Sometimes I simply gaze at the stars

As I write this in the midst of a lockdown, I hope everyone is safe at home. Perhaps you’re on your phone texting, or you’re reading, learning, exercising and doing what you must to kill time during the pandemic.

I often ask myself how the lockdown is treating me. And how do I keep sane during these tough times? Come to think of it, it is no less than a war-like situation today.

We’re all fighting to beat this invisible enemy, the mighty virus ‘Covid-19’ in its unknown battleground. In this fight, we’ve lost many of our dear ones. All those bright and sunny days spent outside - playing, partying, exploring, having team sports, entertaining and meeting people – seem like a dream. It was such fun. I do miss them terribly.

Like many, I am locked within the radius of my home. It has taken my routine for a ride. I recall vividly, it was last year (2020) in April when the virus began to take its dreadful form in India.

“100.1000…1million cases and what on earth is the government doing?”

“Will our country survive this crisis and regain its financial loss during the pandemic?”

“India’s health system equipped enough to handle the crisis?” - were some of the top headlines buzzing around in the news channels then.

My life during the first few weeks of the lockdown was one of quiet choking.

Then I decided to take the bull by its horns. I was going to treat this as a long holiday and do the things I love: sketching portraits, reading, painting landscapes, watching movies and stand-up comedy shows.

I remember wondering what to paint and soon an idea came from Bhutanese currency with its intricate artwork. I searched more about this art, the technique, and made a rough sketch to begin with. From then on painting has become a regular activity.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading too. Reading books takes me literally into the writer’s world, each line from an interesting book seems like a movie scene to me, and I feel as though I have a mini projector in my head.

I’ve read “The Wings of Fire” by A P J Abdul Kalam,” the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens” by Sean Covey and Amar Chitra Katha’s “Mahabharata”.

As I pack all these in, I realize it can be so much fun at home.

But the best part of a typical lockdown day has to be all of us sitting together to eat:

“Hey, Aman (me) grab some veggies (my sister would say). Do you want to have that stick-like physique for the rest of your life!”

“Hey sis, (I would counter my sister) why do you eat like a chicken?”

That’s until my mom comes and piles rice on my sister’s plate with a devilish smile on her face.

And when she was done serving, she  joins us:

“Oh lord! I am so fortunate that finally, we’re all at one place together……I am so blessed…..today’s day is so special; it was exactly on this day-long time ago…..”

It is moments like these that I truly cherish.

I do miss my classmates and reach out to them via video calls and texts and it cheers me up. I began to connect with them when the online classes had started. At first, these classes really tired me to sit for about four to five hours and listen to the teacher without interacting. The online classes don’t give the feel of a classroom and I have lost interest and focus many a time. But there have been some bright moments too when we’ve had competitions and programmes online when I rehearsed and discussed performances with my teachers and friends.

There are times when I am bored and lonely. But then I am lucky to have my sister Ahana as my companion to cheer me always. We spend a lot of time together and often talk about science, space, and a plan for a dream house. If she’s is busy, then I lay on my back and look at the stars in the quiet moonlight. And then it’s time for dinner and bed.

And then something incredible happened on 15^th April 2021. My mother gets a call and I can hear her scream: “Boards are cancelled”. The government has announced that the Board exams have been cancelled. I take a deep breath. All that stress and uncertainty I felt have suddenly disappeared. My friends have mixed reactions. Some gather their books to dump at the nearest kabaddi walla, but there are a few who had worked hard and have frowns on their faces.
Me? I am promoted to high school. Would you call that luck?