21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 21

Yesterday, 13 April 2020

Finally, the long weekend was over, I woke up around 8 something in the morning in spite of the sleepless night. After all, work takes the deserving priority for the sense of accomplishment it gives. I started my day with usual core workouts and breakfast. Since I had a long list of items in my To-Do list for the day, it was quite packed. Yet managed to make some Dhall rice and eggs for lunch.

The tiredness from the previous night took a toll on me, that I could barely stay up after lunch. So I had to set an alarm for 15 minutes to take a power nap. I am not an alarm person usually, that I even unwire completely before I go to bed. I always make a point to wake up for the noise of screeching birds or for the sunlight that gives me a taste of the heat of the day. But noon nap on a working day is not usually me, so I had to set the alarm for fifteen minutes as I had a call in 30 minutes. As I woke up, I prepared myself a cup of espresso before I joined the call.

There were multiple items on my plate that I managed to write off efficiently. So there was a feeling of accomplishment for the day. I finished my work around 9:15 PM. I made some time to prepare my banana dosas for dinner as I did not want to stay awake in hunger that cost me the whole night’s sleep of the previous day. I rang and spoke to my family around 9:20 PM. I did not mess with myself staring at my computer screen anymore, so I unwired myself and went to bed early. Most importantly, I slept sound until 9:30 in the morning today.

“Mistakes from the past are lessons for the present and experiences for the future…”

With today, the 21 days comes to the end, but not the lockdown. Here the government has extended the lockdown for another 19 days until the 3rd of May. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy. Take care folks!

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 20

Yesterday, 12 April 2020

Lockdown or no lockdown, Sundays are supposed to glue us to the bed. Yesterday was no different, for I had chilled all day long only to compromise my good night’s sleep. In spite of all the short naps I took from time to time across the whole day, I went shopping for some fruits and staples, made myself a fancy breakfast – an espresso and banana dosa which is a sweet made out of Ripen Bananas, jaggery, cardamom, and wheat flour. I also have found some time to do my workout though not very intense, went over my Spanish lessons about purchasing vegetables, when its real pain to buy veggies even to locals, read some pages from the book, “White Clouds, Green Mountains” by Ruskin Bond. I also watched a Tamil and a Telugu film from Amazon Prime.

I ordered Ulavacharu Chicken Biriyani from the same Andra restaurant where I loved the curry version, the huge portion is enough to be served for two good eaters, yet it became a disappointing lunch as it hardly retained any flavor from the curry version. Obviously, I saved half for dinner, but it got spoiled when I opened the box to heat the food up. Thus I was saved from further disappointment. So for dinner, I had some coffee, some roasted peanuts, and fruits. I was unsure if it the worried voice of my Periyappa expressing concern over my well being or the insufficient dinner or the multiple nap sessions I took over the day, I hardly slept until 3 AM in the morning today, finding discomfort and a bad headache. Finally, with a little help from my friend at Portugal and her random stories, I fell asleep. Thanks to the five and a half time zone difference, making her available for me at the times of need.

 

 

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 19

Yesterday, 11 April 2020

As it is a long weekend, I started my day leisurely around 9:30 AM not having readymade plans to spend the Saturday. I slowly picked up the pace, did the dishes from the previous night as the fuzed kitchen bulb was still unfixed. Then I made some coffee, listened to some music and started watching some random videos on YouTube until it was noon. For lunch, I prepared some Rajma-Potato fry and had them along with some white rice and eggs. It was wholesome though not very fancy.

I sat down to watch a film, I browsed through my collection and chose to watch “In the mood for love” again for the second time. The film’s plot revolves around the extra-marital affair that entangles between two married couples who live in the neighborhood. When their significant partners come to know about their respective spouse’s infidelity, they develop friendship and offer emotional support to each other, still continuing to keep their relationship platonic and nonsexual. They had their own inner struggles that they won, yet had lost each other on their way leaving a void in each other’s hearts for the rest of the years to come. The picturesque visualization and the enchanting background score will make one forget the reality and take you to the world of Wong Kar-wai’s Hong Kong. Mrs. Chan’s elegance and class is something that is so dear to me for which I fall head over heels every time.  Sometimes you deny yourself good things, not because you think you do not deserve them, but because you do not want to get used to them, out of fear of losing them. But I think great and beautiful things deserve a chance rather regrets, unlike Mrs. Chan and Mr.Chow did.

