Lockdown Diaries Nominee#3- A lock-down diary by Aditya Diwan

Numerous times each one of us has thought of a time machine to go back to the simple fond memories we’ve had as a child, and we came close enough to doing just that in the fall out of Covid19. The smell of old wood, talcum powder, and the maroon coloured queen took the centre stage, meanwhile the sound of decking of cards and the radio playing R.D. Burman surely teleported us back in memory without the aid of any virtual glasses. Remembering days when time was plenty, obligations were minimum, desires were non-materialistic and pursuit of life was enrichment and not encashments, we sat down for a game of carrom whose outcome would decide the chores for the evening. From viewing old photographs, lending time from our lives to listen to how ourgrandparents got married and lived their lives to revelations of how parenting techniques got the better of us as kids and shaped our lives today has been nothing short of the gold mine worth
exploring while we were pursuing paper.

Unfortunately, it took the catastrophe of such a magnitude for humanity to realize the hollowness of our pursuits. Decades of growth and development whose aim was to make life better in turn had life hostage in continued pursuit of growth and development. Uncountable places to be at, infinite relationships to maintain had become a routine task as the popular notion goes called FOMO. Each one of us has realized the supposed compulsions of society, were mere illusions we were all entertaining. Life in 2020 without making any compromise can still be as simple as it always was
intended to be. Unlimited devotion and surrender to our jobs or businesses has definitely made us proud SMEs but has numbed our ability of versatility. Lockdown has encouraged us to look within ourselves, fulfil those desires that make us happy, and credit to social media we are seeing tremendous showcase of mettle in cooking, baking, knitting, yoga, painting, singing, and numerous other arts that are fulfilling to the soul of a human being. Although posting the outcomes of this versatile experience in itself has become a race, it is something that is definitely better than a Roman
or American holiday pictures.

While businesses see this lockdown long and detrimental for the fear of restoring back the vicious cycle of pursuit of material wealth, we must realize this lockdown is a short race against time to imbibe in us the values and mindset of looking at life as more than a profit and loss statement but a wholesome journey of pursing what happiness means to each of us amidst balancing various acts of life.

ReachIvy.com organized an online blog/vlog competition to provide people the unique opportunity to share their lockdown stories using their creativity. The competition met with a fantastic response from participants across 4 continents, and our jury has handpicked the Top 50 entries from them for the Popular Choice Award 2020!

The above entry has been submitted by Aditya Diwan from Pune, India. He is a 25-year-old student of MDI Gurgaon. Kudos to Aditya for this beautiful piece!

Show your support and help Aditya win the contest by liking this blog post on all ReachIvy.com’s social media platforms.