It’s been almost 4 months that I am working from home.
It’s been 4 months that I haven’t gone out of Powai.
It’s been 4 months that I haven’t sat in auto.
It’s been 4 months that I haven’t played any sports except going out for running sometimes.
It’s been 4 months that I haven’t hug or shake hands with another person. Oh, actually I haven’t touch another person in last 4 months.
I know I have been complaining a lot lately. I know I haven’t been myself for last few weeks. Maybe a bit selfish to be honest. After all, I am not the only one person on this earth to go through. Some are undergoing far more hardship. So why complain?
In mid March when we were asked to work from home, I was very happy. Happy because I no longer have to travel 9 km to office and waste 2 hours every day. In addition, I no longer have to face Mumbai traffic and pollution. I thought, wow, now I can work at full efficiency. In few days locked down was imposed across the country and the number of coronavirus cases across the entire world started to rise. We knew that work from home will stay for longer period. At least till the time lock down is not relaxed.
As days started to pass, we realised that work from Home or shortly we called WFH is not that easy. At least in our line of business. Our work requires us to get in touch with multiple teams. Telephone calls and webex became the new mode of meetings. Earlier on Saturday, you hardly used to get office calls. Now, Saturday calls from work became the new normal. Work that used to get done in hours started to take days. This way, WFH was to become the new normal for us.
In the first 3 months, WFH was ok for me. I could sit for hours without break. Though I started to experience back pain after a month time. Then, I intentionally started to get up of my desk every half hour and take a tiny break. I started to get used to this WFH. During office hours as a disciplined employee, I used to avoid personal calls. Though when I receive calls, I used to pick up even during office hours. Post work I used to call my cousins, friends and do video calls. On weekends again call with friends and cousins.
In the beginning of the 4th month, I started to lose little bit of patience. I was not able to get sleep at night. This made me react to everything. I started to get angry quite fast. I used to talk less to my friends post office hours. Even during weekends, I would watch movie and stay at home. Hardly make any calls to friends. During office hours, I could not sit at stretch for more than 20 mins. I realised that this lock down had taken a toil on me. It just got inside my brain. To overcome this, during office days, I decided to take 3 outdoor break. One in the morning, one in the noon and last in the evening. During the outdoor break, I used to go for a small walk. I also started calling my friends during office hours. I realised that I need them more than they need me. I also started calling my parents twice during the day- morning and at night (both mom and dad).
I know I am not the only person in the world to experience this. Of course to some, it might have affected far more worse than it affected me. It’s not a normal time we are living in right now. It’s definitely not an easy situation for many of us. Some of us need help. Some of us no matter how hard we try we cannot handle it ourself. We need external support. So if get a call from your old friend with whom you haven’t been in touch with you for years, talk to him/her. There is a good chance that when he/she calls you, you make be occupied or busy in some work, please pick up and say hello. He/she might need you more than you do. Let’s all help each other to face this new normal.
