The butterfly effect

Nearly six months into the crisis, as governments grapple with what to do, people are doing what they do best — winging it. More by force than choice, the pandemic is compelling all of us to be like butterflies — adapt or perish.

If there's one thing we've all learnt from the Covid-19 outbreak, it is that you can literally wake up one day and realise that your life is really not the same anymore, and quite possibly, it will never be the same again. Across the world, even those who were fortunate enough to not be affected, had to still struggle and continue to do so. People lost jobs, were stranded in foreign countries and have been going through unusual (to put it mildly) hardship, thanks to the pandemic, as clueless governments grapple with what to do.

Nearly six months into the crisis, even as the world is trying to adapt to the now-hackneyed 'new normal', people are doing what they do best — winging it. For some, it is an accidental discovery of a new profession, and for others, a new hobby that's reinstating their faith in life, teaching them to cope with the new environment and giving them hope. Some of these new changes aren't as dramatic as one would expect, but they are changing lives; perhaps even for the better. Here are some life stories of people braving these life transitions and learning from their challenges. Hidden in these tales are takeaways for all of us.

A storyteller's garden

For storyteller Champa Das, life changed in the strangest of ways since the lockdown in March 2020. The changes may not appear drastic to another, but to her, they were. No, she did not move to another city, get another job or take up a new passion. However, what she did has possibly, in her own words, changed her future and that too in a good way.

A storyteller by profession, Das (55) has been working with children with special needs for a long time. A teacher, a counsellor and a guide, she began to work an an independent professional in 2012. "I used to dislike merging technology with my work. I didn't like it; I never wanted to get into that world and I was pretty sure I would never. But, the lockdown left me with no choice. At first, we all thought it was only a matter of a few days. I decided to take a break. But then, parents of the kids I work with, began to ask me if I would be willing to conduct my sessions over video conference. I was so hesitant. I mean storytelling is all about gestures, theatrics and personal contact. The internet dilutes it to an extent. I relented and told myself this was only a temporary solution. But after the past couple of months, I am actually designing my sessions keeping the internet in mind. And I am exploring social media, something I swore I wouldn't do."

Das discovered that social media could actually be quite amazing, but that's not all that happened. Her younger son, 26-year-old Ankush, who's intellectually disabled, is an excellent sportsperson. He participated in paralympics last year and his world revolves around sports. "For him, this lockdown was hell. He is an outdoors' boy and to sit at home all day was punishment. One day, he said he wants to try his hand at gardening. We bought a few pots to begin with and now are growing a few vegetables too."

Das is pretty sure that both she and her son will stick to their newfound loves. "Ankush is very focused when he starts something, so I know he'll probably want to expand his garden, even after he's back on the field. And as for me, I am now going to use social media and the internet to further my career — two things I never thought I'd do."

A different sort of therapy

Forty-two-year-old Torsha Banerjee has always had an inclination towards creativity. She loves to dance, she enjoys craft and she's always dabbled with something or the other throughout her life. In 2018, she gave up her career as the associate director of marketing for a digital media company and decided to walk another path. She began to train to become a therapist. The lockdown in March however changed things for her a bit. "It was perhaps the first time the kitchen was entirely available to me. We had no help and I was cooking regularly. That led me to experiment with baking bread. I had never in my life thought I'd bake bread. I know it's difficult and I have never even been much of a bread-lover. But, one day, I decided to try," she says.

She began with a simple sandwich bread, which her family loved. That led her to bake more. And soon she was baking a brioche, babka, hokkaido (the Japanese milk bread), focaccia, a Danish pastry and so on. "I think, with bread, it's so precision driven, you have to follow every single step to get the final result right that it almost becomes like therapy. And when you see that final loaf and it tastes so good, it's hard to stop. I can't seem to stop," Banerjee says, adding, "Of course, I have no intentions of doing this commercially." She feels she does not want to turn bread-making into a task with deadlines. "It is often hard to adapt to new routines in life when you cross a certain age; but actually, it is less to do with age and more to do with our minds. We have to cross the barrier in our heads."

No time to retire

Ratan Sethi, who's in his 50s, had pretty much decided to step back from his part-time career as a restaurant consultant, but he was soon called back. "The lockdown happened when the cafe was starting to become really popular. And suddenly, everything changed. After the initial stage, when we began to open up spaces, I saw myself doing things I had never done before. Making marketing collaterals for the company, designing promotional materials, playing around with photo-editing software...I did them all. I have done social media for the cafe before, but this was different — here learning these skills became imperative. So much for 'retiring' huh?" he says. But Sethi is enjoying it. And even though he’s not sure whether he will continue to do this for long, he says it's something that's giving him joy.

Scratching the creativity itch

For the young couple, Vishvan Saran (33) and Vaibhavi Shah (32), much has changed since March 2020. Saran's production house that worked with commercial outlets such as coworking spaces, pubs and restaurants to make LED lights, displays, etc., took a bit of a hit. He branched out to create a design studio that would do similar work, but on a digital platform. However, the big jump happened when he dived straight into organic farming. "I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but never got around to it. Our family owns a farm in Gurantala, which is about an hour away from the airport towards the Karnataka border. We used to grow stuff there but that was for our personal consumption. But now, we're thinking of making it commercial. I have launched a platform that will not only help us to be visible, but also create a community of other small organic farmers such as us where we can all sell our products."

Shah, on the other hand, who works as an assistant buyer for a large lifestyle brand in India, began to work from home, which freed up a lot of time every day. She decided to rediscover her love for home décor. "We've done a lot of home improvement since the lockdown and small DIY projects — from creating a lantern pathway to painting the walls, making tiny décor items for the home and adding bunting where needed. And a lot of this we do as a couple, which is quite nice. I am sort of tapping into my creative side a lot more these days, because now I actually have the time."

Shah also has an Instagram page now where one can find all the little things she makes. "I don't know whether I want to take this up commercially later, but I might want to try my luck with product development. With more people working from home, they are also paying attention to the space around them and therein lies the opportunity to give them something they won't find easily at a store," she adds.

Tools for transition

* Take your time: Understand your pace. For starters, transitions have three phases — 'the long goodbye', in which you mourn the old you; 'the messy middle', in which you shed habits and create new ones; and 'the new beginning', in which you unveil your fresh self. These phases need not happen in order.

* Identify your emotions: Some people cope with these overwhelming emotions by writing down their feelings; others plunge into new tasks. Some others sing, dance hug, tattoo, sky-dive. Do what works but ensure that it gets you ready for the next phase.

* Shed something: Once you enter the messy middle, shed things; mindsets, routines, delusions, dreams. Like animals who molt when they enter a new phase, cast off parts of your personality or bad habits.

* Try something creative: Often, people turn to creativity to deal with major shifts in their lives. They start to dance, cook, paint; write poems and keep diaries. It helps — at our moments of greatest chaos, it is natural for us to respond with creation.

(collated from the NYT)