How I Made the Most Out of The Quarantine

The lockdown turned out to be one of the most productive periods of my life

In mid-march with the onset of the pandemic, my college shut down and we were sent home. What we took to be a week or two of hiatus turned into an indefinitely long vacation.

As a fitness enthusiast and a full-blown extrovert, being locked down at home with the gyms closed was a highly unwelcome situation.

“I saw that I had one of two options — continue whining and wasting away or make the most out of this situation.”

Disappointed, I spent the first few days glued to my phone and laptop, endlessly scrolling through my social media feeds or binging YouTube for the most part.

As reality finally sank in, I saw that I had one of two options — continue whining and wasting away or make the most out of this situation. I chose the latter and is easily one of the best decisions of my life.

I want to share everything I did during the past seven months that made it one of the best periods of my life.

Stumbled Into the Wonderful World of Finance

In the early days, I happened to chance upon and read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This threw open the doors to the wonderful world of finance and I dove right in.

I explored the stock market, learned stock trading, and over the course of these 7 months, built it up into a profitable side hustle. For anyone willing to learn, the main resource I used and strongly recommend is Zerodha Varsity.

I also went on to read quite a few books on monetary theory, personal finance, investing, making money, trading, etc. A few of the books that I really liked are The Intelligent Investor, Think and Grow Rich, and The Richest Man In Babylon.

All in all, I went from a total beginner that knew nothing about and would gawk in awe at the world of finance to feeling at home with it.

Got Back to Consistently Devouring Books

I have been a voracious reader all my life, well most of my life to be exact, as I become quite sporadic after I entered college.

The lockdown gave me the opportunity to get back to reading and I made the most out of it.

In the early days, I was hooked and would spend close to all day reading.

In the first few months, I managed to finish quite a few long and heavy classics such as War and Peace, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Gone With The Wind, Anna Karenina, etc.

Over the next few months, I continued to read but not as voraciously as I did in the first months. Most of the classics I read influenced me greatly and inspired me to explore philosophy, psychology, and even some history.

I am reminded of a rather funny quote.

“Classics — Books that people praise and don’t read.”

All in all, I managed to finish more than 30 books, a potpourri of different genres — fantasy, mystery, fiction, classics, romance, self-help, psychology, philosophy, finance, etc.

“ This book blew my hair back a kilometer and made me lose a night of sleep.”

Of all the books I read in the past 7 months, below are the 10 books I loved the most, listed in no particular order. Check out my Goodreads profile if you want to view the rest.

• 1984 by George Orwell. This book blew my hair back a kilometer and made me lose a night of sleep. George Orwell has crafted such a perfect dystopian world that it is outright scary. Easily the best book I have ever read.
• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This book has excellent and powerful characters described in such comprehension that they feel real. The main theme focuses on the importance of individualism in a world of collectivism.
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. This book wrenched my heart. Despite a simple setting such as a mental hospital ward and just a handful of characters, this book is unbelievably powerful, emotionally stirring, and insightful.
• Lord Of The Flies by William Golding. This is easily one of the scariest books I have read, one that gave me goosebumps towards the end. Give this a read to find out how a story about a bunch of innocent kids stranded on an island can be that scary.
• Sapiens, A Brief History Of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Very few books have developed my perspective as much as this has. This book attempts to rationally explain almost everything — Early humans, our rise to the top, tribes, empires, wars, religions, the present world, etc. and ends with a glimpse into the scary future.
• Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. It’s crazy how Margaret wrote such an epic, engrossing, and emotionally absorbing piece of literature with a stupid, selfish, spoiled, and deplorable girl as the main character. Except for the end which I absolutely hated, the book is simply excellent.
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. As someone that loved The Kite Runner, I was expecting this “not so famous” book to be close to it but this turned out to be even better. Khaled has a penchant for telling tragic stories in a heart-wrenchingly beautiful manner and he did just that with this book.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear. I am not a big fan of self-help as I find most of it to be “feel good” and motivational fluff advice but this book is different. James Clear gives pragmatic, no b.s, and mighty clever advice in this. His framework for building lasting habits is simply excellent. I have tried it and it works.
• The Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino. This isn’t your regular “whodunnit” mystery novel. What’s crazy about this book is that you get to know the “who, when, why, and how” of the murder at the beginning itself and it still has you on your toes.
• Money, A Suicide Note by Martin Amis. The protagonist John Self is dirty rich, exceedingly unhealthy, drunk all day, fights in bars, indulges in sex, makes porn movies, and a total scumbag overall — someone you cannot hate enough but still find yourself rooting for. An amusing and somewhat shocking read that will show the ugly side of money.

