prasena Devi

I happened to walk out from the operating theatre, after observing a hysterectomy procedure, when I caught a glance at my other classmates staring at their respective phones. Some looked confused, while some faces beamed with a smile. I walked up to them immediately and before I could utter a word, my friend exclaimed, “We are having online classes from tomorrow on. There is a lockdown due to the COVID pandemic.” I just stood still a while, lost for words. Clueless? Perplexed? Anxious? A plethora of thoughts kept flowing in my mind. Some students were happy they could go back home, while some were worried about how things will shape up hereafter. Some were anxious about the quarantine but then there was me. One thing I knew for sure was that I was going to stay back at the hostel, and I was not going back home.

“Are you mad? Won’t you miss your family? The situation is uncertain, you better be packing your stuff!” That’s how my friends reacted to my decision. Of course, I would miss everyone back home, and it has been two months since I last saw them but I had to hold my emotions back. I come from a family of four – my mother, two younger brothers, and myself. My mother did persuade me to come home. She said her savings were enough for the household but, you know, the situation was and still is very uncertain. And being the eldest child, I have always felt the urge to be more responsible and I didn’t want to burden her.

Besides, food and accommodation were provided back at the hostel so I thought it was fairly safe for me and my family that I remain here.

It felt like in a minute, the world had turned upside down. All the little things in life that I have taken for granted now seemed even more important. I always believed I was an introvert and I actually thought quarantine would not affect me because I preferred staying indoors. I was wrong, very wrong, indeed. The breeze of fresh air when strolling down the track at my campus every evening, the sundae cone with my classmates that I grabbed every day after the hospital, the morning dose of tantrums from specialists, fighting with my brothers for the television remote, the aroma of my mothers filter coffee every morning I was home, the sight of a crowd of people. The last one sounds weird, I know, but I missed being around people. These four walls were exciting for the first two days, after that it became a suffocation.

But once these online classes started, time started flying really fast. I wasn’t much of an e-learner initially. I was not fond of it but there was not much that could be done. It was strange that before COVID, just staring at my phone gave me satisfaction… but when I had all the time in the world, I did not want to use it, Instead, I wanted to go out and meet people. When this quarantine ends, I would probably accept invitations to every gathering and party.

As the saying goes, there are always two sides to a coin. One thing that really amazed me was how many previously-hidden talents my friends had all this time. From sketching, to baking, to singing, to poetry, it was so nice to see my social network flooded with people sharing pictures and videos of things they love doing. And it is true that they say your face glows differently when you love what you’re doing. “Life is an art” as said by Helena Bonham Carter is truly something I believe and everything we do with all of our heart is an art in itself. It somehow inspired me to indulge time into writing, and it is one of the reasons why I am writing this today. This period has also made me realize that we should live in every moment and appreciate the people in our lives. Friends and family who ring me up every day, send me texts, convincing me to a video call despite me resisting because I was insecure about how I looked. This is the time that shows who has invested their time and love you genuinely.

When I come out of this lockdown, I want to reflect back at my past mistakes and try not to repeat them again. I want to spend my time with people I love, sit at a table with friends and make crazy jokes, treat them to ice cream, run around the park screaming even if I looked crazy, and probably go tell my crush that he has the best eyes in the world. I want to be grateful for every little thing in life. Not forgetting, some might not be having a good time during the lockdown. Poverty, anxiety, panic attacks, and even abuse. Everyone has something else on their plate so remember when you complain about your plate not being full, someone else out there has not been fortunate enough to have anything on their plate. Just be grateful to be home with your loved ones, it’s a privilege.