Page 7 - Singapore Sample

ಸಿಂಗಾರ ಸಿಂಚಿಕೆ ೧೪

COPING WITH COVID

COVID-19, coronavirus, Wuhan virus, SARS-CoV-2 etc., etc., call it whatever you want. Little did I know
that a market in a small province in China would affect my daily life to such an extent. My daily routine
before this pandemic was attending classes at the university, getting to meet my peers/friends in person,
spending some time with family, and also doing outdoor physical activity. Those were the moments I wished
I had cherished more. This virus had me confined to my home, struggling to get the right kind of physical
activity indoor, sitting glued to my laptop all day to do ‘university’ chores.
During this time of change, it's natural for our minds to think of all the usual activities we may not be able
to do at the moment. But making a conscious shift to focus on the activities we are still able to do, or those
that we may have more opportunity to do if we're at home more often, and bingo there were many activities
that I seemed to yield to during the circuit breaker.

When the government mandated all of us to stay at home, I realized this was the most amount of time I
had ever spent with my parents in all of my 19 years, as I was being with them all day every day. In fact,
within a few days, I was able to quickly realize when my dad got a new strand of grey hair in his little heap
of hair that is remaining on his crown which I never thought of previously. So, this reflects the proximity
with which we were spending lives together, discovering more of each other’s attributes and nature.

To keep us entertained, as a family, we decided to play board games such as snakes and ladders, pictionary
and LUDO. The pictionary game brought out the creative side of me in drawing, which actually surprised
me! Apparently, LUDO made a huge comeback from the past, with literally everyone’s Facebook, Instagram
and Snapchat filled with stories of them enjoying playing this game with their family. Playing this game
stirred up this competitive side of my father that was a revelation as I had no clue it existed. The best part
of that game was when someone’s pawn returned home, metaphorically that was what the government
was conveying to us, making sure we stayed home. I also indulged in houseparty which had inbuilt games
to play with others on call which was pretty cool and engaging for a bit but it had some privacy issue so I
just ended up uninstalling the app.

Chloe Ting workouts became some sort of norm among most girls my age which I tried to indulge in as well
but couldn’t stick to it, as it turned mundane and did not stimulate me. So, instead, I started doing
something which was quite the contrary, COOKING, and oh boy that has stuck with me for good. I attempted
different cuisines (bit adventurous sometimes), almost everyday. My parents actually loved the food,
commended me, said it was delicious and of course they could not resist taking pictures of all the dishes I
cooked and sharing them with our extended family group, which I’m sure, made them salivate!

My passion for singing has always been there but during the pandemic, I created quite a few songs on
personal requests from my mother who never fails to keep my passion alive. I secretly have begun to think
she has become my huge fan.

Then the online platform Zoom: Zoom calls became the next best thing to meeting your friends and with
the added feature of being able to change our background made it so much more enjoyable. Physical
distancing does not need to be social disconnection. In fact, all our family birthdays were celebrated
together with our extended family living in different parts of the world, playing games, sharing jokes, literally
partying over Zoom. This would read like I am promoting Zoom, but really it did make a difference to most
of us connecting with the world. But with us millennials, our attitude is - Thank You, NEXT until a new wave
takes over.

While I have painted a joyful picture of myself staying at home, every single day without fail my best
friend, Gov.sg, would text me with an update of the Covid cases spiking. That is when not only mine, but
I’m sure everyone’s hearts would sink as we realized we aren’t anywhere close to the much-awaited phase
3 where we as a country would be declared safe from this very dangerous pandemic. This pandemic isn’t
something to be taken lightly as those who suffer from this are susceptible to it again and however fit you
deem yourself to be, it is still unsure how we can fight this virus. Honestly, our anxious minds would often

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