Page 93 - Magazine

Life Matters!

After so many months of vegetating, nothing can be more exhilarating
than writing some memories of the months gone by and share my concern
about the future, all thanks to the pandemic Covid-19!

“Mamma… this is supposed to be my last year in school and we all friends
would have been together for the last time before we depart for our further

studies after XII. Why are we being punished on this precious year of our life?”

This was my elder son Aryan, expressing himself.

That sentence was an eye-opener. Yes, they were robbed of a precious and
memorable milestone year of their school life and their teenage. Before I
could gather words to encourage him, here comes another shocker from
my younger son Aditya, a Std X student.

“I am missing my school bus, the responsibility of bus attendance,
classmates, teachers, the playground, sharing lunches, the incomplete
work in my notebooks, the ‘chocolate’ by Chauhan Sir when I am caught
guilty of anything, guitar classes by Chiru Sir and in fact I am missing all
the other things in school which never attracted me. earlier. Yes, we are
studying online, but there is no soul and life in it. We are just studying!”

Well… he did not stop at that and retorted when I found him not attending
online classes. “Mamma… earlier you were the one who stopped me from
using mobile phone and laptop most of the time and look at it now, you are
forcing me to use them 7-8 hours a day!”.

Since their first year in school, I had kept their school almanac every year
as a precious memoir. This year broke the chain. How I loved to pack their
lunch boxes with favorite things of their friends more than them. Yes, they
shared their tiffin and had it mostly in the Zero period itself! It’s not only my
sons, but I am also missing being a part of their school life!

Initial days of lockdown seemed good with favorable weather, spring
season, birds chirping, family mealtime, indoor games, video calls etc.

But as days went by, in the eerie stillness, one fine day, I realized that this
calmness and silence had become intolerable realizing that life in us has
shrunk. No weekend charm, no children in the park, no shopping, street
food, football matches, long drive, no friends, and the laughter together.

91