Landed My First Job

I am a final year undergrad pursuing a BTech in Computer Science. Last year during campus placements, I had managed to bag a summer internship for a software developer (SDE) role at Flipkart.

But the recession triggered by the pandemic, and the consequent possibility of having my offer revoked got me scared. Luckily, Flipkart didn’t and notified us that the internships would happen but in Work From Home (WFH) mode.

“I remember shutting the lid of my laptop and letting out a long sigh of satisfaction and accomplishment after my final presentation.”

Despite being virtual, the internship went extremely well. Everything from the onboarding to the final presentation went in a smooth and enjoyable manner.

I remember shutting the lid of my laptop and letting out a long sigh of satisfaction and accomplishment after my final presentation and being profusely appreciated by my mentor and managers for my work.

A few weeks later, when I was glumly preparing for my placements and reminiscing how much I had enjoyed the internship, I received an innocent-looking message from my placement coordinator.

I open it, freeze for a second or two and then scream in joy. Happy with my performance, Flipkart had rolled out a Pre-placement offer (PPO) for a full-time role of SDE-1 to me!

I didn’t have to think twice to accept the offer. It was a wish come true moment and my joy knew no bounds.

Started Learning to Pluck Strings

One fine day as I was watching guitar videos, the motivation bug stung me and I ordered a guitar right away.

“Surprisingly or not so surprisingly I became better with time.”

The guitar arrived and after looking for online learning resources, I settled on Justin Guitar which was widely recommended and had great reviews.

It was a struggle at the beginning (not that it is any lesser of a struggle now) and the idea of playing the guitar seemed hopeless.

But I was determined and practiced religiously every day. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly I became better with time. I vividly remember how elated I was after learning my first song, the DDLJ theme.

Now that I think of it, I have been extremely inconsistent the past few weeks and the guilt is slowly creeping up.

Read on while I brush the dust off my guitar and go pluck some strings.

Started Writing on This Wonderful Platform

I have always had a passion for writing. As a school going kid, I would write short stories, take part in essay writing contests, and loved the picture comprehension parts of my English exams. I still have the draft of a novel that I had started in 10th grade and given up after writing the first chapter.

My first gig writing online was on Quora where I wrote around 100 answers, amassed close to 4 million views, and gained 6000+ followers.

Since I started, Quora went from a QnA platform with excellent content to a cesspool of nonsensical questions, clickbait answers, and spam. It was early January this year when I decided I had enough and left Quora.

It was in early September that I wrote my first article on Medium. I got hooked and wrote another, then another and here we are.

“I have also had the opportunity of discovering amazing writers and forming meaningful connections with some of them.”

I freaking love Medium. You neither need to be popular nor have a ton of followers to get your article good visibility. All you have to do is write good content and the best part is that you can get paid for what you write.

And for a meager $5, you get to read and reward the works of other writers that you enjoy. It’s simply perfect, isn’t it?

Ever since I started writing on Medium, not only have I been able to read good content and consistently improve my writing but I have also had the opportunity of discovering amazing writers and forming meaningful connections with some of them.

Thank you so much Medium, Medium Staff, and all the amazing writers and readers!

Kicked Out My Migraine

I don’t remember when I first developed my migraine but it has been lingering around for close to 2 years now. At college, it would hit me between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM in the morning.

