When all are talking about the ‘lockdown’ and the stuff behind it, I am enjoying my ‘lockdown’ by unlocking the cupboards which needed desperate segregation & cleaning, unlocked my school books and copies cupboard to inhale the nostalgic aroma of those days, the signatures & remarks of the teachers just took me back beyond imaginations.
Then unlocking the treasure box of my story books treasured with numerous Nandan’s, Champak’s, Chanda Mama, Motu Patlu, Phantom, Chacha Chaudhary, Pinky, Baloo, my treasured trove of Archies, Reader’s Digest, Parade, Femina, We & much more, the hefty Sidney Sheldon, Agatha Christie & other science fiction novels not to mention the Mills & Boon which used to hidden during reading, the batches & the medals, etc and could not make out how hours turned into seconds, me and my princess read & cherished about it all and to my surprise I invented I am still the same person not a very techno savvy person… cooking the delicacies & my family becomes the Guinea pig or maybe not as over the years I am a good chef over a cook. Gazing at the age old albums, the black & white photographs of my childhood days took a leap backward to those years… wish I could have them back.
Unlocking the huge box of used dresses of my princess are to be given off to the needy, there were few bibs & first worn clothes which I will never depart with… the smell coming out of it made me a mom once again… listening to the cassettes and dancing, watching the old recorded home videos… putting all the quilts, carpets, pillows, extra towels in sun… the best way to disinfect… changing and washing all the curtains as I don’t prefer dull coloured curtains as people do… mine are all white & baby pink combinations and also net ones, the terrace which needed the much required treatment for seepage taking a step forward and painting the parapet walls as they were little fungus decorated due to my terrace babies…
oh, well, I call all my plants my babies… the much needed changing of the pots that were broken and making them wear sacks (bori’s) as we believe in reusing… All this is done by my husband who was beaming with joy & pride to his achievements… no medal could achieve that and of course he is cooking nowadays…and we are compelled to say it is yummy…or the punishment will be to have another cuisine the very next day… my princess is painting the bottles with Bhimbetka & Pattachitra painting… making patterns with pebbles, making wall paintings & also we messed our palms with different colours & imprinted it on the walls putting the date & the time, painting and arranging the drift woods which we love to collect, hangings the bottles from the tree, making decorative articles out of straw, hand made chandeliers, making clay masks or faces, landscaping, developing cactus garden… I never knew that there are so many things we can do at this hour of crisis…
My online counselling is of course there apart from that work of GC is first & foremost, right now GC is stressing on Permaculture on our farmhouse to educate people towards a more sustainable life as you never know viruses like Corona & much stronger traits are waiting for us but self-sustainable life doesn’t need any lockdown as it is we are busy working in our field in fresh oxygen surrounded by lush green trees & paddy fields… the sound system being the chirping of birds and of course not to mention the burning of calories from digging to ploughing we are doing it all by our self that way we are ‘Nature Gyming’ also, we also have a mud & clay house powered with solar panels… next we are planning for the live stock part, we are also educating how to harvest rainwater actually when we are so taken up with our own world the hullabaloo of coronavirus doesn’t exist at all as everyone has to think about an alternate sustainable lifestyle.
I really have to schedule our single day as 24-hours seems to be less and of course running is a part & parcel of my life but not on treadmill but around my farmhouse… And in my other house an overall cleaning is going on… no corona but only love virus can stay there… so get up & explore your life & find a new you & cherish every moment… of life…