#Coronatimes

The little one has been home from pre-school for more than 3 weeks now.

In the beginning I loved it - I had a delicious thirty extra minutes each morning. I wanted to conquer the world - catch up on piano practice, read a magazine, sip hot chaai. On most days I just slept till it was time to get ready for work.

And then the global pandemic began.  

I have been trying to work from home since last week (actually every alternate day - since I work in the telecom sector which is an essential service -our office is doing 50% of the workforce every day). I am definitely less productive than while being in office. It helps that I am not working on any big project currently. But having this time at home and with the stress of school admissions in Delhi finally behind me, I had much more focus and quality time to give my little one.

I have become intensely aware that much as I want to just sit and complete my piano piece at one go, read at least one paragraph of the book I have been carrying around for 2 months now or just switch off and watch a show, without being interrupted by cries of 'Muummmyy....pleeeease heewp me', these times are but fleeting moments in a lifetime. I am clutching to these moments, trying to etch the smell of her cheeks and hair, her voice as she tries to sing along to Secret Superstar, her clumsy hands as she puts her dolls to sleep at night in my mind. 

Soon she will not need me for any of this. She already displays a strong streak of independence. She carefully contemplates the choices available and then unequivocally opines on whether she will dispense with the much needed kisses for Mommy or eat the food on her plate or go to sleep at the designated time.

The awareness of my finite time with my little girl makes these troubling events easier to bear. While we are faced with the uncertainty of what the world will look like six months later, while I worry for my aged parents so far away and my husband under lock down in another city, I am focused on trying to savour the time I have been given right now to be with my little one. 

We laze around on the bed each morning, call up my husband on video and have a virtual family 'goodmorning ritual'. We eat breakfast leisurely before I drop her to my MIL for the day. I then wrap up work as soon as possible and pick her up in the evening - again to come home to play with her dolls, read books, quill, before winding down for the day.  

While I appreciate that I am in a minority that has the privilege to work from home coupled with the security of a paycheck at the end of the month, I also do think, that this is giving, at least the urban world some time off. 

Precious time not spent planning meticulous vacations, preparing (and then going on the said vacations), checking off to-do lists, planning parties, catching up for the movies or retail therapy - but genuine time alone with self or family. 

This crisis in a way has stripped us of extraneous distractions to a very large extent. I am deeply conscious of how insensitive this may be for persons in other parts of India or even the rest of the world who do not have an option but to go out to work, who do not have access to medical care or are at the forefront of this battle against the unknown.  I speak from a position of privilege that I do not take for granted. 

So to the extent we can, I tell my friends, we should look inwards and focus on ourselves and our families.