LOCKDOWN – Part 2, Yoga learning

Narrated till now…

Pramod spends the first few days of the lock down eating, drinking, and relaxing. Susan, his wife tells him to start some workout to be healthy and fit.  He gets a lead about online yoga from his beautiful friend Ipsita Chakraborthy and he joins the course.

Narration continues...

“All of you close your eyes and with a gentle smile on the faces, relax,” the guru said and there was silence for a couple of minutes. He continued “Slowly open your eyes”. Pramod smiled and looked at the laptop screen. The first day of the online yoga classes got over and the participants were waiting for the guru to say few closing words.

“Yoga is not just about exercises or keeping fit. It is about creating a healthy body, a positive mind, and a spiritual soul. We shall keep doing the sun salutations and few asanas to keep our body fit, practice pranayama, and other breathing techniques to have a positive mind and do meditation to have a spiritual soul. It is about spirituality that sans religion” he said.

Pramod smiled and thought “Yoga gurus in India are very good speakers and influencers. They know the pulse of the people well.”

He glanced at the screen and spotted Ipsita in it. He was happy to locate her. The guru started interacting with the participants. He asked Ipsita “Who is your friend who has joined the classes today?”

Ipsita replied, “It is Pramod.”

The guru continued “You mean the uncle with a big tummy wearing black tracks?”

Pramod was taken aback. He did not expect this kind of attack. His face turned pale. Ipsita noticed it and she said, “Pramod wants to keep himself fit and am sure he will be a different looking person after few weeks, Guruji”.

“Your Guru is very strange. He insulted me today” Pramod told Ipsita. They were talking over the phone. It was evening and Pramod was standing in the balcony with a cup of coffee in hand.

“You got him wrong Pramod. He is a very nice person and sincere in his attempts to make us fit. He told me that he liked your smile and will make you shed few kilos in few weeks.” she replied. Pramod laughed and said “I know that he did it deliberately. I shall give my best and try to utilize this opportunity.”

One week passed and it became a daily routine for Pramod. Earlier he used to get up by 8 AM and since the yoga classes started he got up early by 5 AM and attended the classes religiously.

It was Sunday and the yoga trainer was showing new asanas to the online students. She was very flexible and could do very easily. Suddenly the guru started speaking. He said “why is Vidya not to be seen? Why has she switched off the video?” Immediately Vidya came on the screen and said “I was not able to do so many sets of Surya Namaskaras and so I switched off the video and sat down.” The guru looked serious and told her “Whether you do the Surya namaskaras or not we need to see you and then only we would be able to understand your endurance levels and suggest corrections accordingly. This course is for you and we are only enabling you to be fitter and for that, you need to follow the rules.”

He continued “Do you know which student I like the most in this group? Pramod the smiling Buddha. He is elder to most of the participants in this group and of course not able to do the asanas well compared to many. I have been observing him and he is very prompt in updating the diet details online every day and gives his best in the class. The icing on the cake is his wonderful smile.” Pramod was surprised by the words of the Guru and blushed as many young girls clapped.

“You still find the Guru strange?” Ipsita asked Pramod. They were talking to one another over the phone in the evening. “I find him stranger now. I did not expect him to like me so much. I was always thinking that he had no good opinion about me. It is encouraging.”

Many more days passed and in between regular yoga classes they had a body detoxing session which helped in weight loss.

It was the last day of the three weeks yoga course and they completed the routine exercises, pranayama, and meditation. Every participant was sitting in sukhasana with a pleasant smile over the face. The Guru started “Since all of you are attending from your own houses, I request you to call one family member to join the interaction. Pramod got up and went to the bedroom and told Susan to join the interaction.

“Namaskarams to all the participants and their lovely family members. I see a lot of smiling and glowing faces on the screen today. The training has ended but the journey has begun. You people will have to take this forward and make more and more people join the fitness campaign. I thank the family members for allowing the participants to attend regularly without a break.” He continued for about 15 minutes and spoke about the importance of being fit and maintaining a healthy diet. He surprised many when he said “Now I would like to inform you about the best performer. He did neither lose many kilos of weight nor did he perfect the yoga postures. He deserves a special mention for his commitment, punctuality, and of course for his smiling face. The best performer is Pramod.”

Pramod could not believe his eyes. He could see Ipsita smiling and looked satisfied at the result. Susan kept her palm on his arm and patted. Suddenly his eyes became moist and he realized that satisfaction comes when hard work and sincere efforts are appreciated and recognized. He smiled back and felt that the lock down did not go waste.  

LOCK DOWN – PART 1, HOME SWEAT HOME

“We need not worry so much. It is  active in China and European countries as the weather there is  cold. Here the weather is hot and summer is at the doorstep. The heat and humidity will kill the virus” Rohit told Pramod over phone. They were having a socially distanced beer party sitting in their respective homes. They were talking to one another over the Whats App video call. Pramod laughed and said “Stop giving me this knowledge. No one is sure about the behavior of the virus in  hot climate and we do not have any concrete proof about the effect of weather. It is too early to say anything about the virus and how it will behave in our country but one thing is for sure that if we continue eating and drinking like this we are going to add weight .”

“With the unshaven beards we look like rejected heroes of a romantic movie” Rohit replied and both of them laughed aloud.

“Pramod please finish washing the utensils,” Susan reminded from her room. She was working in an IT company and was busy during day time with video conferences and work from home. Pramod was heading the sales division of a construction machinery manufacturing company. He was not having much work during the lock down as his work involved meeting the clients regularly.

