Stay home, stay safe, stay childlike during #COVID_19 Lock_Down

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If you are bored of being home during the #COVID_19 lock-down, read how interesting my nearly locked_down childhood was.

Depending on which generation we belong to, we took up different activities in our childhood. I can speak for kids of the 80s. I believe that the 80s were a wonderful time to grow up in Keralam. People were not stuck to small phone screens. TVs were available for entertainment. There were a number of serialized and other programmes on Doordarshan channel we used to wait for. For example, Alif Laila, Chithrageetham, the Sunday movie, etc. But TV was not the centre of our lives. 

We used to play in the mud. We played football at school (cricket had not destroyed other games then). We also used to play the police and thief during loo and lunch breaks. In my school we were a 'Naalvar Sangham': a fantastic four. Michael, Rajesh and Shinto were already in that school when I joined them as the fourth. We had our own secret code language with its own script to exchange notes, our own special table football game played using little paper balls and pen-caps, our own revenge plans to punish extremely arrogant teachers, our own study techniques that made us the top scoring students in the class. We enjoyed school because we were offline friends. 

By the time we were in 10th class, landline telephones were installed in our homes, so we could clear our doubts or pretend to be a police officer when calling each other. The rest was offline. We visited each others' homes to study and play. Weekends were fun because we visited each other and made extensive plans to plunder each other's homes, or the local post office just for fun. Our adventures included climbing trees, playing on the terrace, running errands, doing shopping for families, sharing stories we read, etc. It was truly fun. I must still have a few transcripts of our secret code language letters we have exchanged, somewhere at home. 

Life at my own home was fun. By the age of 14, I used to get up at 5 am everyday to study. We did not have many rooms, so when I switched on the light to study, my sisters would cover their heads not to get disturbed. I used to help my family in managing daily affairs. For example, it was my duty to carry milk from home to the local co-operative society for sale. We used to sell 4 litres every day. I would then come back and have a bath. All six of us at home shared a single bathroom facility. So we had to kind of schedule our business. All 5 of us had to leave at different times: father at 9.30 am to his bank, sister and brother at 7.45 to their respective colleges, me and younger sister at 9. 45 to our schools. After school, I had to help my mother to cut, collect and carry grass for the cows. It used to be a big task. We children washed our own clothes ever since our mother developed a spine problem. 

There was more. Collecting cocoa for sale, taking care of rubber sheets when they were dry, counting and collecting coconuts when they are plucked, shooing off crows when coconuts are laid out to dry, and watering our flower plants were some of the extra duties. But the main duty of all of us was drawing water from the well. Depending on the season, we used different sources of water. In monsoon, we used the well that was the closest to hour home. By the end of March, this well would dry up, so we would use the second well that was a little farther. When that too dried up, we had to walk a kilometer uphill in the night to collect water in all possible pots and jars from a common source in the village. We would wait in line for our turn for hours. This was years before we could transport water in takers. When water was scarce in peak summer, we had to limit its use. I remember washing my body in a mug or two of water! We were a lovely bunch of people that way. 

I had picked up the hobby of working on electronics from my elder brother by the time I was in high school. Together, we used to work on hobby projects like radios and repair work. I still have my skill. I remember making an FM fadio in a plastic bucket, a wireless microphone to work with the radio to be used for our programmes, and repairing tape recorders and even minor complaints of televisions. My life at home has helped me to pick up other skills like electrical work, plumbing, cooking, cleaning, packing, gardening, etc. I also learned how to give a hair cut.

Above all, I learned the habit of reading from home. There were hundreds of books and magazines at home. We had subscribed to Reader's Digest, India Today, Balarama, Sputnik, and even Manorama weekly! I remember reading a collection of 100 abridged world classics (called Viswa Sahitya Maala) before I was in high school. I read Malayalam and English. Magazines, newspapers and books. My world expanded beyond the limits of my village, state and country. The desire to read never left me. 

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So, even if times have changed, there is a lot to do at home. We can read, garden, farm, clean, cook, talk and have fun while quarantined at home. 

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In a way, this lock-down season is for our welfare. It has helped the world's air quality to improve. Animals are less afraid and have more spaces for themselves. Humans can sit at home and connect with their families, re-live memories, heal wounds and become healthy. We get to go back to our sweet childhoods. Therefore, Stay home, Stay safe, and Stay childlike.