Beyond #WFH is our initiative to spread positivity and inspire our readers by inviting leaders and friends to share what they do to unwind and relax after they finish their work-from-home and work-for-home responsibilities during the lockdown.
While Covid-19 has had multiple impacts on business and Beyond #WFH is not about business, it’s about self-discovery, things that will give us the strength to get through the lockdown and more importantly for those ‘moments’ that will stay with us for long and beyond this pandemic. PS: We are not talking business!
In this story of Beyond #WFH we bring to you, Nikhil Bharadwaj, Head – Corporate Communications, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Here’s what Bharadwaj has been up to amidst the Covid-19 lockdown.
Before the lockdown began, I had a fixed routine on weekdays. Workout at the gym, come back home and have breakfast, leave for office, come back home and have dinner, off to sleep and repeat the next day. On weekends I would go out and party with my friends. With all of this, I had very little time to pursue my hobbies.
One of the first places to shut with the lockdown were gyms. This meant no weight training for me till the lockdown is lifted. I tried lifting buckets full of water and experiment weight training, but it didn’t serve the purpose. I always wanted to explore Yoga. I browsed YouTube and found some simple instructional videos for starters, which immediately solved my purpose for a good and refreshing workout at home. I am surprised, I am now able to do an assisted headstand on my own. Another form of workout for me has been cleaning the house, since due to social distancing we didn’t have domestic help. It took me a while to grasp the nitty-gritty of cleaning the house with my mom telling me few places I have left out, later on I got a hang of it and really started enjoying it. It’s not only a good physical exercise, it also gave me an opportunity to disconnect from work for a bit and ponder over a lot of things which I otherwise couldn’t with continuous phone calls.
One of the best part about this lockdown, is that, I am able to spend good amount of time with my beautiful 5 year old golden retriever Leonidas.
Since we can’t take him out for a walk, Leo as I call him, has been with me in my room and I have super fun playing with him and pampering him all day. I couldn’t give him time and attention before the lockdown, but now I am able to spend a lot of time with him.
Another thing I have been able to do during this lockdown is catch-up on various web-series on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I have been wanting to watch ‘The Office’ series on Amazon Prime Video for a long time and was finally able to finish it during this lockdown period. I’m hooked on to some other series as well in parallel, which I otherwise wouldn’t have time to watch. I have also been an avid gamer, but had lost touch to it apart from intermittent mobile gaming sometimes. During this lockdown, I enjoy playing ‘Call of duty’ mobile which is a nice multi-player first person shooter game. It’s quite exciting and competitive, a good way to disconnect even in the middle of a work day sometimes by playing a quick 5 minute game.
I have also tried my hands at cooking, like many others during this lockdown period with our cook on leave considering the social distancing. I must admit that I’m not really great at it, but I feel cooking gives a lot of satisfaction because you are feeding somebody and your food always tastes great to you. It was also great fun celebrating my birthday through online video conference with my friends. It was a great surprise as all my friends were present on that call, we had fun chit chatting and it made me feel really good on that day.
These are a few unwinding things, which I would otherwise have found difficult to do in my before lockdown routine and I’m hoping I am able to continue even a few once the lockdown is lifted.
