Lessons of Life. Teacher:Lockdown

Lesson No 1: Survival is the Key

God/Nature/Destiny has thrown challenges to people that they never felt they could accomplish. Those who loved living with parents were somehow not with them this time. Parents couldn't come, kids couldn't go. Simple. Stay where you are... learn to live on your own. Others who always ran away from staying with parents, were destined to be with them.. neither party has a way out. Doors of the house were no longer banged to leave or shut quietly to come back.

Lesson No 2: Cooking was the "It" profession.

Everyone was a cook, became a cook, entered a kitchen! After all, food had to be made. Someone had to do it. That someone had to be "us". Whether you had flirted with cooking and deserted it, committed to cooking and deserted it OR never cooked, yet had no option. So, by default, everyone was, in the first 23 days, a food blogger. In time, food posts were making others sick enough to not cook. But alas that was not an option. Kitchen was the new office. Meetings were planned in and around and after culinary events. The same food that would have led to sacking the cook, was being eaten humbly. And happily. Of course kitchens were spruced up, new gadgets were bought and Amazon and its ilk flourished.

Lesson No 3 : Patch-Ups are easy.

So being holed up with one and other, fights/arguments are inevitable. Yet earlier one could bang doors, leave home for a while (sometimes decades) and return. Aha, this was not an option anymore. So fights that would ideally take years to patch up were like instant noodles. Here s the flare-up, there the patch up. Actually 2 minute Noodles do take longer to make.

Lesson No. 4 : Bucket List is to be ticked off now.

Everything we thought we would never learn, was just a sleep away. Wake up and start work. Not because you are driven or passionate or your "Seize the Day" is here. Actually more because there is only that much of TV or films to be seen and gossip to be done. Use this time, and start something fresh. Also because jobs are not that many and alternatives have to be ready. So might as well do something new and reinvent because things have changed and its the whole new world out there.

Lesson No 5 : Everyone is a SuperHero.

Take out that mask. Pull out the glove. Arm yourself with the sanitizer. No one too close, everyone far to not recognize you. Go out and save the world! Move over Marvel and DC, here we come! The new dress code is SuperHuman. Its very attainable and its US! This time has made us reach out to feel the superhero inside us. If not in emotion, at least in appearance. The more careful ones even use Face Shields. Now do you know how suffocating it is to be a Super Hero? Feel it with each breath you take. Under that "breathable" Mask.

Lesson No 6: Global Party Everyone!

No need to sulk or be sad. Parties just became a whole lot of new fun. Anyone can come. Anytime. Take a meeting time and a pass code. Call everyone from around the globe. BYOB got a whole new meaning. Sit in the comfort of your house and celebrate the person from your comfort zone. No dirty traffic, no excuse to leave early. No talking to people you don't like. Just wish and chill. Sometimes, on the excuse of "bad network", switch off your video and bitch. On mute of course. Meet friends and relative you have never seen or heard of in years. Make new connections and savor old ones. Zoom into each others' living rooms and see what all they never told you they had. Why just special days, you can now meet people like daily. Whats App groups, move over. Video Calls are the New Thing around Town.

Lesson No 7: Online Classes. Bring It On.

After keeping kids away from "Screen Time" and "Rays of Demolition", now parents are begging of schools to do online classes. Why? To keep kids "occupied". So now, none of the usual morning banter of households.. "Wake up early, go to school, iron your uniform, eat your breakfast, beat the traffic" etc etc. Now its chilled. "Brush your teeth, look presentable, haven't bathed? Doesn't matter, just do the class. What you want Nashta, eat in class, just stop the video there." The teachers too are chilled. Make a PPT explain it. If kids don't understand it, mail it to them. Craft is the parents headache, just send the list of materials needed. Child has a meltdown? Haha. Not your issue anymore. Look good, smile at the kids. If they are naughty, mute them all. Let the parents handle the ruckus. After all, they are the family! If Kids don't understand, parents will do the homework! After all, who wants to lose a year! As it is, jobs are few now.

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