Curse or Bliss!

The Sunday news was on TV, Roni was busy with the usual Sunday morning routine; doing the laundry, making breakfast and watching the news. The only voices she heard was that of the news anchors shouting at top of their voices, reading out news about the pandemic which had recently been in the news. The news of the coronavirus had reached every nook & corner of the city & Covid-19 was the talk of the town. The first thing people doing every morning is getting glued to their television sets & getting panicked with the increase in the number of cases around the world, and Roni was no different.

In the morning she heard the first reported case in her city. The last time something that got global attention & worldwide panic was perhaps during the last world war, but not such a large population was locked down in their homes or where at risk of their lives even back then. Perhaps the 1^st time in history it happened such where the entire globe was in the same boat irrespective of the location.

Roni was just out of the shower & looking forward to meeting her friend Minnie for a nice Sunday Lunch and celebrate women’s day eve. She had also planned to visit the bookstore to pick a copy of “The Authenticity Project” by Clare Pooley when she received a call on her cell phone.

It was Minnie, “Hey Roni, did you just see the news? All stores, malls, cafes, restaurants, pubs, all have been closed! Can you believe it?”

“Oh no! It's really disappointing!”, exclaimed Roni.

“Disappointing? It is extremely Brutal What am I supposed to do now! I had a dinner date with that handsome lad tonight, I had so many plans. Everything is ruined now.”

“You may try a virtual date, & once the places are open you can go on a real date, “advised Roni.

“What if she starts dating someone else by then?” asked Minnie.

“They can’t go on a real date at least; you still have your chances!” explained Roni.

 “Yeah you are right buddy!” replied a pacified Minnie, “Great then! I am starving! Let me order something to eat since no more brunch outing now.”

“Yeah, me too,” replied Roni before hanging up.

By afternoon Roni had received communication from her office that they were being asked to stay home & work from home starting Monday until next notified.

Although, it was not very easy the first few days to set up the office from home. With all take-outs, cafes, coffee/tea joints being closed, making all meals at home; increased availability demand for work making it already difficult. “It is only going to be a couple of days, I can manage “, thought Roni to herself! Little did she know that this was going to be the new normal soon.

It was initially difficult to adjust & manage it all, with the added restrictions of imposed lockdown, reduced social interaction; in about a fortnight Roni was getting used to the new way of work & leisure! Weeks passed by without seeing someone face to face but only virtual facetime & calls with family, friends & colleagues.

It brought about some changes in her daily routine as well, now it was not only the weekends when we woke up early for a run, but every day to ensure there was sufficient time for meal preps.

She has always been a Germaphobe with OCD & cannot work in a messy un-organized workspace; she simply needs it straightened out. Without the daily helper coming in now, she had no option but design a cleaning regime to fit into her daily chores list.

Once the working day starts, it can get erratic; with no option to order from her nearest eateries, or simply walking out to grab some quick hot lunch, it became more than necessary to meal prep in advance to avoid starvation. Instead of stocking on junk food, Roni found it wise in spending another hour to go ahead & fresh prep her daily meals; years of living alone had honed her culinary skills but it was the first time in years it was brought to a full-fledged test, & she did fairly well!

April came in & it was time for annual incentives, the company was not doing great so decided to cut short on the incentives, Roni although disappointed but didn’t let it deter her from doing some research & investing in some promising stocks in the market which were at their lowest, making investment possible for her.

Since she was saving on her petrol & eat-out expenses, she put those savings also into the monthly investments’ plans.

The worldwide lockdown situation ensured all colleagues are at home, with nothing much to do since outdoors activities cut short, lesser leaves & more work hours balanced out the work pressure evenly.

Cutting travel time added another hour for personal use, Roni started to do yoga for 30 mins every day.

No multiple coffee or tea breaks with colleagues left her with quite some add-on time during which she ensured all her work for the day was rounded up, instead of carrying them forward to the next day.

By the fifth week, Roni started to get very impatient, although she unintentionally got into a very healthy routine by waking up early, making fresh meals twice a day, exercising regularly, winding up work on time, there was more she needed to do to fill out the gaps of the weekends & those started working on the idea of her book which she has been trying to write since ages but could never carve in the time due to multiple other things taking priority over it.

In over 5 months, Roni lost most of the extra fat she had accumulated around her waistline in the last couple of years, got healthier, won the employee of the quarter award, been working on multiple projects which earlier she had only been thinking of, improved her culinary skills.

It is almost the end of 8 months now, she ended up writing her first-ever cookery book & was working on publishing her eBook online via one of the most popular self-publishers, all of her own recipes & is working on writing another book already.

It was a rather sunny Sunday when she got a call from Minnie, while she was baking her 30th multigrain bread of the year.

“Hey Minnie, wassup?”, said Roni,” it’s been quite some time buddy!”

“Yeah! its been such a pathetic year”, complained Minnie, “I have put on about a dozen kg, can you believe that! & having trouble sleeping in the night, while I keep dozing off couple of times during the day even during important meetings”, she continued.

“My boss caught me snoring on a ZOOM call the other week & I have been awarded with a poor performance for last quarter. I am doomed. It is the worst phase of my life. I simply cant wait to go to the local pub & get drunk to relieve myself of the misery”, said an almost sobbing Minnie, “I have been binge eating, the best part is the nearby Chinese restaurant & that bakery across the corner of my street is delivering take away ! it’s a bliss, what would I do w/o it.”

Roni now knew what had caused the enormous weight gain for Minnie, the binge eating had no other goal!

But before she could say anything, Minnie continued her criticism, “The annual bonus payout had been so low this year - You remember the Xbox Series X I was dreaming of all these while, I finally bought it! Since the bonus payout wasn’t enough, I added the other amount which I have been saving for that certification my manager was pushing me to get done and got that 55-inch tv.”

“They have been my best buddy since the lockdown hit us, “ continued Minnie, sounding a bit happier & excited now ,“& I can’t get over it, I play them all night ! it has been my only moment of sanity“.

“You want to join us online tonight for a game? We usually start at 11pm until 4 in the morning”, asked Minnie.

“Ahhh, no but thanks for asking”, Roni quickly replied without having to even think about it for another moment.

“Have you got a night shift? You can be online on your office computer & join us for a game. Who is going to even notice? I do that all the time”, boasted Minnie!

“Nah, not night shift, but its bedtime you know, I usually doze off by 11:00pm, since I need to get up early for my daily chores. But again, thanks for asking, may be some other time.

Minnie was bemused & could not help but let out a cackle!

“Are you kidding me? “exclaimed Minnie, “Good sense of humor though”

“No kidding buddy, “responded Roni. She was starting to get irritated by now already & understood that it was difficult to explain to Minnie about her daily schedule, but she tried to keep her calm & bridged in, “by the way how’s the new job, You had just joined in right before the lockdown?”

“Oh yes! the manager is cool & a fool! I am having a rather fun time. The other day it was the Xbox championship day on the new online game I am playing with my online buddies, & I didn’t want any distractions, so I kept telling her that I was having bad network connectivity & simply got away. “

“Congrats few winning! but you could have just taken a leave, are they not approving leaves?”

“Oh no, we didn’t win, but it was fun! & who would care to take a leave when I can get away with no work & all play”, Minnie said, laughing sarcastically!

“I wish you could join us; it would be awesome but oh you got to go to sleep,” Minnie speaking hysterically.

“Yeah, “brushed off Roni, trying to cut short the conversation, ‘I will give you a call later sometime buddy, you take care & stay safe”, told Roni, to finally get her out of the conversation.

“Sure! Take care, bye,” replied.

Before Roni realized it was women’s day again and she was glad how the pandemic changed her for the better.