As the evening fell, wrote my previous day blog post and did some workouts. I made myself some aval uppuma for dinner and had it with the Rajma-Potato fry from noon. I called my family and my friend in Portugal before I start the next film. I watched Europe’51, a film released in 1952 with the central theme “mental health”. The plot revolves around a well off family, that had two working parents and a boy child of ten, who afford servants to tender the boy’s needs. However, the negligence from the parents caused him severe depression. He tried to voice out his thoughts to his mother, but she could not find time for the boy. So to gather their attention he attempted suicide, yet survived with injuries. He repeated the act which took his life away from his parents leaving the mother depressed and lifeless. She sought help by finding new contacts and offering them help, which her family finds bizarre and abnormal. She got herself caught in a situation and ended up in a Mental Health Asylum. Though she is quite composed, her acts of empathy and compassion tagged her as a mentally sick person. The climax of the film is very touching and shows the power of compassion and unconditional love, that the family failed to take notice of and understand. It spoke about negligence, depression and misdiagnosed mental illness well ahead of the times, the times that saw Mental Health as Taboo. With this film, the day felt content when I went the bed.

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 18

Yesterday, April 10, 2020

I had the day off for The Good Friday yesterday, which does not make much of a difference since I was working from home in the past 18 days. However, the holiday helped me draw a clear boundary between my work and personal time, even though they overlap the space. Although I felt a kind of temptation, I chose not to log in to my work system.

I woke up around 9 in the morning and had some butter coffee and fruits for breakfast. I then started listening to the audiobook, “Let’s Talk Money” and finished it around noon. I cooked some eggs and Mushrooms that I bought from my previous day of grocery shopping. The mushroom curry did not come out that well, however, I managed to gulp in a portion of it with some difficulty.

I had a bad stomach ache since the morning, which I assumed, was because of food poisoning from the leftover portions of food that I keep for the next  day’s meal the day before. I was unsure of the actual reason though. I did not have my meds at home and was too lazy to get to a pharmacy to buy some when the pain was mild. However took some home remedies such as Cumin-turmeric-Pepper in hot water, some fenugreek seeds in hot water and also some Asafoetida in hot water from time to time for the whole day. Finally, the pain subsided before I went to bed and I am quite fine now. I felt homesick and wanted to talk to my mother as I often do when I fall sick. But I missed the moment with her when I received free remedies from everyone at home for my sickness as if people are waiting to give away free advice.  I lost my temper as I already was suffering from a bad stomach ache. Sometimes I am thinking too much speculating their care and affection, but it is ok as I do not want to be taken for granted.

I tried watching a movie, “The Weekend” to distract myself. But I could hardly concentrate even for the first 10 minutes, so skipped the idea of the movie. I then rang my friend in Portugal and spoke to her for some time, as I know it will pacify my temper and help me forget my pain. It was her close friend’s birthday yesterday, and she did not greet him over an ego clash they had some time ago, so I had to convince her not to throw tantrums and call him up before the day ends. I closed the call 10 minutes before midnight and went to bed.

There have been speculations over whether or not the 21 days lockdown be lifted, provided things are not in a good shape with respect to the number of Corona cases getting escalated day after day.  Its time for us to be brave and hope for the best.

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 17

Yesterday, 9 April 2020

I woke up unusually early, around 6 AM, and had been for a morning walk with a mask for a kilometer around 7 AM to a supermarket in the neighborhood, bought some supplies for the next week.  The market road was not deserted in the early hours of the day during the lockdown is quite surprising. What is worrying is, many people did not wear any masks. The Police car was patrolling the locality to keep a check if the shopkeepers are following the government norms to contain the viral outbreak.

After reaching my place, I made myself a nice butter coffee and started listening to an audiobook called, “Let’s talk money”. It was an interesting and informative listen which gave a lot of insights about financial planning. I had also gone through some Spanish lessons. I began my office work 10:30 AM in the morning, which kept me super productive. For lunch, I heated up the leftover chicken curry that I refrigerated the previous day and had it along with white rice and boiled egg. The effect of refrigerated leftovers did not cost me anything until yesterday.

The weather in Chennai was surprisingly cloudy and windy yesterday. Had a heavy rainfall around noon, due to which the transformer nearby has tripped, causing the power failure for an hour. Tried managing with the invertor, but it could power up only the electric bulbs. The fluctuation in the power already had the kitchen light bulb burn out. Power came back around 5:30 PM. Back into work and I wrapped up early around 8 PM in the evening. Made a few slices of cheese garlic bread and coffee for dinner. I watched a Spanish film called, L’avventura a relationship drama and then retired to bed.

