avatarS M Mamunur Rahman

Summary

The author reflects on their prolific writing period and various activities during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, including travel experiences, movie and book consumption, and engagement with Medium as a writer.

Abstract

The author shares a personal narrative of their time during the pandemic, which began with a trip to Kerala, India in March 2020 and led to a prolonged period of self-isolation due to the global spread of COVID-19. During this time, the author engaged in watching movies and series, reading books, and writing, both on Medium and working on a new book. The author's experiences with travel, the shock of the pandemic's onset, and the subsequent adaptation to a new lifestyle are detailed, emphasizing the productive use of time despite the circumstances. The article concludes with the author expressing curiosity about how others managed their creativity and writing during the pandemic and offering a satirical piece for readers seeking laughter.

Opinions

  • The author considers their writing output during the pandemic to be unusually high and consistent.
  • They express a preference for certain movies and series, highlighting "Charlie," "Her," "The Blind Side," and "Black Mirror" as particularly noteworthy.
  • The author recommends specific books, including "Born A Crime" by Trevor Noah and "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts, indicating a personal connection to the content and themes.
  • They share an admiration for Tom Perrotta's storytelling skills, especially in the short stories "Grade My Teacher" and "Nine Inches."
  • Yuval Noah Harari's "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" is praised for its insightful discussion on happiness.
  • The author values the Medium platform for its community of writers and the opportunity it provides for interaction and publication.
  • They describe themselves as a "lazy person" who goes with the flow, contrasting their own approach with the potentially more organized and ambitious use of time by others during the pandemic.

My Pandemic Timeout — How Was That?

I have never been so prolific as a writer…

Image created by the author

In my country, it all started in the second week of March 2020, while I was traveling to Kerala, India. It was a ten-day solo trip, and I was busy seeing the Arabian Sea and the Vembanad Lake, where the dolphins and plastic surfing together.

On March 08, 2020, my mom informed me that Dhaka found three people with coronavirus positive. I was shocked to know the news because I knew if the coronavirus found its way to Dhaka, it would be a disaster soon. Anyway, I continued for the rest of my journey.

I went to Munnar and enjoyed the beauty of hilltop-tea gardens, the serenity of the Mattupetty Dam, and the Kayaking in the gentle breeze of Kundala lake.

Later, on March 12, when I was in Thekkady, eating Kerala-famous banana chips( though I disliked that), I got an email from NovoAir that my return ticket from Kolkata to Dhaka on March 15, 2020, has been canceled due to the pandemic situation.

In the evening, I got another phone call from my mom, and she was worried about my return. In the meantime, India, with a government directive, started closing all the tourist spots as well. So, I was in a fix.

To cut it short, I stuck to my plan and traveled to Kumily, Kumarakom, Kochi, and Chennai. Later I got back to Kolkata to find out a plane that would take me home.

After several efforts, I managed to secure a seat in IndigoAir to go back to my city, Dhaka. Then after having much tension at the immigration, I came back home, and I was supposed to stay a 14-day home quarantine (as my office said so) for safety purposes.

Within a few days, the pandemic situation in Dhaka turned into a nightmare, and all the offices and other institutions remained close or turned into home-office as per the government directive to contain coronavirus.

That is how the pandemic timeout started in my country and forced my free spirit to stay confined.

I was stuck at home from March 16 to August 26, 2020, for more than 05 months. During this time, I tried many things to get rid of the boredom of being home all the time.

Now, after giving too much background information, I am going to tell you about my pandemic timeout phase and what I did during this time.

Let’s dive in.

Chinese Fishing Net at Fort Kochi, India. The author reserves the rights to this image

🎥 Phase I: Movies & Series

Like many of you, I spent my first phase watching movies and Netflix series. Oh, that was amazing. I watched more than a hundred movies and a few TV series.

Movies

I watched and rewatched a few movies that I would love repeating them anytime in the future. Let me give you a shortlist. I think you have already watched most of them.

1.Charlie 2. Her 3. The Blind Side 4. Castaway on the Moon 5. Memories In March 6. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind 7. Kumbalangi Nights 8. A Million Ways To Die In The West 9. Sleepless in Seattle 10. You Have Got Mail 11. Adaptation 12. Parasite 13. Life As We Know It 14. Agontuk 15. Life is Beautiful

I watched tons of movies in this first phase. I only gave you a few names. Each of them is incredible.

Series

Starting with Sherlock, I watched The Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Sacred Games, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Little Things, Young Sheldon, Puss In Boots, Jamtara, Breaking Bad, Sabka Number Ayega, and a few others.

But I liked The Big Bang Theory (American Sitcom) and Black Mirror (Dystopian Anthology) the most.

I highly recommend you to watch these two mindblowing series.

📗Phase II: Books

In the second phase, maybe after one month of continuously watching movies and series, I got bored and started reading books. Though I didn’t read many, of course, a few excellent books got me captivated for a few weeks.

Among the books I read during the pandemic timeout, I recommend the following ones.

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

It’s not a book — it’s a journey to discover how a South-African childhood looks like. This autobiography of Trevor Noah is exciting, shocking, funny, and unthinkable.

Trevor knows the craft of making sad things funny. You must read it.

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

I love traveling. And that’s why Rolf Potts is one of my favorite travelers. He is an American travel writer, essayist, podcaster, and author. He extensively traveled the world alone.

Vagabonding is more than a book — it’s a lifestyle to embrace, a philosophy to expand our world and imagination. USA Today dubbed Rolf Potts as ‘Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age.’

If you want to travel the world for the long-term, this book is a must for you.

Nine Inches: Stories by Tom Perotta

I love short-stories than novels. So I picked this book by Tom Perotta, and after reading it, I started loving Perotta’s writing genius.

The sentence structures, development of plot and characters, emotions, and all — Tom puts everything in its place. That’s his specialty.

Two stories that caught my attention and I read those many a time are — Grade My Teacher and Nine Inches. If you are a lover of short stories, you must give it a go.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

This book is incredible. I became a fan of Noah Harari after reading this one. It is about the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century, focusing on Homo sapiens.

I became a fan of Noah Harari after reading this one. I loved his argument about happiness in the chapter titled — And They Lived Happily Ever After. It is a gem, and I read it nearly a thousand times.

✏️Phase III: Writing

I’m impressed with my writings during this pandemic timeout. I have never been so consistent before.

✏ Writing My Next Book

This phase was exhausting. Because — I don’t know why — all my writing ideas come when I go to bed at night. It forces me to wake up at late-night to write them down immediately.

Anyway, now I am happy that I wrote more than eight short stories for my next book during this phase. I turned out to be a little bit prolific compared to other non-pandemic times.

✏ Writing on Medium

Moreover, in this phase, I joined the Medium Partner Program and started writing on Medium. It’s a great thing for me to interact with fellow writers on this great platform.

So far, I’ve written more than 40 stories on Medium. And it’s quite huge for a lazy writer like me.

How About You?

Yes, I know I made very little out of this huge time and opportunity. But I am a lazy person who hardly keeps high ambition for anything. I just go with the flow. But I firmly believe you are more organized than me and utilized your time wisely.

I am interested to know how you spent your pandemic-timeout. Apart from all the mental stress, monotony, fear, and loss — how did you deal with your creativity and writing?

I would love to know your thoughts.

Thank you for reading.

If you are passing a stressful time and need some laughter, you may read the following satirical article published in The Masterpiece.

Coronavirus
Life Lessons
Writing
Reading
Travel
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