Lockdown Diaries Nominee#18- A Blog Post By Abishai Basumata

“How to enjoy a travel to Bali, Indonesia”

Was one of the headlines in my feed and I thought, of all the times-Quarantine was when YouTube decided to recommend me such a video. It had a very telegenic thumbnail- as most usually do.

Curiosity won the better of me and enticed, I click on it. It was just two minutes long what harm could two minutes of entertainment do? O Naïve Child! Very soon those two minutes Poof! Morphed into an hour, and was soon followed by an interruption into reality-the beckoning voice of Mother calling for dinner.

Next day, I sit down at my desk determined not to get distracted. Ring…Ring! a phone call. Nope, not this time. I ghost the call and put my phone on airplane mode. Peace! After a few hours of study I feel bored and power on my laptop; lazily browsing through my feed an idea pops into my mind. Why don’t I instead of wasting my time surf the net for something that would help me in the future? This line of thought marked the renewal of my perspective. Soon I was greeted by (more like plunged into) an unfathomable sea of content which I never knew existed. The borderless horizon of opportunities appealed to my unquenchable curiosity and urged me to build a raft to chart the endless waters.

I stepped on the sandy shores, the gentle waves of ideas, concepts and goals tided over my feet. I knew I couldn’t sail those waters alone so I asked for assistance. The people at the beach were more than helpful. Soon I had a ship; a crew and a chart- empty, save for my first port. This Blog Post.

I think I extended the metaphor too much ha-ha… I thought that the post had a limit of three hundred words so I was shaving off some words but when I double checked it was six hundred so I figured I’d put in some more.
The initial days of quarantine for me were quite a scare, not because of the Covid-19 virus. Rather my senior high results were pending and the result declarations were being postponed much adding much to mine as well as my parents’ distress. I had thoughts of failure but my parents encouraged me by “advising” me to continue studying seemed pretty ironic but I went with it anyway.

Results declared!! I passed! Woo-hoo or not! Lockdown’s here celebrations at home. No meet-up with friends and outdoor parties. I felt letdown! So my family took up mission “Bake a cake in the oven”. It was really fun in its own way-buttering the batter, sprinkling the sugar, a few secret servings of chocolate to my mouth was a very pleasant if not an impromptu experience. To think there are times like these even when the whole world is reeling under the clutches of an unknown adversary. Little spells of joy amidst squalls of life- that’s what keeps people going I think.

A few days later, I turn eighteen! I turn an adult in quarantine what an achievement! It felt good despite not having any party balloons; the closeness of my family was a present enough. The day was really fun and we played board games and chatted long into the night.
This sums up most of my life up to the moment I’m writing this post. My books will never leave me clinging to me like lovers as I continue to prepare for upcoming exams.

So that’s it! Welcome to my world within the walls. Hope you enjoyed it.

ReachIvy.com organized an online blog/vlog competition to provide people the unique opportunity to share their lockdown stories using their creativity. The competition met with a fantastic response from participants across 4 continents, and our jury has handpicked the Top 50 entries from them for the Popular Choice Award 2020!

The above entry has been submitted by Abishai Basumata from Siliguri, India. He is an 18-year-old student of Delhi Public School. Kudos to Abishai for this beautiful piece!

Show your support and help Abishai win the contest by liking this blog post on all ReachIvy.com’s social media platforms!