जिंदगी फिर भी यहाँ, खुबसुरत है।

 

जिंदगी फिर भी यहाँ, खुबसुरत है...

Covid,  Covid and Covid... Do we hear anything else these days? Do we get to watch anything else than Covid on TV?  Do we not talk of existing pandemic more than once in a day ? Answers are,  NO,  NO, YES.

It's true that this is a different world we are in right now,  difficult times we are living in, facing extremely challenging situations physically,  mentally, economically and socially. I am not going to divulge into details of these challenges because all of us by now are well aware of that. People in various strata of the society are affected in various manners depending on their respective status and life style.  There is lot of negativity around,  bad news, worries among netizens over number of issues concerning living, work, education, health so on and so forth. Reports of rising number of cases, hospital conditions, non availability of drugs, beds, life support etc add fuel to existing fire.

The foremost question is 'When will this pandemic end? '.. Any answer?  Not yet.. So,  Till then what are we going to do?  Are we going to sit tight,  brood and sulk all the time ? Is there nothing else to do?  You may think,  now I am going to become a life coach and lecture.. No,  not really.  We have heard many of them since last year during lock down, isn't it?  Delivering lectures,  giving unsolicited advices, judging others is very easy and we do it on regular basis, right?

I want to tell you something different. My own story... Something from my space.. Dil se.. Somebody sent me a message "Sadguru says x x x...  ..How to transform your house,  kitchen etc into something worthy while sitting at home".. After reading I realized,  I did this , much before I read the post.
I too had my ranting for sitting at home, staying away from my work completely ( I am paramedic, so stopped my practice) and not having income,  no domestic help, no outings, getting frustrated, worried, helpless ..To make things worse,  in spite of taking utmost care,  me and my husband found to be Covid +ve. Then home quarantine and due protocol following, got us out of it with very mild issues.#SayaliRajadhyaksha.. I had read her blog , about her husband and she getting affected by Covid. It helped a lot. And of course , a team of doctors at L &T health center, where I was working and our very own #MCGB were of great support.

Coming back to lock down days,  I realized , I have become a bird in cage and all the birds flying outside are laughing at me. They are right, if they could  really do that. How easy for a man to cage birds for our own entertainment,  isn't it?  Now,  I could feel their pain of being caged. Lots of thoughts, ideas would surface. I decided to give them altogether different directions. 

I started getting bored to cook and at times little guilty, as news of non availability of food to some people made me sad. So,  I turned my kitchen into community kitchen and served food and tea to building security personnel, day and night for 3months. One fine day I invoked an artist within me and painted some glass bottles. It gave me Immense pleasure to see my colourful creation. My house became art class. Soon, I realized, body becoming rigid. No morning walk,  no walking to work place, no marketing , all leading to less physical activity.  So,  time to turn house into gym and exercise started with the help of U tube.  A great reminder happened one day,  that I have passed four exams of Indian classical music. I did not waste time in starting karaoke singing, also joined online singing group.  Tried dancing to some trendy Bollywood tunes. Shortly, house became , Dance and Music center..
Every house is a temple. My home practices two faiths, so double prayers. Difficult times call for extra prayers and blessings. This time house became a place for invoking Gods for healing the world and blessing whole human kind. At times, I made my house a counseling and therapy center.  Started online therapy and spoke to people to extend moral support, offering them courage and peace, to overcome their fears and worries,after listening to them. House is turned into office from the day one of lock down,  as husband is working from home. Every house is a small library, because somewhere in the corner, few books are stacked.  Best time to read books these days.  

Many people must have done many things to reach out to needy during these hard times. This pandemic made all of us leave our comfort zone and peep outside, Look for oasis nearby and also be an oasis for someone. A doctor friend of mine was writing blog for us on our group everyday for 3 months. Each blog of her was soothing and positive. She wrote,  ' in the negativity all around , we have to search for good things around and be positive,  though it's extremely difficult.' I agree with her. We have friends,  relatives, our near and dear ones,  call them,  talk to them, preferably not about Covid, but something else, something nice. 

During air travel, when there is turbulence, I always keep looking at air hostess. They continue their work till captain tells them to take a seat.  I derive strength from them to remain calm and wait for turbulence to go away.  Same way,  try to find out what will give you courage,  peace and go ahead. Do it. Have strong faith that these days will also pass. I believe there is always someone/something around us to show us right path and assist.. We have to only look around and identify. Be it blessing from heaven or God among people. 

I end with my favorite song "  थोडा है, थोडे की जरूरत है। जिंदगी फिर भी यहाँ खुबसुरत है।

Shraddha Keny Dcunha.