 

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 16

Yesterday, 8 April 2020

It was a special day for me. What more do you want out of the day when you have the whole day for yourself and you get to spend it the way you want. It was really difficult for me to wake up from my bed yesterday, yet mustered some strength as if it was the toughest job one can do. I had some espresso and toasted bread with peanut butter for breakfast. I texted my manager that I will be logging in late for the day, but surprisingly I was on time for the status call around 11.

The work was quite packed yesterday with a lot of interesting things to do. Received an appreciation note from my managers over a design I had laid out for the Automation Anywhere project, It was just enough motivation to keep my day going. I took some Lunch was extremely simple, I boiled a large sweet potato. I took a small half-hour break from work around 6:00 PM for my workout. I then resumed my work back again by 6:40 PM. I ordered some Ulavacharu Chicken Curry from an Andra Restaurant called Guntur Gongura. The food was really yum and a delicacy. Saved some for the next day in the refrigerator.

I had a bad headache that was bothering me from the past two days of insomnia, so I needed a distraction. So I wrapped up my work around 8:15 PM and started to watch the “2001 Space Odessey” for the second time. I also had a nice long chat through the telephone with my family. I am usually not open-minded when people try to dictate my way of living through free advice. It came out twice during the call. But fine, once in a while you need to push back to show your stance. After the movie was over, I spent some time revising the Spanish words that I had learned and taken new chapter before I went to bed. Finally, I had a sound sleep in three days.

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 15

Yesterday, 7 April 2020

My sleep deprivation from the previous night took a toll on me, yet I wore up early in the morning, managed to gather some strength and intensified my workouts yesterday. I had a simple breakfast and a coffee as usual before I jump on to my work.

Its been a while since I properly dressed up for work, so I decided to put some effort to dress up though I was staying home. It was much-needed, after all, you deserve to look best for yourself more than for others. So I am thinking of doing this once in a while. For lunch, I had ordered fish curries of two variants from a Bengali restaurant. The fish was barely edible and disappointing and So the food was a disaster.

It was a tightly packed day at work, so I hardly find time for reading and for my Spanish lessons. I had several calls and some design activities involving some excel reporting, which is not my cup of tea. However, this time the spreadsheets are surprisingly interesting as the formulation gave some insight into my logic. Only pain is debugging the logical errors in the spreadsheets unlike you do in a comfortable IDE. I was able to close my work only around 10:40 PM yesterday.

Meanwhile, I took the time to speak to my family and had a nice chat longer than usual. I told my mom about my sleep issues and headache. I expressed my worries to her as people were bursting crackers around 9:09 PM the previous day across India when the whole world is paying the taxes for corona, misinterpreting the call given by Indian PM to express solitude in support of lockdown to contain the virus. In the mind, I was thinking If I were living the Shining moments of solitude 😀

 

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 14

Yesterday, 6 April 2020

The two third of the 21 days lockdown has almost passed. It was a super productive day at work, that I have started quite early in the morning around 10:00 AM. Usual tasks like answering emails and calls went on one side, was writing some interesting blocks of code cater our project requirements.

I worked out with medium weights a little, not in the usual pace as I am healing from my shoulder injury. As far as reading is concerned I hardly touched any books or my Spanish lessons yesterday. Hope I make it up for today.

As far as food is concerned, I have not placed any online orders the whole day, instead preferred to fix simple meals.

I was downloading the movies in the list of Martin Scorsese’s favourite films in chronological order dating early 1900s to 1992, published by mentalfloss that I had bookmarked some time ago. 

http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/567952/martin-scorsese-favorite-movies-list

I am sleep deprived in the past two days. I emailed my friend in the middle of the night as she lives in a time zone five and a half hours later than mine. I badly need to head out  today at least to pick up some groceries.

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 13

Yesterday, 5 April 2020

Nothing much to say about the usual Sunday, I replaced my work hours with cleaning, movies, music, and nap.

Day to day, I fear there is increasing homophobia among the people. Yesterday, when I ordered food from Zomato, the delivery person mentioned that the watchman did not allow him upstairs to deliver the food instead he wanted to leave the food over the parcel box. As I made a casual inquiry, why the watchman asked the delivery person to do so, he mentioned that someone from the apartment asked him not to allow anyone beyond the gate. Not to mention, no one bothers to give the old watchman a pair of glove or a face mask but make insane rules due to fear of Corona. Their fear is understandable, but being insensitive and inhuman, point fingers at others is just bothering. Without help from delivery executives from all these food delivery apps, at least it is really hard for me to survive.

