THRIVING IN TIMES OF COVID19 – 3

April 30, 2020Leave a comment

I live on the third floor of our building. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are either G+1 floor or G+2 floors. As a result, I can get visibility of far more buildings and terraces than if I were living on the first floor. One the results of the COVID19 lockdown is that the terraces of the buildings in my neighborhood have become relaxation/ socialization spots for people in the evenings. I live in a densely crowded part of the city and going for a walk on the streets is not advisable. Since its peak summer here and staying indoors for an extended period of time is extremely suffocating, a stroll in the terrace is a welcome break or rather an unusual luxury during these extraordinary times.

The terrace of the apartment complex immediately behind my house gets converted into a cricket field @ 5.20 pm almost everyday. A guy in his fifties comes to play with his two sons, one probably in his late teens and another in his preteens. They look like Tamilians but the boys talk only in Hindi. As is usually the case with boys of this age and age gap, they keep quarreling a lot about a potential catch, wrong delivery, bad shot and on and on. The dad is an extreme contrast to his sons, he rarely speaks and the look on his face resembles that of a Zen monk. After the match and on days when his sons don’t come to play cricket he goes for a brisk walk on the terrace. I think the elder son goes for cricket coaching and I have seen him do exercises (similar to the ones done perform cricket coaching sessions) on the terrace.

I have seen a couple of ladies go for walking or do warm-up exercises in the evening. But they never interact and one of them is always wearing a earphone connected to her mobile. Around 8 to 8.30 PM a couple of college guys come to the terrace to talk on mobiles. Sometimes they also do group study on the terrace. The terrace of the building beyond this one gets converted into a playground for less than 10 year olds. They are mostly accompanied by their grand parents. Sometimes I see these kids lean on the parapet wall and talk to kids in the next terrace or kids standing in their balconies in the next building.

On the terrace of the house immediately to the left of my house an elderly man and an elderly lady (most likely a couple) go for a walk in the evenings. The lady goes for a very brisk walk while chatting on mobile phone; Abishek Bachan would be proud that she is following his maxim: Walk & Talk. The guy generally strolls slowly with the look of reluctance in his face. The house and the apartments next to this building also have someone or the other in walk & talk mode. The family in the house immediately in front of my house never venture to their terrace or their balconies in the evenings. However one of the persons who lives in the house aging about sixty comes to his balcony in the mornings and chants come mantra while holding a little bit of water on his right palm.

On the terrace diagonally in front of my house, there is a very small roof garden with flowering plants. Every evening a guy in his forties or a lady in her sixties are either watering the plant or doing some sort of attending to the plants. There is a railway line of Elevated Metro Train Service very near my house. In normal days you could see and hear the sound of the trains. With the lockdown in place, the trains have gone silent. Despite all these people that I have described doing some activity or the other, a vast majority of the people still do not venture out to the terraces. Not sure, what do they do keep themselves occupied and remain sane.

Thriving in times of COVID19 – 2

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020Leave a comment

There are a bunch of trees near my house, a rarity in my city these days. As a result I get to see a bunch of birds every time I step into my house terrace. Ever since shifting to this house I have made it a point to feed the crows that live in the nearby trees. Since the lock-down feeding the crows has become a ritual. I feed them twice a day, once around 10.30 AM and once around 4 PM. It’s a fascinating sight to see the crows flying towards my house as I start placing food on the parapet wall of our terrace.

As the days have passed I have noticed a few smaller things that I have not paid much attention to in the past. The crows do seem to have their favorite foods: Chapathis are their favorite, bread comes next and they like savories like Ompodi & Mixture. The have a particular liking for Medu Vadai. They are ok with biscuits, water melon & musk melon but do not seem to like bananas. They don’t like Sundal either. Crows also exhibit different personality traits: some of them descend down on the wall pick up their share of food and fly back to the trees, some sit on the wall and eat uneasily, while others rather than eating, shout on top of their voice to broadcast to others that food is available.