“ The pain would be so intense that everything else would fade out, I would start sweating and grit my teeth waiting for it to go away.”

Some days it wouldn’t, somedays it would.

When it did, the pain would be so intense that everything else would fade out, I would start sweating and grit my teeth waiting for it to go away, which would in what would feel like hours but in reality, only around 10 minutes.

When I came home this time, it had disappeared but when I started writing on Medium, it came back, with much higher intensity, frequency, and duration.

I had a hunch before the doctor even said it — the reason was excessive screen time and I had to drastically reduce it to kick out my migraine.

Using the tips I talked about in the above article, I slowly reduced my screen time from close to 12 hours a day to less than 7 hours.

Lo and behold, the migraine disappeared. My screen time slowly crept back up to around 9 to 10 hours but I am much more careful now and take breaks every now and then.

Spent Quality Time With My Family

Ever since I joined college and had to move away from home, I have spent very little time with my family.

At college, it would just be a few hasty calls a week, and when I returned home for vacations, going out with friends, hitting the gym, spending time on my laptop, etc. would take up the lion’s share of my time.

“We went from having peremptory talk during dinner time to dinner over family time.”

The lockdown allowed me to really reconnect with my family. Everyone being thrown together and locked down at home was the perfect recipe for quality family time.

We went from having peremptory talk during dinner time to dinner over family time. Sometimes we would completely unplug from technology and spend hours talking.

A funny thought just crossed my mind. It is paradoxical, isn’t it? How most families today live together and live apart at the same time.

The internet and technology made it possible for people on opposite sides of the globe to connect with each other but also made people living under the same roof disconnect from each other.

“It is paradoxical isn’t it? How most families today live together and live apart at the same time.”

The lockdown taught me the importance of family time and I have resolved to give it much more importance than I used to.

Realized That the Gym Was Just a Luxury

As a fitness enthusiast that loved lifting weights, gyms closing down really put me off and I refused to work out at home. In fact, I thought it impossible to be able to work out efficiently at home.

“What are mere bodyweight pushups or tugging on resistance bands compared to lifting hundreds of pounds in the gym”, I thought.

I was wrong. Dead wrong in fact.

“What are mere bodyweight pushups or tugging on resistance bands compared to lifting hundreds of pounds in the gym I thought.”

I started off with a rough workout program and without any hopes. Over the course of the months, I learned quite a deal and greatly optimized my workout plan making it as effective if not more than working out at a gym.

I realized that the gym was just a luxury I had gotten too used to. It wasn’t a necessity.

If any of y’all are slouching on your couches and waiting for gyms to reopen, get off your derriere and start working out!

Got Comfortable With Staring at a Wall

Sometimes, just sometimes, I wouldn’t have anything to do. I would be bored and desperately try to fight it off.

But then I realized, doing nothing was a form of doing something. I embraced boredom instead of trying to fight it. After all, I had my brain with me and if I didn’t have anything to do, I can think, can’t I?

So I would stare at the wall, beyond the wall actually, and think, for hours sometimes. No forcing my thoughts, just free flow.

“Boredom is great. Boredom can make you think and to what thinking can do, there truly isn’t any bound.”

Most of the time I would get some brilliant idea, discover something about myself that I didn’t know, get lost in nostalgia, or chuckle to myself reminiscing something funny.

Boredom is great. Boredom can make you think and to what thinking can do, there truly isn’t any bound.

Ending Words

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than a hundred thousand lives so far, shattered world economies, and scattered millions of families.

2020 has been a hard year and one that we shall never forget in our lifetime. But we mustn’t lose hope. We have endured worse. We shall survive this and come out on the other side.

The number of cases in most countries have crossed their peak and are coming down. The progress pertaining to the development of a vaccine seems promising.

“We have endured worse. We shall survive this and come out on the other side.”

With all these positive signs, the end is nigh. All we can do is stay tight, co-operate, and not lose hope.

Here’s to the hope that 2021 will be a much better year!

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