Pramod walked into the kitchen and started washing the utensils. His cell phone started ringing. He washed his hands and answered the call. It was from his elder sister Anasuya Joshi.

“Tell me Anu,” he said and continued “How are you and how is the situation in Hubli?”

“I am fine Pramod. We are not going out of the house and so I know as much as you know about Hubli. How is Susan?” Anasuya added.

“She is fine. Right now she is busy in the bedroom attending a Video conference. Most of the day she is busy with work.”

“I spoke to her a couple of days ago ” Anasuya continued “You are lucky to have her as your wife. She not only takes care of her job but also does the majority of the work at home even during Lock down”

“I clean the utensils” Pramod was quick to react.

“I know that you do it only once in a day. She does it the other time in the evening. Cooking is done by her. She hails from a very rich family but is humble and shoulders the responsibility of your family very well.” Anasuya reminded him. 

It was about 7 PM. Susan was busy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. Bharathi their daughter was watching a movie on the television. Pramod walked to the kitchen and said “Did you hear the news, Susan? The positive cases in the country have crossed the 1000 mark and the spread is happening faster. Europe and the US are badly affected by the Pandemic”.

Susan looked back at him and said “I have told you many times not to keep watching the news channels for such a long time. They keep showing the numbers and negative news and you get affected by this.”

“I have a solution to come out of this and be happy and cheerful,” he said.

“What is it?” she questioned.

“I shall take few pegs of scotch. Please give me salted groundnuts mixed with onion and tomato pieces.”

“Yesterday you had beer and today you are talking of drinking scotch. Please start doing some workouts. You are putting on weight. You need to do some exercise.” She said.

He pleaded and got her nod for few pegs of scotch for the night after assuring her that he would start workouts soon.

The next day he was sitting in the balcony having coffee. He gazed at the empty road. Bangalore was never so silent and he could barely see any movement on the road.

He looked at his mobile and was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Ipsita.

Ipsita Chakraborty was his friend and was very beautiful and a fitness freak. She had sent him her photo doing yoga and has shared a link about online yoga classes she was attending.”

Pramod was thrilled and called her. They spoke for a long time and in the end Pramod was convinced to join the online yoga classes.

“You will have to get up at 5 AM  every day. The classes start at 6 AM daily” she said.

“I will of course do it. You have motivated me and I shall join the classes without fail” he replied. 

He felt that the conversation was the best thing to happen to him during the lock down.

He paid the fees online and was waiting eagerly for the classes to start.

To be continued...

NEVER BEFORE EVER AFTER

                                            

“Look at who is washing his hands” said Pramod hilariously gesturing towards his friend Sujan Chandy. Pramod Kulkarni and his wife Susan D’Souza had come to Sujan’s house after three months. They had ventured out as the Lock down rules were eased out in Bangalore. 

Sujan looked back at Pramod smiling and added, “I wash with soap and water for a minimum of twenty seconds.” Wiping his hands with a cotton napkin he continued, “I am washing my hands every day more than what I used to wash in one week.”  He turned his hands and showing the top of the hands said, “The skin has become dry due to excessive washing and has turned red due to irritation!” 

The friends sat on the chairs in the front room. Sujan observed, “Pramod you can take off the mask. You are now inside the house and you both have cleaned your hands with sanitizer.” 

Pramod replied, “Now you guys understand the importance of self-hygiene? During college days many of you were making fun of my clean habits.” 

Susan commented, “Come on, Pramod! You were obsessed about cleanliness during college days while the rest of us were casual about it. In fact many of my hostel mates used to make fun of it saying that my boyfriend would end up getting a job in the sanitation department.” 

Mini Mathew, Sujan’s wife added, “Whatever might have happened a couple of decades ago is not much relevant now. Pramod’s self-hygiene habits are very important in today’s context and will remain relevant for many more years to come.” She got up and said, “Let me go to the kitchen and prepare coffee for you guys.” 

“Coffee reminds me of the frequent tea we used to have during our engineering study days. We never used to bother about hygiene and quality! What was important for us was having it together. Remember those Sunday mornings when we used to sit on the compound wall of the hostel and drink tea supplied by the vendor on the other side of the road?” Sujan reminisced. “Yes I remember” Pramod added, “ It was the only item I used to have outside without bothering much as it was always served hot.” 

Mini walked into the living room with a tray in her hand and placed it on the table. She added, “I used to have tea quite often during my graduation days in Mangalore. I was like Sujan and didn’t bother much about the way the tea or any dish was prepared. I always felt that street food should be enjoyed for the taste.” 

Everyone reached out for their cup and started sipping the coffee. Susan commented, “Strange, isn’t it Sujan? Times have changed so much. I remember having seen you guys sitting on the hostel compound wall close to one another. Until recently we used to sit close to one another during our frequent home parties.  Now involuntarily we are sitting far from each other maintaining social distance. This Virus has played with our lives and has conditioned it rather too quickly.”  

"Yeah" Pramod continued, "This thing is here to stay. We have had enough of home stay and now need to move ahead with our lives. Livelihood is equally important. This lock down has given us ample time to learn, tune ourselves, and adjust to the new world order. There will be less or no eating outside in restaurants and no frequent travel to other places. Holidaying and overseas visits are ruled out for now. The air around us is fresh and our lives have undergone detoxing. We have reset many things and are now appreciating the rituals and traditions of food and living habits followed by our elders. It is still a very long battle to be won and it will be on a day to day basis as we maintain personal hygiene, social distance, and good health."

 

“Well said” Sujan added and continued, “This is the new world order and we have to adjust and move ahead accordingly. It is like Never before & ever after.”