Sometimes all it takes is an adversity to bring out that creativity and self-care in one’s own way — the Atmanirbhar way! That is what Coronavirus pandemic is doing. As it has brought the entire world under news laws of social distancing and limited interaction, our homes have turned into office spaces, meeting rooms, classrooms, fitness institutions, social hubs, playgrounds and what not.
Even though the pandemic has pushed people into the clutches of a mundane daily routine much of which is online,it has also given all those long-lost and new-found interests wings to fly.
“Having an eye for frames and photos, I for once knew I’d enjoy digital art and I didn’t disappoint myself. Making posters, portraits and minimalist art all by myself instead of resorting to Pinterest, damn! It feels good,” says 23-year-old Devangshu Mandal.
For the passionate photographer, digital art has been the space that allows him the break from everyday’s exhaustion of being physically stuck in one place. Once the lockdown was announced, the Delhi student started exploring the art field.
Digital art has been a major respite for many young people including Jayita Chakraborty (24) from Bangalore. “I started digital art and created my own page on Instagram and my goodness! My friends have loved it,” says Jayita, who’s currently an Associate Consultant at Archetype.
Although occupied with her professional chores, Jayita has also taken the chance of buying herself an Ukulele during this pandemic. Despite running a little low on confidence being left-handed, playing the instrument has boosted her confidence immensely.
Finding time amid her busy schedule, she makes a point to keep following those online Ukulele tutorials and uploading her videos while giving herself the self-patting she deserves.
When everything else failed, painting helped remain Debolina Biswas sane.
The 24-year-old says, “The lockdown was nice and fun initially because I hadn’t been home in months and it’s been six years staying away from home. Like everyone else, my first month was spent baking cakes, drinking dalgona coffee, trying out Kabita’s Kitchen’s recipes and making food for my ageing parents.”
She further adds, “However, it hit me in the second month of being locked inside the house. The anxiety, depression and anger issues were getting too much for me to resolve. And that’s when I thought of drowning myself into art instead.”
The young Correspondent at YourStory has been an artist all her childhood. Owing to the pressure of “performing well in my board exams”, Debolina had left a canvas unfinished in 2012.
“I never really got back to it, except a few occasional cards and doodles at the back of my work notebook. I had forgotten how satisfying and calming holding the paintbrush was,” recalls Debolina, adding, “It’s been two months since I started painting again. And while I speak to you, I realise how it has helped me deal with my anger issues, and my anxiety.”
Now that the young painter has 10 odd paintings, she decided to start a new venture of creating a mini online digital store and all thanks to Instagram.
“And I have three orders already! (Extra bucks never hurt anybody!)”
Being a Features Writer at a travel magazine is very time-consuming and when there’s travel restriction, the struggle to sustain one’s livelihood is even more strenuous. However, nothing stopped 24-year-old Simrran Gill from Delhi to give Mandala Art an attempt and voila! “How wonderful that just turned out to be,” says Simrran.
“I was always pulled down by my art teacher in school for never being up to the mark with brushes, colours and a paper. So my interest and confidence never found me in anything with drawing and painting,” says Simrran, a writer at Outlook Traveller.
However, all thanks to the mundaneness of a laptop screen that Simrran found new interest and a confidence boost through Mandala art.
“Of course it’s just the start hence it’s a simple design. Given I find some more time, I would definitely try some more complex designs and oh! How I wish to secretly send one of these papers to my art teacher,” laughs Simrran!
When it’s about digital art and paintings, why not explore some self-made journals without shelling out some pennies?
A journalist with Youth Ki Awaaz, Ankita Marwah always wanted to journal down the activities of her days in a pretty diary. But somehow, she always wondered how to include that as part of her daily chores.
“During the lockdown, I could set myself a routine the way I wanted, and this allowed me to journal. I finally have the time to reflect on all that I am feeling, especially during this unsettling and uncertain period, when there is so much to think and experience,” says the 24-year-old journalist from Delhi.