I get to see other birds too. There are a bunch of pigeons that live in the neighborhood. My immediate next house neighbor places water in mud plates on his terrace for the pigeons, so they have kind of made his terrace their home. Two of the pigeons come to eat if I place scraps of fruits for the crows. Ditto for a couple of squirrels. The pigeons and squirrels come to eat only after most of the crows have left. A couple of times I have seen a solitary Myna too eating on our terrace. However all these creatures make a quick exit if I even get near the door of our terrace.

There are about 4 parrots living in a hole on the side walls of apartments two building from my house. I can see them only in the morning around 8 AM but they seem to vanish from sight after that. In the evening they will be flying at high-speed from one tree to another. Guess they have the same attitude of adolescent guys indulging in bike racing in East-coast Road. I have never seen these parrots coming to eat at my house or drink at my neighbors house. May be once of the days, I need to wake up at daybreak and see what these parrots are up to.

I also get to see cranes flying in the sky; guess they are moving towards Foreshore Estate where there is creek / backwaters. I get to see eagles gliding high in the sky over a nearby hotel, the most that I have seen is six of them. I guess a crows have made nest on the terrace of the hotel. From time to time, I see a couple of crows trying to chase a solitary eagle; it’s like watching fighter planes indulging in dogfight. Most of the times, the crows seem to be successful; happy ending… for the crows and hungry tummy for the eagles.

Around 6 PM, the villains of the current season, Bats start making their appearance in the sky. It’s quite a scary sight to see a constant stream of bats flying from south-east to the north-west direction. I guess they are coming from somewhere near Foreshore Estate where there are a couple of water-bodies and a lot of trees, but I am not sure. Once the bats start gracing the sky with their appearance, I shut the terrace door and get back into the house. The sun by this time would be beating a hasty retreat and in no time mosquitoes would be busy making everybody’s life uncomfortable.

It’s my deepest wish or daydream that on one of the days when I open my terrace door to feed the crows there should be bunch of Scarlet Macaw Parrots or a couple of Indian Peafowls sitting on my terrace’s parapet wall.

Thriving in Times of COVID19 – 1

April 28, 2020April 28, 2020Leave a comment

It’s been a long time since I wrote something or blogged. Have been thinking seriously about starting to write on a regular basis. COVID19 has turned our life upside down. The only way to maintain sanity is to focus on the positives in life and stay away from the negatives. As a result I have drastically cut down on daily news intake and cut down completely on arguing online (on WhatsApp) with friends & acquaintances. It been nearly two months since I started working from home. With the the lock-down and curfews, its become very difficult to go out and meet friends & family members too. While it did not strike me until this point, that blogging about useful activities that I and family members indulge in would be a good way to start writing once again.

My eight year old daughter is having her summer holidays, without her usual summer classes, etc. She has not been able to step outside to play, go and meet her friends on their birthdays, visit malls & play areas; needless to say it’s been a very boring summer vacation for her. As a result, like most parents, I and my wife have been trying to keep her occupied with some usual activity or the other. My year old son is still using the entire day for playing and throwing things around as he like. One of the things that my daughter likes is drawing. She used to go for drawing classes for the past three years or so. My wife also draws from time to time. Since I am working from home, I have made it a point to encourage them to draw/ paint as much as possible. Just before the lock-down started I went to Odyssey and bought some drawing & painting related stuff. In hindsight it turned out to be a very good decision.

I keep finding instructional videos for painting for my wife & daughter. A friend who knows about my wife’s interest in painting sent an Instagram link about Live painting instruction sessions conducted by Hindustan Trading Company @ 5 PM everyday during this lock-down. So, I created an Instagram account. Yesterday my wife and daughter attended the live art sessions for the first time. Due to bandwidth issues, the video kept pausing quite a number of times. So, they decided to follow instructions from the recording of an earlier session about making bookmarks. I have posted the pictures of the bookmarks that they made. I read a lot of books, so they made the book marks as a gift for me. It was about an hour and half well spent for my daughter and wife.