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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

The year that was 2020

 
2020 began as a usual year for me, no drumrolls, no fanfare. The usual lonely New year, the usual academic year-end for the young one, and a brief family trip to Nainital thrown in February to get away from the monotony.

We returned and all hell broke loose in Delhi with the Delhi riots and then in a few weeks, Corona hit the scene. By mid-March, there were whispers of the government deciding something big- it came on March 23rd, one day long Janta Curfew and then....a word I had heard bit never imagined could be so heavy LOCKDOWN. 

The other day watching UNPAUSED on Amazon prime I was reminiscing the life that changed on that fateful morning. 




The stories in the films are my stories in patches, I am sure some of the snippets are your stories too. I haven't written much in the last year, yes I did attend webinars and webinars and upgrade all my skills, make myself useful to whatever social work or activism was possible online, and yes SURVIVE along with writing one book and translating THREE!

I don't know any longer what is normal, the one that was or this new normal? Will life be ever the same? This has certainly been a long road through mental health struggle and resilience, logistic difficulties and survival.

I wonder. 

I am beginning to forget who I was.


Keywords

2019 answers anxiety apathy April Blogging challenge B-A-R barathon birthday blog Blogarhythm blogathon Book Review books BOY breasts brothers Buddha bullying cartoons chandigarh child childhood children cities colour compassion contest cosmos culture dad daughter de death death loneliness alone December delhi depression desire devi discrimination disorder diwali domestic violence dreams emily emotional abuse eyes facebook fairytale family fear feminism festival film fire first flash fiction fog freedom freeze frenemy friends GADGETS games gender gender ratio girls god grandfather grandmother grief HAIKU Hamlet happy heart hills hindi home hope husband independence day indiblogger internet jagjit singh kashmir kerouac kids lessons life life lessons light loneliness lonely longing loss love lover marriage me memories memories men menstruation mental health mind miss mom mom dad mother mother's day motherhood mythology nest new year nobody nostalgia pain pakistan panjab university papa paradoxes patriarchy periods poem poet poetry priyamvada questions random thoughts rape relationships religion remember rickshaw ritual Rumi Ruskin Bond sad sex Sexism sexual harassment sexual harrasment shimla short story silence social media soul Stream of consciousness sufi suicide summers taboo time toddlers tradition tragedy twitter valentine violence voice war winter woman women women's day Womensweb words. thoughts words.thoughts worry worship writer writing yatra yeats zen zen. बेटी माँ

COMPANIONS CALLED BOOKS

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher in the Rye
Animal Farm
The Alchemist
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Romeo and Juliet
Frankenstein
The Odyssey
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Count of Monte Cristo
Eat, Pray, Love
Lolita
The Da Vinci Code
The Kite Runner
The Silence of the Lambs
The Diary of a Young Girl
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Notebook
Gone With the Wind
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The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario

The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario
my work on display there !!!!!