In such obscure times, Ankita is glad that she has the comfort of a journal, designed and created all by herself, and a pen at her reach that will allow her to just leave everything and jot down words.
The internet has also seen some splendid visual art and all thanks to people, who have found some time to try their hands at exploring these creative angles.
A 22-year-old student from Kolkata, Samriddha Bhattacharya, recently took time out of her ‘lazy and daily’ quarantine to shoot for short videos through Google Duo, while raising an awareness of staying home.
The peppy video features Samriddha indulging in her self-care routine, watching movies, washing hands, reading books and making most of her quarantined time.
With background scores including ‘Aisa na Dekho’ from Ranjhaana and ‘I’m a Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish, the videos are sure to make you think, is it that bad to stay at home?
“It felt very different to shoot videos through Google Duo and definitely liberating by the thought that even lockdowns cannot curb creativity,” says the Kolkata student.
And when we talk about making most of what’s there at home, for 25-year-old digital content creator Pushpak Sen, the art of taking up make-up upon himself definitely counts.
“Doing makeup on myself feels extremely therapeutic and I would have never done it had this quarantine situation not happened. It gives me the satisfaction of creating something new everyday. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I surpass expectations. And that's the thrill of it,” says Pushpak.
Famous by the Instagram name, The Bong Munda, Pushpak contemplates taking up makeup seriously and investing in professional equipment.
As people became more homebound, gyms and yoga centres were the first to pull down their shutters. But that still couldn’t kill the fitness goals, which found a new footing in the daily routine of self care.
Being an Indian classical dancer, Kazi Anoushka Rahman, has always felt the need of indulging in an hour or two of Yoga every day. However, an everyday busy schedule could never make it a consistent follow-up for her.
“Thanks to the pandemic, from setting small goals including the task of perfecting the Shirshasana (headstand) to focussing more on breathing techniques and meditation, Yoga has not only improved my body flexibility, but also makes me feel more connected to my mind and body - spiritually.”
Although initially Anoushka’s body would feel tight and dull, a constant encouragement without being too hard on herself, eventually brought about a long-lasting change.
“This change gave me a lot of positivity, and awoke a lot of motivation inside me which helped me survive these trying times. Developing this new habit of practising Yoga has been an amazing and rewarding experience, and I would love to continue it even after the pandemic gets over,” says the 25-year-old performing artist from Kolkata.
Anubhav Chakraborty (22) wishes something similar — to continue finding time and working out even post the pandemic.
“Work out consumes a lot of time, which you could have otherwise dedicated to other stuff. So this pandemic gave me ample time to work out, and even though I'd been thinking of doing that for a couple of years now, I never really managed any time for myself,” tells the 22-year-old student from Kolkata adding, “Initially it felt pretty exhausting and my muscles screamed. However after the first couple of weeks, when I started noticing some change in my physique , I did feel great about taking this up.”
However, for a certain sect, for whom such self care activities never worked (and even a pandemic could not make it possible), this has been an opportunity to find an escape tunnel through writing stories and reading books.
The arduous world of numbers and graphs otherwise made it difficult for a 23-year-old MBA graduate from Pune to find enough time to write fictional tales. However, all hail to the pandemic, that has reignited his interest to find a way back to being an avid writer.
“It feels great to pen down some of the story plots which have been swirling in my head for a long time. There are some, which I have been meaning to write for a long time but never got around to and this has been the time, finally,” says Swagato Basak.
Thriving to increase her reading speed, Debolina too has started taking classes on Speed Learning.
“I was initially embarrassed that my reading speed was only 300 words per minute,” she chuckles adding, ”I want to read more books in a lesser time and I hope to make that 500 words per minute.”
Despite having their minds all over the place, it’s been great to see how people have found ways to captivate them in activities, which have eventually become hard to put down.
All it needed was an enforced social distancing to make us realise how Atma Nirbhar we have always been, even before it became a trend.
LIVE TV
