Lockdown Diaries Nominee#30 Journey to the center of the heart By Niraja Joshi

The future. Ambition. Travel. Music. The swing in my living room. Everything in conjunction= The lockdown. The commencement of this bewitching ‘’world’’ of mine which helped me beguile time, all embarked on the swing present in my mystical living room. After taking part in online lessons for a prolonged 7-8 hours (which would from time to time, feel like a decade), my brisk hands shut down the laptop hurriedly and my dramatic self acted as if I was the protagonist in an action/thriller film. Perhaps, Jodie Foster/Mila Jovovich/Angelina Jolie in the Resident Evil/ Lara Croft/Silence of the Lambs series or a sarcastic and tired of the same old routine Chandler Bing from F.R.I.E.N.D.S (who also happens to be my spirit animal). I pondered about soccer, then perhaps the competitive and powerful soccer legend: Megan Rapinoe from the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Once my “marvellous” acting in my good old room came to an end, my impatient self hastened across the passage and into the mystical living room, all while thoughts kept spiralling in my ‘non compos mentis’ mind. (Only for a moment would my mind be considered as ‘non compos mentis’). As my dark brown glimmering eyes lay upon the swing, it was love at first sight! The swing was colossal and dark brown with jet-black handles on its sides. The hefty cloth put on it composed of ancient designs, almost renaissance-like. Pillows were kept on the sides for support too. Like a toddler exhilarated for a piece of candy, I bounded onto the beloved swing of mine. I pretermitted everything a while. My assignments, projects, examinations, peers. Everything. (Well, perhaps not my family as my mother would eventually call out to me for lunch!)

I grasped my phone along with my headphones and immediately began to play Matt Willis’ Crash or maybe the “Stereotypical music from all over the world’’ video available on YouTube which instigated me to listen to music, right from Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic, Jordan to India, Nepal, New Zealand etc. As the music began playing, thoughts started to establish themselves in my mind. Thoughts about travel are usually the first ones and how travel vloggers like Drew Binsky and Jonathan Quinonez inspired me. The thought of me being able to visit every single country in every single continent keeps recurring in my mind. I imagine myself visiting lesser-known countries like Mongolia, Tajikistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Comoros, Eswatini, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Togo and how I would like to explore the large transcontinental country of Russia!

Then occur the thoughts of my future and my ambitions! One of the most vital topics in my life. At the age of 15, I’m exploring and falling for various career paths. These thoughts include: my dream of attending an Ivy League/ a prestigious university for my undergraduate degree or my postgraduate degree, work in the Indian/American politics to make my difference in the world without having a corrupt mentality. (possibly be appointed as the Prime Minister of India and change the world’s perception of India as a third world country), work with the United Nations to end child marriage and abuse against women in any way, form my own organization to work against child marriage, human trafficking, end abuse against women around the world and build hospitals for the poor, work for the FBI/CIA/RAW/IB as an agent, become a surgeon or possibly work for NASA as an astronaut…. A lot, I know! However, when sitting on the swing, I’m transported to a ‘wonderland’ where it’s just me and my dreams… All during the lockdown!

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 Niraja Joshi from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. She is a 15-year-old student of Delhi Private School, Sharjah. Kudos to Niraja for this beautiful piece!

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