Things I’m doing during quarantine

I decided to make a list of the things I’ve done and will be doing during quarantine, simply for the sake of documentation. I’ll keep adding as I do more things, hopefully.

A. Random things that make me feel better

1. Sitting in my balcony, either working or just watching the street dogs play.
2. Having my fairy lights on at night
3. My breathe in (gold) and breathe out (black) breathing technique
4. Listening to music (Lauv, Prateek Kuhad and more)
5. Writing poetry
6. Blogging more
7. Watching a ton of (sometimes stupid) movies and videos
8. Drawing from time to time
9. I’ve watched a few live streams so far (Arunoday Roy, Prateek Kuhad and Anuv Jain) that made me feel so genuinely happy
10. Dressing up in my ‘outside’ clothes everyday
11. Aloe vera, lemon and honey face packs
12. Making a daily schedule with my priorities every morning when I wake up, then striking them off when I complete them.
13. Started learning the guitar again (though I’m not sure how long this will last)
14. Working out – I’ve realised I love dance workouts. I love losing myself in the music and letting go
15. I watched playback theatre via video call for the first time – it was a thrill

B. Education

1. A forensic science course on Coursera
2. Researching about universities for my Master’s and eventually, PhD
3. A course on the social context of mental health and illness on Coursera
4. Vocabulary building for my future exams
5. Preparing for the GRE
6. Watching a TON of TED talks, which may or may not be related to my subject.
7. Next week, I’ll be attending the meeting of an academic therapeutic community. I’m incredibly excited

C. Cooking

1. I know how to make dough for rotis now! (I haven’t gotten around to actually rolling them out yet, but we’ll get there eventually)
2. Paneer chilly (the dry version)
3. A burrito bowl (with salsa!)
4. Dalgona coffee. YES, I caved – but unfortunately, it was a big fail ):
5. Upma
6. Steamed momos (they were vegetarian, as opposed to my favourite chicken ones but I loved them)
7. Pav bhaji
8. We made the pav from scratch for the previous dish!
9. Mushroom biryani
10. Green sauce pasta – A palak (spinach) sauce
11. Ice cream – honey flavoured (because we didn’t have vanilla extract at home)
12. A dum aloo recipe – but I used eggs instead (completely messed this one up and realised I don’t actually know how to boil an egg)
13. I rolled my first roti today! Or well, 10. And they weren’t rotis, they were parathas but same difference. (18th April, 2020 – they weren’t round, but they were edible)
14. Spaghetti with a hint of beetroot
15. Ragda pattice
16. I’ve been making a lot of dosas lately!
17. Pizza from scratch!
18. Kababs (though I only fried these, mum marinated them)
19. Ice cream – chocolate flavoured this time. It was SO GOOD
20. Chocolate cake for my brother’s birthday!

D. Around the house

1. Mopping the house every couple of days (when my brother doesn’t do it, and mum needs a break)
2. Cleaning my shelves and wardrobe
3. Maintenance for our photo albums (though I’ve only done one album so far)
4. The dishes
5. Painting the side of my book cupboard
6. Every time there’s a food delivery, I disinfect all the packages, wash all the eatables and lay them out for a couple of hours.
7. I’ve been hand-washing my own clothes lately. It really makes me appreciate the effort that goes into doing it everyday by my mum or the maid

E. Reading

1. I read the last three books of Vampire Academy
2. Got to the third book of Bloodlines, but I think I’m going to give up reading it
3. Reread some bits of Oprah Winfrey’s ‘What I Know For Sure’
4. I’ve been rereading some of the poetry I’ve written recently and a while ago
5. I read uplifting quotes every morning. It’s not much, but it keeps me happy
6. I started reading Carl Jung’s ‘Man and his Symbols’

First update & published (16th April 2020): I want to read more, do more for my education. Hopefully that will make it into the list the next time I update it.