My Lockdown Days

Whenever I am asked about my age, I begin to say I am 17 but then suddenly remember I am 20+ already. I subconsciously subtract the years I lost to lockdown. My life suddenly lost its dynamics but I was happy to take a break after a long time. I enjoyed my lockdown days to the fullest. I didn't do anything productive though, I was just taking it slow.
 
March 16th, 2020. It was the first day of my first year final exam. I had just confessed to my crush after finishing the horrible exam. Then I proceeded to call my friend to tell her that I finally confessed to my crush but before I could say anything, she started screaming with joy as the announcement for nationwide lockdown was being broadcasted on every news channels. That day I got rejected by my crush, but hey, at least I don't have to go to college for a week or so. :)

"A WEEK OR SO"– yeah, that's exactly what we all thought at first! Aside from college, my coaching also closed off with an announcement of resuming regular classes after lockdown. When lockdown was extended, my coaching shifted to online classes. Personally, I prefer physical classes and online lecture videos– online classes aren't much effective as I get distracted easily.

  (A proof of me getting distracted during online class. My teacher is teaching and I am watching "perfect French omelette" recipe on YouTube while minimizing the screen of online class. Hmmm, French omelette definitely more important than math.)

Soon, my teacher stopped taking online classes as none of us were benefiting from it. I tried some self-study for a few days but with such uncertainties regarding the resumption of classes and exams, I couldn't continue my study. "If there's no exams or classes, then what's the point of studying?" Ladies and gentlemen, within less than a month of lockdown, this is how I buried my productivity along with my academics.

My days were going relaxedly after the funeral of my academics. I am an introvert, so I was enjoying my time at home. I watched a bunch of anime like Assassination Classroom, Attack On Titan, Hunter×Hunter, Fullmetal Alchemist. The legendary anime One Piece– I watched it during lockdown and I would even watch 20 episodes per day. My eating habit and sleep schedule were a mess. I would stay up for 26-28 hours straight while binge watching anime and then sleep for 12-14 hours the next day. Surprisingly, I lost some weight during lockdown as I barely ate anything. Aside from watching anime, I would browse memes and talk to my friends on social media. Sometimes we would play Ludo online, it was fun.

I used to post a lot on Facebook, most of which were shitposts (I still do that). As I was bored, I changed my dp almost everyday with random pictures. During Ramadan 2020, people were trolling melon (bangi) on social media as always. I like bangi, so I put up a picture of bangi in my dp. Later, I also put up pictures of random fishes as my dp. The bright side is, I ended up making a bunch of online friends as a result of being extremely active on social media. I even met a few of them afterwards, but I can't add their pictures for privacy reasons. Sorry :)

 
After continuous anime and social media when my life finally started to feel a little boring, I finally stepped out. My friend and I were taking a walk in Hatirjheel. We had met after a long time and talked a lot. We also had some bhelpuri on our way back home. It was a beautiful day. Here is a picture:

Me with my friends on the day of Eid

On that year, Eid didn't look very festive. The roads were empty, there were no carnivals. I went to my friend's place on the occasion of Eid. We had a fun time together but we had to be back home by 8pm, as it was prohibited to stay outside after 8pm due to lockdown. On the bright side, I got to spend time with my close friends instead of being squished among crowd in a popular place or attending family gatherings with people I barely know. 

Oven Baked Pasta that I made

 
Now let's talk a little bit about foods. I am a foodie and I tried a bunch of recipes in lockdown. I am adding the picture of my favorite one: Oven Baked Pasta. This is still one of my comfort foods. I used to eat instant noodles frequently but I used to boil it in regular water only and then eat it with tastemaker and ketchup. I once tried making a curry with catfish and it turned out very bad (I can't cook fish). I was missing the street foods that I used to eat with my friends after college or coaching. I missed eating shingara most as it was my favorite snack.

 

Me in a local popular
spot named "Sun Valley"

After a few months, there still wasn't any official announcement regarding the re-opening of educational institutes. My college introduced online classes but I didn't attend those. At first, everyone was very strict about the lockdown but as time flew by, people stopped caring about it. So coaching centers were re-opening and I was attending physical classes there. Shopping malls, tourist spots, restaurants- everything was open but not very crowdy. I went to a few places of attraction like Suhrawardy Uddyan and National Zoo but these places were close to empty. Same thing happened to restaurants– I was dining at almost empty restaurants.

 

Me in Book Fair, 2021

On April 2021, I went to the Book Fair. It  was delayed due to lockdown but yet festive  enough. There was a huge number of people  and many books. I bought 2-3 books and just enjoyed the vibe while I was there. I wanted to meet Antik Mahmud but I didn't get to. I had to leave early because it would've become hard to find transport if I had stayed late.

 

Me in my friend's college for their farewell.

Apart from these wonderful experiences, lockdown has negatively affected my academics & physical health mostly. I physically became weak, as I was inactive for a long time. I need external pressure to continue study. The flow of my study was ruined as all the coaching centers were closed for a long time. Time then went fast & the exam date of HSC-21 was published. I managed to study just enough to survive through the exam. Before exam, other than attending the farewell of my college, I infiltrated two more colleges (of my friends) to attend their farewell. It's the last fun memory I had before my HSC exam.

 
So, that's about it. I had a great time writing this, I am feeling nostalgic. There were a lot of ups & downs in my life during lockdown. Despite all the downsides, I call that time "my golden days". Now you can ask, do I want lockdown again? Honestly, I don't. "You can still cherish a time period without wanting it back", right? That's what my lockdown days are for me.