I didn't know what this was about when I started typing

 

Nearly two years have passed since the first quarantine was imposed in India, and it has been a sea of change for absolutely everyone. Coughs and sneezes are no longer innocent reasons to get out of that annoying mandatory physical education class, the word quarantine brings back memories of terror in the minds of most people and surprisingly, so do the words 'Teams' and 'Zoom', two words I definitely did not intend to be scared by. And yet, scarred have I been xD

The quarantine and the Internet together have shaped the decades to come, with schools and universities adopting online education with varying success, many companies moving completely online and many beginning to see life in an entirely different light. If someone had told me a couple years back that I'd be recognised by more than a couple of people and that I'd maintain a blog, I'd have laughed the thought out of my mind.

One other important thing that this time with myself and my scary thoughts have reinforced is my love of people, good food and cooking, these things being the best deterrents to the nasty cold that is the quarantine. I've been fortunate enough to come across some amazing people, to get to know them really well, organically, over text at our own conveniences - something only a prolonged time indoors with nothing better to do could have brought across. As a traditionally introverted person, finding new people online and establishing meaningful relationships has been exciting, almost as exciting as actually getting to meet them in real life.

It is often said that the people you are with shape you as a person, and I've seen that happen with my own two eyes. Without naming any names, I've had friends who have made me more conversant, better technically, a better human being (or atleast, I like to think so), empathetic, woke and sometimes, a complete annoyance. This blogpost when I began it had no purpose, but I see one now - as I am sitting here writing my the entry for the first time, without the usual clickety clack keys and the soulful SPB music, I'm starting to slowly come to realisation what a lucky person I've been, to be fortunate enough to have gotten to know and to have worked with all these wonderous people who have changed my outlook on life. The one group that I do want to name, and thank in a big way is Knit a Tale - ever since I was introduced to the group a while back, they've become an essential part of my quarantine mental health kit, a place where I can be myself, not be judged, meet amazing people from different walks of life, get to know about life in different states and countries, and create amazing bonds with equally amazing people. If you haven't checked them out yet, this is the time to - head over to https://knitatale.com or visit https://instagram.com/knit_a_tale to know more.

There are parts of oneself that one never feels comfortable exploring - unless accompanied by someone willing to share the journey with you. To the very depths of one's thoughts, that region where one dumps unhappy situations in the hope that they never resurface or come back into our lives - which they have an annoying habit of doing often enough. However great it might feel to dump those thoughts and never think about them, the quarantine has taught me that those are thoughts that are waiting to be acknowledged, just like any other, and it's important that we do so. You know the ones, thoughts that you would want to bury deep and never bring up in any conversation. I was glad enough to find more than one such person, and to them, I am forever indebted.

As we move on to a more open, understanding and accepting world with less judging and prejudice, it feels important to chronicle the present, pen down the positives and the negatives as a reminder to not go back in time, to keep the flames of progress alive and burning.

And finally, a month or so later since I began writing (and stopped, feeling self critical), a friend opened my eyes and helped me shake off my fears of being called names and being judged - you know who you are - I'd like to finish this completely random blogpost with a ramble about something random - whatever comes to mind right now.

Aand I'm choosing to ramble on about something that's been annoying me as I'm sitting here typing - have any of you tried using Windows on a device with a hard disk on it? Be it an i3, an i5, an i7 (or an equivalent Ryzen) why in hell does it take time to even register your keypress?! Surely hard drives while slow aren't that slow. Linux runs a-okay on the same hard drive...