She is a school teacher. For the last 35 years, her life has revolved around preparing next day’s lessons, showing up at the school, drafting question papers and assessing the students’ responses. Just like how teachers do. In March this year, schools closed and teachers couldn’t teach. Life took an unanticipated turn when the virus showed up in India.
While technology comes easy to the developed nations and bigger cities around the world, things aren’t as simple in the smaller cities. It took 45 days for her school to try online classes. A 100% participation goal is not realistic. Some students left the city to go back to their villages where internet is a luxury. But for how long can the school be closed? So teachers started sharing lessons over videos. The change wasn’t easy but had begun.
Today she teaches online. An hour a day. She prepares, gets ready and goes live. It is good for her to utilize her time doing what she loves doing the most. With children asking questions over a video call and interacting like she loves, there is hope that one day things will go back to normal.
They came to Bangalore to look after their daughter who was unwell. She got better and the return tickets were blocked. Then the airlines cancelled the flight and India suspended domestic travel. The country went into a lockdown for 21 days and then another 19. For the last 45 days, they have been living out of a suitcase holed up in a hotel room.
There is no freedom to cook and eat what they want. Sharing a room can be hard when one of the three has to work from the hotel on weekdays. They can’t wash their own laundry, step out for fresh air or get some alone time. The expenses are mounting. A hotel room can’t be home. The air conditioning round the clock nags and it seems that Bangalore may never be a good memory again.
What’s good is that they have a roof over their head and food on their table. The family is together in tough times. It’s about acceptance and living in the moment.
He works with artisans and interacts with vendors. An order here and a design there. His work is developing business for his small company, designing, ensuring that the designs are developed and shipped to the clients. When the country locked down, the factory was closed, workers were sent home and client orders were stalled.
The workaholic he was, office was home. And that home was closed. At the place he lived, there were minimal supplies. He hadn’t honed culinary skills. Now he had to stay home and eat. After a few failures in the kitchen, he picked up the game. You-tube recipes and calls to his mother came handy.
Today, a kind neighbor helps him with kneaded dough and he gets her some supplies when he goes out. Alone in their respective homes, they are helping each other in small ways.
They are empty-nesters. Work was his priority and home was hers. She is in the United States and he is in India. Work load is heavy and he is alone. He has no one to help him with cooking or cleaning. The calls to family have the time zone difference between them. Video calls are a relief but they also need to be planned.
He has worked on a routine for himself. It involves working out at home, a bit of cooking and cleaning the house. He has started to draw and color in spare time. Colorful mandala calms him down. He sings now and sends voice notes to close family. This time was a good one to pick up a long lost hobby. He is alone but not lonely.
These people are family. They are staying put and learning from the situations they are in. There are days that things seem to fall apart but there are also days when there is hope. In some ways, they have made peace with the situation. There are many stories around us. The situation will change but these stories will stay.
We had never thought this could happen to the world but it did. This pandemic is teaching us many things. The power of human connections, the need to look inwards, the minimalist life amongst many other things. It’s up to us to look at them differently. I am.
Writing a non fiction today for YeahWrite #472.
happiness and food 
Every situation is different but what is inspiring is that we all learn to adapt; as there is no other way but to accept and move on; thanks for sharing inspiring stories of the current situation.
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Yes, Angela. If we learn to adapt situations would become easy. Thanks for stopping by!
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Really inspiring stories Parul! I have always found the real ones to be the ones that motivate me. May we all emerge from this as better versions of ourselves
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Same here, Akshata! Thanks for stopping by.
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Such inspiring stories, Parul! The way everyone has had to adapt to these times, hopefully we will all emerge more resilient, and have a chance to rethink at least some aspects of our lives.
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I hope that too. The stories from the present times should make us better versions of ourselves. Thank you, Shinjini!
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These are heart warming and inspiring tales at these tiring times. Though everyone is kind of frustrated with the situation outside, it’s the best time to spend with family and rediscover oneself!
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True that, Nibha! Thank you!
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The more I read about what other people are going through, the more I marvel at their spirit and remind myself that I have nothing to grumble about. Praying for each of these family members of yours, Parul. I’m especially moved by those staying in the hotel. It can be so claustrophobic. Hugs to you.
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Couldn’t agree more, Corinne. Yes, I really want air travel to open so that they can go back home. If I had a bigger place I would have loved having them. But it didn’t work.
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There are really so many sub-stories to the pandemic story. My sister is stuck here with her one year old child while Husband is in New Jersey. Her Qatar Airways tickets are now valid only after June. Her job is also at stake because in her medical field she cannot wfh. The only silver lining for her is that she is being able to enjoy India a bit longer…Beautiful post Parul. I hope everyone finds peace after this is over
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Thank you Balaka! After I published this today , I got to know of a few more and they are so inspiring.
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These are such beautiful stories. Thank you for bringing them to us.
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Thanks Neel! I have a few more and if these are good, I’ll write those too.
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Please do, will look forward to reading them.
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Thanks Neel! You are so kind ♥️
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Yes , Parul you know how much difficult it was for me to teach on line.i was not scared of teaching but mobile increased my heart beat . You touch one application and another will open and then suddenly everything disappears .But time made me to learn .
No doubt life has become very different .
Everytime an unknown fear flashes in the mind.
Sometimes I think how much unnecessary money I used to spend . Now 4 sets of cloth, no make up , simple living and normal home made food . And before this time !! Market, malls, restaurants, I want this , that ….
Unending desires ..
It’s a learning period to evaluate ourselves .Take care and stay safe.
Be happy
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Suddenly I saw annonymous ? – it me Vineeta
That’s why I am worried abt mobile 😁
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These are wonderful stories of survival in these tough times. We all are struggling in our own ways… Finding solutions and accepting that life has changed whether we like it or not. Thank you for sharing these positive anecdotes. How are you doing? I love your fitness updates.
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These uncertain times have brought with them their own set of stories that inspire us. We have to learn to adapt because that is the best that we can do in these times. Thanks for bringing out these stories.
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It has been a hard time, especially for teachers. Technology seems to be the bane and the boon. Beautifully expressed shorts!
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Parul, I really love what you’ve done here in terms of form. These short vignettes are so powerful and I feel like this is where your writing shines. There are a few instances where your turns of phrase didn’t quite hit grammatically, or there was some ambiguity in the phrasing. For example, where you say “the return tickets were blocked”, I wasn’t sure if the return tickets were booked and this was a typo, or whether their travel had been blocked by the government/airline. Especially since in the next line, you go on to say the airline cancelled the flight. Nevertheless, you did a lovely job of showcasing each of these stories, and uniting them under the theme, while still maintaining a strong thread of hopefulness.
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Thank you, Asha! Means a lot coming from you.
I am working on my English and grammar. I meant to use ‘blocked’ when we say ‘tickets are blocked’ like slots? But I see your point, phrases could be better.
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True! Lifes are changing, perspectives are changing. Many lost their jobs and worrying about future while some are learning new skills and adapting.
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Your personal vignettes bring the realities of this time out in a way statistics never could.
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I liked how the shorter sentences kept the narrative moving forward. My favorite line was about the workaholic, “office was home. And that home was closed.” Sounds like one of my coworkers. A nice set of vignettes to illustrate this time period.
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Such a dicey situation indeed. I have lost count of how many unusual situations i came across about others and their struggles during this pandemic. But even along all this chaos i feel glad that we all are finding peace, learning, adapting and moving on.
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