The Art of ‘Doing Nothing’
- Aditi Patwardhan
- Oct 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Sigh… It has been almost 3 months since we started attending online classes. With absolutely no certainty regarding the opening of educational institutions across the country, I am now finally coming to terms with the fact that the last (as of now) year of my college life is going to be spent at home, without having the liberty of moving around freely, away from my belongings back in Pune.
Who, in their wildest of dreams, would have ever thought that we would be stuck like this for the rest of 2020? Many of us kickstarted the year on an uninspiring note. I left for Pune on my birthday, because I had my final exam from 1 January 2020..!! I mean, that’s not how we would like to usher in a new year, innit?
Until March 2020, I was leading a perfectly normal life in Pune; I was hanging out with my friends, visiting my relatives, windowshopping at malls, trying out new cuisines. What else could I, as a student, have asked for?
Fast forward to October 2020, and here we are, glued to our laptop/mobile screens, attending those godawful webinars, surviving online classes and courses – all of this and more, wearing T-shirts with Pyjamas!
While these activities have been keeping us occupied for about a third of the day, what are we doing in the remaining time?
Binge watching in a pandemic.
Unknowingly, and surprisingly enough, we have all mastered the art of ‘doing nothing.’
So, what am I talking about when I say ‘nothing’..?
‘Nothing’ includes all the unproductive work that we do.
Let’s make a list. This, my friends, is what I would call the ‘Art of Doing Nothing.’
Staring at our phones in a hope that ‘someone’ might respond, finally!
Staring at the ceiling, thinking about all the good times we had before COVID-19 ruined it all.
Munching on snacks all-day because, why not?
Making Dalgona coffee and feeling like a barista (But that’s a thing of the past now, Aditi.” “So what? We all did it, didn’t we?”).
Watching the easiest home workout videos and hoping to invest our valuable time doing these workouts. Didn’t go as per our plans though.
Watching DIY videos and easy-to-cook recipes on BuzzFeed, Gobble Grams, and/or Tasty. But, actually trying out any of these still remains out of question.
Binge-watching movies and serials because we need topics to discuss with friends.
Building castles in the air – planning our future trips to the Himalayas, to Goa (that ain’t happening though), or to Lonavala, if the previous destinations seemed too far-fetched.
Couldn’t stop myself from including this picture here. 🙂
Phew, this is an exhaustive list. Most of us have a lot of ‘nothings’ in common, isn’t it? Maybe, just maybe, you would be having better ‘nothings’ than me.
So, essentially, we all belong to this big, fat family of ‘artists’; yes, we are the ones who added the ‘pro’ in procrastination.
How long we are going to be confined to our homes, we don’t know for sure. But, whenever we’d break free from the shackles, we must always remember this:
“We survived this, doing absolutely nothing. That was our superpower those days.”
This is the stuff we’re going to tell our grandchildren about, and proudly so.
Another gem of a cartoon by Sunil Agarwal and Ian Baker.
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