Symbolism in politics is very frequent and the most successful strategies used to show off one’s power and we completely understand that. But this is no time for political theatrics. When thousands of people had lost their lives, millions are fighting for their lives and billions are struck under their roofs with looming job security issues and loss of business. Especially not now, when the government is yet to make the corona test kits available and affordable for the masses, especially not now, when we are at war with the virus. The world has a war to win against a common enemy, that is invisible yet invincible at this juncture. Let us not celebrate prematurely before conquering the virus. Please stop the political theatrics and polarization for the good for humanity at least now.

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 12

Yesterday, 4 April 2020

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. I woke up around 7 AM when the morning Sun rays penetrated my window screens. Then I drank a tall jar of water about 500 ml as I always do first thing in the morning and back again in my bed listening to soft instrumental music that put me to sleep again. My cousin rang me around 9:30 in the morning. I woke up and made my bed, then made myself a routine lockdown breakfast and writing my previous day blog.

At noon, I spent my time cooking some Dhall rice and fried meal maker that came for two portions. The food was very simple, yet quite a delicacy. FYI, the Chicken that I brought the previous day still sits in the refrigerator. When your food experiments go wrong, you do not want to worsen your palet further and it is kind of scary. But I should gather some gut and do something about it. I do not want to waste over 500 grams of Chicken just because I flunked at it one day. After all, Practice makes perfect!

Post lunch, I applied a sheet mask on my face and fell asleep while relaxing over mild music in the background. I wanted to watch the film “Escape from Pretoria” that afternoon. But my slumber won over my will. I woke up again in the evening just a few minutes before 6. I did some medium weights for the workout and then a nice warm shower. Practiced some words in Spanish, had an early supper before I start watching the film. The previous day, around midnight I was carving for some Chocolate shake after brushing my teeth. I resisted and told myself I was going to treat me with better chocolate shake the next day. To stay true to my promise, I made myself a nice cup of cold chocolate milk in the middle of the film.

By the way, The Escape from Pretoria is a Prison break movie, casting Daniel Radcliffe on the lead. It is a story about two White men, Tim and Stephen, who work against apartheid in South Africa end up in prison for 12 and 8 years of imprisonment. Their crime was orchestrating a model bombing against their own race in Johannesburg. Tim with his inherent Engineering mind studies the mechanism of the prison doors the moment he enters the Prison. He then plans and orchestrates the prison break with his friend Stephen and a Spanish prisoner Leo. Quite a watch I would say. The films of freedom, no matter how redundant the theme is, always have a special place in my heart.

After the film, I started my new book by Ruskin Bond, titled White Clouds, Green Mountains, that is kind of a travelogue. Ruskin speaks about his love for mountains and how close they are to him right from childhood. Having been a girl from a hilly town, I could relate a lot, when the author spoke about the chirping birds songs that wake him up in the morning, the mischievous monkeys that steal his clothes, the closely bound communities, the fearless women and so on. I finished nearly half of the book yesterday night and went to bed as I could not proceed reading as my sleep conquered again.

 

 

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 11

Yesterday, 3 April 2020

I woke up in the morning around 8:30 – 9:00, and settled for the lockdown staple bread and peanut butter for the breakfast. I made sure to resume my work out with mild weights. I watched some random videos online, which is just killing my time with nothing productive. I wish I chose a good book or my Spanish lessons instead, as I did not make time for either of them yesterday.

The work started as usual around 11:00 AM in the morning with some calls, reading requirement documentation, code reviews and writing some components for our new requirements. Work is exciting over the past two days and it lasted until 8:30 PM in the evening.

I was badly craving for Chicken, and hence I ordered a kilogram of raw chicken breasts to prepare something from home. I marinated them and refrigerated them. Made a roasted chicken for lunch which did not turn out that well. So prepared me some chocolate shake to soothe my tastebuds. For dinner I did not want to repeat the same mistake again, so have cut down the chicken breast into dice cubes and prepared a curry. Decent but not great. I am unsure of what I am going to do with another half a Kilogram of chicken that I had marinated and refrigerated. I am in no mood to cook Chicken anytime soon.

