Akshay Hiremath: 2020: A Bizarre Year, Its Challenges, And Its Positive Take Outs

What a year 2020 was for Planet Earth! Life almost came to a standstill for large parts of the world due to the Corina Virus Pandemic. At the time of writing, there have been a total of over 78 million cases cumulatively across the world, and more than 1.7 million people have died from the pandemic. The scale of the tragedy has been almost unheard of in the history of mankind. Many people have also seen their livelihoods suffer immensely, and the global economy has taken a significant hit.

I am sure each person has a story to tell about their year. There will be countless stories of misery, pain, losses, and hardships. There are also some positive, heartening stories of hope and new beginnings. Like everyone, I also have a story to tell about this year. I would like to share my challenges, as well as the positive take-outs.

The Challenges:

Several people I know came down with Covid. Some of them were effected quite badly with the symptoms. A few of them sadly didn't make it.
Even after the lock-down was lifted in India, my wife, my son, our full-time help, and I led a fairly isolated existence. It's not as if we didn't step out of our Gurgaon condo at all, but we kept outings to a minimum. We stopped having people over at our place, and we stopped visiting people. Social interactions were severely curtailed. The only exception we made in terms of visits was that we regularly visited my elder sister's Delhi home, which is my family's anchor-point, and the home that my late parents built.
The restrictions have not been easy on our high-energy, outdoor-loving, 6 year old son, who has been confined at home, something he was not used to at all.
Online schooling has been tough for our son, because he finds online classes very boring. He misses the social interactions with his classmates. He misses the fun aspects of school. The pressure on parents has gone up on account of online schooling. I spend several hours a day on his school work, between classes and homework.
I have not been getting much time to myself, because a large part of my day is spent with our son. Previously he had school, and would play outside with his friends for several hours a day. Now the poor fellow is at home all day, with no company his age. Keeping him occupied, engaged, and entertained are not always easy.
My business has been hit considerably. The hit was more acute than in many other sectors, because I work in the travel sector, running an Indian travel souvenir company, Memory Marg.
My biggest passion in life is travelling around the world, and this was the first year in close to two decades that I could not travel. Trips from Gurgaon to Delhi were all the travel we managed after Covid struck! We had managed a trip to Bangalore at the beginning of the year, before the pandemic had hit, but that was to be our only outing for the year.

The Positives Take-outs:

I learned how little one actually needs to survive comfortably. Despite the lack of travel, parties, eating out, and movie outings, one managed quite comfortably.
We were lucky that our supplies of essentials were not hit for a single day, thanks to the great infrastructure in our Gurgaon condo, and thanks to online shopping.
My wife and I both had the flexibility of working entirely from home, so there was no pressure to go to the office.
The lack of outings had one positive - we ended up saving a fair amount of money. We love to travel, but it of course digs a deep hole in our pockets, so this year has been a year of consolidating savings and investing them wisely.
My wife and I both did new things professionally. My wife became an entrepreneur coach. I wrote my first book - "Standing Up Tall Against Bullying". Though my book may not have been a big money spinner for me, it still gave a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
My wife and I, more so my wife, got more social media savvy, and started using it for our business. It was good to pick up some new skills, and learn more about social media.
Our son learned a new skill-set. He started playing the piano, and has picked up more than 30 songs from scratch. My wife is a skilled pianist herself, and she trained him, with the help of online tools that were available.
Our son learned how to spend time doing things independently to entertain himself. So he started drawing, playing with Lego, and reading books.
We learned how to socialize without visiting people's homes or having people over. We met friends and relatives at parks and walked with them, maintaining proper social distancing. Meeting my two sisters and their immediate families became a regular practice for us at Delhi's Nehru Park, and my sister's German Shepherd was an integral part of those meetings! Technology also ensured that we could stay in touch with family and friends all over the world, through regular video calls and WhatsApp.
Since work came to a complete standstill for a couple of months, I was able to complete my backlog of travel blogs, something I had been planning for years. I managed to write over 40 blogs. So in addition to mindless entertainment, I feel I managed to do some productive things as well.
Despite offline business being hit, my business on Amazon has been fairly good, barring a 6 week interruption. That was really a saving grace!
In recent months, offline business has also started resumed a bit thankfully!
Thanks to my wife's persistence, I got a little serious about fitness. I lost almost 10 kg, thanks to regular walking, exercising, and dieting. I did nothing drastic, but the results still came through sheer regularity. My wife also had similar results. As she often says about my weight loss, her nagging capability is more powerful than my stubbornness! In this case, I shall say thank God for that!
A lot of families went through conflict, because family members were forcibly spending all their time together in close quarters, with no outlet, no escape possible! However, by and large, my wife, my son, and I survived quite happily together, we got quality family time, and we strengthened family bonds.

So yes, 2020 has been a challenging year for me and my family, as it has been for countless people all over the world, but there is a silver lining in almost every situation, and there were several positive take-outs for us. I must express my gratitude that we were safe through the year, and we had our basics covered without life coming to a complete standstill! I realise only to well that not everyone was that lucky! Here's hoping for happier days for Planet Earth in 2021!