Lockdown

 This lockdown has disrupted the normal rhythm of our life. However, there are quite a few ways in which I feel it has actually positively impacted our family and given us a few lessons to reflect on, long term!

a) I now know how to cook most of my favourite dishes. I appreciate the effort that goes into most of these recipes and what substitutions can be made without drastically altering the taste of the original dish.

b) We discovered how audiobooks can be an easier way to get your young person out-of-the-way for half-hours together by ensuring he has a productive pastime to engage in, while improving his listening and concentration skills at the same time. (The additional and purely accidental fallout was utter tranquility at home, equivalent to a week's worth of pranayam benefits!)

c) I discovered how web series are evidently a superlative and mesmerising form of moronic and hackneyed Bollywood films. 

d) My son and I got to spend quality art-and-music time together, learning some classics (the Beatles!) and spending quality time together. (We had a new excuse to revisit childhood favourites without being considered juvenile in our taste!)

e) Junior and I learned that baking is an amazing way to learn life skills as well as polish our basic arithmetic skills! (Who knew that the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon can make or break a recipe?!)

f) We found that the world of flora and fauna is a less controversial and infinitely more wondrous realm relative to human society in general. 

g) A tiny backyard proved to be an asset as a mini-outlet into the extended outdoors,as it indicated the passage of seasons, doubled up as a hairdressers' saloon, a washing day area plus an area to get your daily dose of Vitamin D and sit with a book in the afternoon to destress.

i) Who knew one could look forward everyday to a hectic 30 min odd PE session with a handsome, twinkle-eyed curly haired Mr Wicks, which involved getting down and dirty on the carpet (literally!) with endless squats, mountain climbers and ab crunches? Exercising had never been so fun until Junior collapsed in fits of giggles over how little flexibility his mother possessed in moves that came easily to him!