The solitary guide to a socially distant 2021

As a child, connecting the dots was one of my favourite pastimes in class. Little did I know that 2020 would be the year where I would land up playing this game way too often

- Arpita Das

January 2020. A job change, a new haircut, travels planned, and changing cities and houses, I was all set to make 2020 a big year. Cut to March 2020 — moved into the new house, still getting a hang of my new workplace and role, and wondering how I would survive the lockdown in a new neighborhood. Living alone wasn’t a challenge for me, I have aced that. What was challenging is how will I navigate daily life without my dose of going to work, meeting people, and without stepping into a grocery store. It felt like the pandemic and life had laid out the dots, I just needed to connect them.

The fun part about playing this game against your friend was that you knew the opponent. The scary part of doing this now, was that I did not know what move was meant to be made next, because I did not know who I was playing this against. However, if as Homo sapiens if we have mastered something, it is the art of just plunging into things at times, even though we may not know what lies ahead. Therefore, my love for the stoics. They never got bothered. They just went by, moment to moment.