I tried watching some movies, but could hardly concentrate. I am quite speculative about the care and affection that the people show towards me. As I said, I come from a joint family. My extended family members except for a handful are at my home now. I receive a call right around 9:30 AM every morning from my eldest cousin, just a casual inquiry over how I am doing and if everything is fine. As I am not used to excessive care and affection, I see a sense of insecurity and fakeness in the intention of the call. To me, excessive care and affection is a symbol of control, so I do not know how to let my thoughts know without hurting them. After all, they are family…

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 10

Yesterday, 2 April 2020

It was another usual day that I started around 10 AM in the morning. I made myself a nice cup of espresso along with toasted bread and peanut butter for breakfast. The sore shoulder muscles were bothering, so no weights for workouts yesterday and I happened to settle for mild stretches just to test the waters. I was just about time for me to join my 11:00 AM call, but my laptop was installing the updates hence it was as late as me to bring up the home screen. Work was quite eventful with a lot of feed to thought and logic. While the code keeps the word interesting, the redundant calls make the day boring and annoyed.  But this can be forgiven once in a while as I get to write some code that is close to my heart.

To give me a little treat, prepared a  Mochaccino. I was not surprised to see it coming so well as it will be the same every time I make. Coffee is pure bliss ☕☕☕ Good thing about yesterday was I had completed my Wild Swans and looking forward to pickup my next book.

In the evening, a friend of mine has recommended me to watch a film called The Purge. It happened to be a Sci-Fi movie from 2013, where the US celebrates annual purge when all crimes are legal for a night. The less fortunate are often the victims while the affluent can afford high degree security systems to guard their home, until that year when the security system sales person in a Porche community and his family falls prey. Whether or not they survive is the story of the film. It got over by 1:15 AM at night then and  I went to bed.

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 9

Yesterday, 1 April 2020

Days of seclusion are running very fast that I am already acquainted with them. I now have come to realize survival during times of isolation is not a challenge anymore, especially when you love yourself and choose to put yourself first. The real challenge is what solitude brings out of each one of us as we get to be unadulterated by human influence, as we get to be completely responsible for what we do and what we choose not to do.

I get to take my time to reflect the inner self – happiness, worries, needs, goals, habits and so on. I did not bring new things into my day-to-day routine but trying religiously to stick to my resolutions from New Year. So far, I am on track and I enjoy what I am doing without much pressure. I feel glad and grateful that I am trying to be the better version of myself.

I have been wondering for days what will happen if usual drinking water home delivery is unavailable. To my relief, I could get a refill for the next two weeks’ requirements. I could imagine the kind of hardship people are going through at this moment and my thoughts are with them all. While CORONA is taking a toll on human lives, I hope everyone’s basic necessity is met.

 

21 Days Of Self Isolation – Day 8

Yesterday, 31 March 2020

Difficult times always bring out the most creative ideas. And these days mark true to the thought. Some of the most basic challenges in self-isolation times are food and emotional support. For someone like me who forces self-isolation, food takes priority. In usual days, I cook very rarely and keep my food habits very simple and redundant. But these days, I am making the effort to experiment with food, especially with whatever is available in hand.

Having perishable items such as bread, milk, fruits, and vegetables in stock is not very wise. So I decided to use up all that I have in my hand before I shop for groceries. Of course, I am given no choice but to place food orders here and there. Yet, I have not placed any yesterday. In the morning, I had banana-butter toast and espresso; Sweet Potato for lunch, roasted Kidney beans and dosa for dinner. Not to forget the piping hot glass of cappuccino to break my fatigue in the evening. Yes, I was unusually tired even while staying home. In spite of that, I pushed myself for a workout, primarily cardio with mild weights. I did not want to skip my workouts for the second day due to my shoulder injury. So I took refuge in a belladonna plaster for relief. Not to mention, all these amid the usual work whose details I do not go over again.

After I wrapped up my work, I picked Wild Swan I finished a couple more chapters. Its a kind of long read. At my pace, it will come for the next two days. The story now is getting really depressing, where Chang’s parents are put in detention camps where they are subject to torture and toil; Chang with her grandmother and siblings are exiled to the remote states of China where they had to lead very simple life out of poverty. Her grandmother in spite of her old age and sickness worked hard to feed her grandchildren and wait in long queues for the ration after the long hours of work, which is paid in work points. One day She was expired out of the negligence of local doctors who could not give a proper diagnosis, her mother was released from her detention camp temporarily to cater to the last wish of her mother in death bed. However, her dear granddaughter  Chang could not stay by her while she took her last breath. This haunted her for the times to come alongside the more depressing times that kept her family fragmented for long.

While I got drowsy, I made sure to do a rush over some chapters from my Spanish lessons and a chapter on Fruits before I settle down. The day was quite hasty and forceful. Yet needed to push a little further, hence all the haste and rush.