So finally, the longest unplanned family vacation comes to an end.It started with entire panic-stricken cavemen family staying indoors and watching Ramayana together with the hope that summer heat, the beating of utensils and anti-Chinese clay diyas would kill the virus. While we were falsely busy blaming Tablighi-Jamaat for all the menace in the country, I managed to give a terrible haircut to my father, and he was equally glad to return the generosity.
As the summers approached and Amitabh Bachhan started spamming our mobile phones, we managed to sneak our way to the hills unlike the poor migrants with all our comfort and dignity. The mountain escape was indeed a blessing in disguise to get a respite from the scorching heat and mundane city life. Lots of time to in lap of nature, more conversation with family members and minimalist life was indeed therapeutic.
As the coronavirus grew stronger over time, there were a few personal economic and career-related jitters, although very small in comparison to all the cash starved MSMEs and other small businesses. The college decided to go online and the value addition with every passing class seemed to have diminishing marginal utility, it gave me the freedom to attend classes that mattered and rather read what I believed would serve some purpose in life. The learning curve could have been more enriching, had Rhea not insidiously planned to drug the heavenly Sushant Singh Rajput and somehow we could muster to let go of the grapevine and discussed some inconsequential yet momentous 26 % fall in the GDP.
However, even in tumultuous economic times, was fortunate and managed to get a decent job amidst all the doomsday predictions. More importantly, survived COVID-19 in the covid hotspot of the nation with incessant efforts to boost immunity with Yoga and a healthy lifestyle.
With a lot of free time to spare, could connect and meet some good old friends. It always feels as fresh as yesterday and all the memories come alive even though you meet after aeons and are continents apart.
As the festivals passed by, and winter approached, finally the fear had lost its resistance and was just a daily number in the small byte of daily news. The winter now had its own perks, could sleep long hours at own will, drink multiple cups of green tea and gulp down freshly made orange juice.
While this extended holiday comes to an end, sometimes the worst of times could have good memories. May we need not live through another pandemic but otherwise realise that the ordinary lived with simplicity in itself is very beautiful.
