Lockdown Day 23
I saw a video today of a mother urging her little child to go to his playschool.  The child gets excited but then withdraws, he explains to his mother that he cant ho to school because Modi uncle has forbidden everyone to go out. The child breaking down as he speaks says if he goes out the government will go after him because ‘All of us are in s lockdown’.
My eyes filled with tears as I watched the video. The lockdown is impacting different people in different ways and nobody is spared of the repercussions. A little child is using words like lockdown and government. He understands that Modi’s uncle is the authority and has to be obeyed but he is unhappy restricted to the confines of his home. He is missing his friends, his school, he had forgotten the meaning of normal snd it is going to take a long time for all the deep wounds to heal….
As I sign off to get ready for lockdown week 5 and try and enjoy your long weekend.

Another morning, another day, I am fortunate that I am preoccupied with household and office work but many friends call and say that they are tired of twiddling their thumbs. After all how much television can one watch? How many series/ shows/ panel discussions can they watch?? The pressure is killing after a point and the heart yearns to come out and inhale fresh air….
Friends are asking what is wrong if one steps out in the building compound….what is wrong if one wears the mask and strolls in the terrace….I ask the same questions to my family doctors and there are conflicting opinions.  One says you can walk even share a cup of tea with a neighbour as long as you maintain one meter distance.  Another says an emphatic no, he asks will you stroll out if the virus was visible?
I am more confused than I was yesterday, more helpless too. The skyscraper buildings around me block my view of tge skyline and I wonder what colour was tge sunset today- yellow, orange or red? Someday, l’ll see the sunrise and the sunset standing in my garden. The day will come soon.
@bhawanasomaaya

I have always maintained a working diary where I note my phones to make and deadlines to keep. Now the page includes an important block called household chores where I list out cleaning/ washing/ dusting etc.
The first part of my day is devoted to domestic duties either in the kitchen or outside. Post lunch is devoted to creative commitments- writing/ recording/ shooting and let me admit that recording/ shooting on my own takes ages but however difficult the task, the show goes on…
My neighbors are kind enough to send me food every day and I am filled with gratitude for their act of kindness. Tomorrow I will continue my chronicle of lockdown, until then, stay safe, stay home.. .
@bhawanasomaaya

By the time I became a journalist Jaya Bhaduri had become Jaya Bachchan and retired from films, well almost.
The first time I met her was at Shammi Aunty’s home, she had come home carrying special food for the senior actress. In the coming years, I kept bumping into her at an award function, at Prithvi Theatre, at the hospital, and at the airport and even though her husband had imposed a ban on the media Jaya responded spontaneously to people.
The first time I interviewed her was on the sets of Nauker where she was doing patchwork shooting. She explained that the last time she shot with Sanjeev Kumar on this film was before her marriage and now after two kids she was called for the leftover scenes, “It all feels so strange”.
Yes, from Bhopal to Pune and Mumbai and now Delhi as Rajya Sabha member, it has been indeed a long journey for the actor.

The film has been streaming on Netflix since December 2019 but I watched it only recently. Marriage Story should, in fact, be called a Divorce story because it tells of an actress-director marriage, an anatomy of a relationship that begins with attraction, attachment, disconnect and finally non-communication.
Written and directed by Noah Bombach and starting Scarlette Johansson and Driver Adams who deliver their career’s best performance.
Psychiatrists say that the biggest human tragedy is the loss of a child, the second biggest tragedy is a divorce, third is the death of a spouse and finally, the death of a parent.
Marriage Story tells you what happens when a couple splits, some people though wonderful are not meant to live together.
@bhawanasomaaya

Who would have imagined that a three-decade-old mythological serial was going to be revived in times of coronavirus, but it has.
Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan garnered believe it or not 170 million after just 4 episodes and the TRPs are only adding.
So what attracts the audience to the mythological because it isn’t as if it is the best production, many more on the same topic have been better packaged and presented, do what is it about Sagar’s Ramayan that hooks the public to the narrative?
My theory is that while the other serials had better sets and costumes they lacked in soul and purity. The other reason is nostalgia, the fact that all of us watched this serial on the same day, same time, the same channel makes the experience special.
Whatever the reasons, in this turbulent times a large group is finding solace in the teachings of Lord Ram.
@bhawanasomaaya

Meru Cabs A True Story by Gaurav Rao tells the story of Neeraj Gupta, who at age 32 became the founder and Managing Director of India’s first and largest Radio Taxi Company, Meru Cabs.
Starting from a garage in the year 2997 with a borrowed capital of 50,000 by 2011 Gupta had created an empire valued st 2000 crores.
The book is a journey into the mind of a genius, his strategies, his principle, his interpersonal relationships with his clients and his team.
Published by Bloomsbury the book is a must-read for every startup company.
@bhawanasomaaya

Lesson: Self Reliance

A writer has a lot to occupy her mind and time, m Radio channel Big FM decided that we reinvent the review show with a section called Classic where I will review the memorable vintage films. They asked me to get cracking instantly. In normal circumstances when I arrive at the recording studio it takes me ten minutes to complete the audio recording and about half an hour with all the technical glitches to complete the video recordings.

Post the recordings are the promo shoots, the stills and then back home to put it all on the social media. Friday for all film critics is an exhausting day but also an exhilarating day and now suddenly there is silence. My program head tells me I will have to do all the recordings on my own using the iPhone. I am petrified but I have no choice.  Through trial and error, I learn to position myself, learn to rectify my eye contact and finally learn to use first the microphone and later the camera to record myself. I have to do it a number of times before it is good enough to be posted but before that I have to learn the uploading which takes ages but is finally done.  Corona virus has taught me self-reliance and I’m hoping the coming week will be as productive as this one.

@bhawanasomaaaya