The Collective Factor

"We are so down in the mouth by this Pandemic, the government has decided to take proper measures to prevent the spreading of this virus and we are closing the school down for some days until further notice," said the Vice Principal, Operations, the elegant lady who always took Serene's heart away with her sophisticated ways of solving a problem.

"Madam, what about the summer break?" asked Serene.

"Well, it might be postponed as we want to finish off with the first exam of the session."

Serene was crestfallen hearing this, just a day back she purchased the tickets for Kolkata, her hometown. She planned to celebrate her second marriage anniversary with her family! After the departure, she left for home with a heavy heart. As soon as she reached there, she hugged Aziz and started sobbing. He could understand something major must have happened. Before he could ask anything, Serene wailed, "The summer vacation is postponed, I am so upset, how will we go home now?!" Aziz just smiled and said, "Don't worry, we will work something out, we won't miss out on anything." Aziz knew this was inevitable, it is just a matter of time and this shall too pass!

Aziz has a very onerous schedule of work, perks of working in a very popular newspaper! As he left for the office, Serene took a nap, a much-needed one actually. After she woke up, she decided to go for a walk, they had a beautiful surrounding, it was a visual treat for the inhabitants. She was surprised to see that the evening is so pleasant and beautiful, greenery everywhere and the sun is still awake! As she took a walk, there was a flash of nostalgia, when her father was in Indore in 2018, she took him on a wheelchair around the vicinity, as she ran, laughed, her father was as playful as a kitten, he laughed his heart out and they had a whale of a time! How time passes, it is already a year that she had lost him.

Serene is a bookworm so she decided to start with a new book, she also remembered that she had a blog! Being a member of Amazon Prime and Hotstar, her favorite series, Sex and the City, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon were yet to be watched. It is so surprising that she missed so much!

Is this lockdown so appalling?

Slowly it started appearing to be more of a period of relaxation, rejuvenation and a lot of 'me time', rather....a lot of 'us time'. She desperately wanted Aziz to work from home but being in the editorial team, it seemed far fetched.

After so many days she actually spoke to her mother and father-in-law for long hours. It felt good! She caught up with all the gossips, posted pictures on Facebook and Instagram, engaged herself in political discussions, cooked so many dishes for Aziz, met the neighbours and gave them a good amount of lecture about the preventive measures!

As Serene sat down to write this, she learnt one thing that every cloud has a silver lining, only if you can see through it!

Happy lockdown!

(Note: Let us help each other to get through the tough time, let us follow the preventive measures because progress and happiness is actually a collective factor!)