COVID-19 and the inevitable lockdown has stripped our lives of normalcy. However, the pandemic has gifted us time, something we greatly lack in our fast-paced lives. Professionals and students have packed schedules during normal working days, so this sudden abundance of time has enabled many to return to their treasured hobbies.
Adiba Samantha Pervez, management trainee at Unilever Bangladesh and founder of Numinous, shares how delving back into her hobby has enabled her to find peace, "With work from home becoming the new normal, most of us are very busy during the weekdays, despite having the looming fear of Covid-19 surrounding us. In these trying times, I've actually found myself picking up a paint brush or opening adobe illustrator more often they offer me a sort of escape from this very grim reality. Art has always worked like a therapy for me and it is a very powerful tool in helping one de-stress. You don't have to be great at it, just get messy and set your creative side free. You'll be surprised at how liberated you feel once you're done."
Ashraful Shabab, a BBA senior at IBA of Dhaka University, states how the extra time has enabled him to try things he otherwise could not, "I'm a foodie. I have always appreciated good food. When things were normal, I often went out to different restaurants with my friends and family. You never really have that much time to experiment with different recipes at home when there isn't a lockdown or home quarantine mandate. And this rather challenging period of time has graced me with an abundant supply of enthusiasm to try out different recipes. I have cooked steak, burgers, pasta and even made dinner one day. Before the lockdown, I'd never really get myself to do that. But I'm glad this change happened to me. Cooking makes me feel good now. Every time I get to plate a dish and it comes out good, I feel so happy. Cooking is fun."
Tahmid Rakib, an intern in financial reporting and control at Grameenphone, shares how not having to commute has freed up his schedule for one of his shelved hobbies, "I guess one of the main things that I have been able to get back to is reading books. Since I used to travel to Bashundhara every day, I spent almost four to five hours in the car every day. Now I can use that time to read books. I finally finished a book which I started last year and I am already reading a new one. I would have loved to cook more and I usually experiment with new recipes, but since we are trying to ration our food, I am not doing any experiments now."
Credit Risk Manager at The City Bank, and previously a television song artist Gultekin Binte Azad shares,
"I started learning music at the time I started school. I started because I enjoyed the sound of music, but soon it became my solace and recluse from daily life. I did not just foresee music as a passion, I wanted to look at it seriously at some point in time; thus, I completed nine years of formal graduation from Chayanat in music and also got enlisted in national television channel BTV. However, after completing my studies and stepping into the corporate world, music somehow was shelved as assignments, memos and all sorts of office work took away most of my time. Being a banker is not an easy task as it engrossed most of my time, and the daily commute from Dhanmondi to Gulshan drained any remaining energy. Music was cornered in the air-buds during commutes and the weekend evenings if there were no other chores or errands to run. I was somehow on the verge of forgetting what engulfing in one's passion was like and how soothing it is for your soul. Now, in these quarantine days, when I have nothing to do in the idle evenings, I dust off my harmonium and sing the lost songs. And, in the process, I am finding solace in reminiscing the old memories, getting lost in the tunes and reviving my soul. Even though the lock-down seems to have a toll on my mental health, it is also helping me refresh my soul and reconnect with myself."
Khondaker Mushfiqur Rahman, graduate trainee at Robi Axiata Limited, shares how the pandemic enabled him to get back to gaming, "Even though I'd been an avid gamer pretty much all my life, I started becoming irregular sometime around the beginning of last year. Academic pressure, business competitions, job search-- all of these things combined together meant that I was spending most of my waking hours in the real life and virtually none in the virtual one. Fortunately (or unfortunately), this quarantine has opened up a lot of time for me to get back to gaming. So, I dusted off my PlayStation, purchased DOOM: Eternal and dove right in. The sights, the sound, the fury-- they all reminded me of why I fell in love with the world of videogames in the first place."
The writer is a third-year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at zariftajwar4@gmail.com