Lock down has invoked a boon for me to unlock my potential. And the physical distancing has enhanced my social attention in the vicinity of the neighborhood, which was otherwise unattended due to involvement in the rat race. The mask wearing, which I was accustomed to earlier due to pollution and dust allergy, was discarded with the first showers of spring, settling the dust during the lockdown, thus making the air breathable. There was a time when I was the only person donning a mask in a crowd, and everybody was staring at me. Now everybody wearing a mask stares at me for not wearing (which I have kept in my pocket).  Funny isn’t it?

Since the last decade many valuable books of my choice had been purchased from book fairs I attended. These books  were lying untouched, save, to clean the dust occasionally. With ample time in hand, the lockdown has rekindled my past hobby of reading books. I tried using hand sanitizer, which was in vogue among young girls some year ago. Even though it is handy in certain situations and smells good, but its prolonged use makes my skin dehydrated and sickly looking. Therefore, I stopped using it.  But alas, the mad rush for sanitizers left me bewildered. Since I had fallen back on water and soap for hand wash, the out of stock and overpriced sanitizers couldn’t bother me.

Now addressing the topic of physical activity, without physical distancing which is impossible, and has led to the shut down of gyms and sports arenas. But a lesson learned during my school days, under the instruction of a NIS coach from Patiala, came back to me: “shadow-practice table tennis for half an hour without actually playing it’’. This memory boosted me to shadow play cricket, football and I was even shadow swimming during the lockdown!  

Finally, my ultimate hobby of playing the guitar, has taken a new direction. I have discarded the plastic pick and am vigorously brushing my fingers on the steel strings while practicing in the finger style playing. Scientists say that corona virus remains for longer duration on metal surfaces. But luckily, no corona positive person has touched my guitar!