Mastering lockdowns

Balcony gardens and takeaway containers prove that we are getting better at staying home

Last year, when the lockdown was announced, we all felt that emotion of being trapped. Outside of a timeout for being an unruly kid, nobody had ever asked us to be confined to a single space for an extended period. Sure, there are other confinements, such as cubicle corporate life (but at least you get paid there) and long-haul flights in economy. Thankfully, I have no idea how mortals eke that one out. So we banged plates, lit lamps, made Dalgona coffee and sourdough dosas, all in a bid to release the resulting stress. I don’t know if it really helped anyone; it certainly flooded my timeline with a lot of cheap imitation patriotism and ugly-looking edibles. This year, however, when the lockdown was imposed in phases, last year’s episode almost served like a vaccine and, in spite of how this time around it is much grimmer, we are handling it many shades better. Even the Americans didn’t go hogging toilet paper the second time around, so clearly it was us humans as a species which was evolving.