BENGALURU: Cooking, cleaning and then what.... Many working professionals who are used to a packed schedule, including spending hours in traffic jams, are still trying to wrap their heads around the lockdown and the sudden expanse of time on their hands. With an aim to beat monotony and bring in a dash of excitement in their lives, the Facebook group, Normal is Boring, has been entertaining virtual friends through DJ parties, fashion shows and challenges.

Started by Riitesh Panndya, who has a production unit for manufacture of school uniforms and is currently producing masks, the idea is to keep the group members entertained during this time. So recently, a fashion show was announced – the ramp would be within the confines of the members’ homes, and the props would be daily-used household objects.

And quite naturally, with most of the city lacking househelp, most of them cat-walked with brooms and mops. “The idea stemmed from a TikTok video and I thought it was something innovative,” says Panndya, who played Krishna and used the fan as the Sudarshan chakra. The group has 20,000 members, many of whom meet every alternate month, and sometimes even go on off-road events.    

Entries in the form of photographs and videos poured in, with many taking it seriously. In addition, DJ parties, which include popular Bollywood and Kannada songs, are also an activity on the group. “To organise events like these is sometimes challenging, because getting DJ to play pro bono is hard. At the same time, we find so many people interested in participating in these activities, getting dressed for the ‘occasion’ and even dancing.

Sometimes we organise afternoon dance parties, and during this lockdown, people are even ready to sing and dance during those times,” he says, adding that on the day of the Janata Curfew (March 22), the group members were given challenges on an hourly basis, in an attempt to bring out creativity.