Looking back at 2020 and 2021

An attempt to recreate a shot [Location: Ramada, Kasauli]

With 2021 coming to an end, it roughly calls for two years of a different lifestyle that none of us imagined ever before. Humans are known to adapt to the environment and evolve, this has been proven well in the past two years.

Before another year flies by, I wanted to take some time and reflect on the last two years. Life took a pause in the beginning of 2020 and slowed down our fast paced lives. Here’s how I reminisce on the good memories from the last two years:

1. A golden opportunity to spend time with family after graduating from school, that was fun! 😄 Unsuccessful attempts at making Dalgona coffee and cakes are unforgettable memories.
2. Lock down 2020 got us to tune in to Doordarshan channel, one of the forgotten TV channel for years. We would work around our meals and work schedule to catch the prime time of Ramayana(Indian Epic) on Doordarshan at 9:00 pm everyyyyday! The unlimited jokes and memes around the lock down still make me laugh. 😆
3. We barely used the terrace for anything because stepping outside was easier. Right from cleaning the terrace to leveraging it for workouts, dance practice, chitchats and a few terrace parties; the memories would be cherished for life as it’s again a thing of the past by 2021 end.
4. Art and Dance were never available to learn online before 2020, it was just NOT a thing! But 2020 gave us the opportunity to learn any dance form from an instructor of your choice being anywhere in the world. I did use the opportunity to rejoin Belly Dance classes after years. With that, my weekends got busy too and soon I felt a burn out after 2–3 months. :|
5. Took up a one year project to put together my solo travel stories on YouTube and successfully completed it in Jan, 2021. You can check out my YouTube channel to know more about Solo travel to Europe(in early 2020). Who knew that was kind of the last one I did before travel resumes again 👀. I ‘d highly appreciate a subscribe to the channel. ;)
6. I did experience a different style of life in the hills, silent and slow. I compiled my experiences in the post, “Do you think of moving to the hills while living in the cities?”. Also, took some time to put together my thoughts on the flora: “Ever wondered what ‘Bhaang-Dhatura’ meant in Lord Shiva hymns?”
7. I did some binge watching too, some of the long pending movies and series: Forrest Gump, Matrix, American beauty, The Social Network, Jobs, The Theory of Everything, 300: Rise of Empire, The Big Short, The Dictator, The Founder, The Terminal, The Social Dilemma, Saving Private Ryan, Fury, Top Gun, Basic Instinct, The Shwashank Redemption, Narcos, The Story of Diana, Scam 1992, Money Heist and a few more that I can’t really remember.
8. I worked upon improving my jump rope speed and tried some variations like crisscross jump. Did I improve? Oh yeah! “On a pleasant evening, when I set the lap counter on my jump rope, it turns out to be 1.7 laps/second. 😉 😆 not bad!”
9. Hula Hoop was on my list for long and I randomly purchased one from Decathlon to begin with. I practiced on and off(over a period of 3–4 months) wrt my motivation levels and success rates at holding it around my waist. Well, after months of practice I can successfully hold the hoop for ~40 seconds around my waist now. yay!
10. With things opening up this year, I did join a Zumba class as well for a month. It was a great experience but I felt like: too much jumping it is but fun. 😉

Let me know in the comments below what was interesting for you in the last two years?

PS: I understand the hardships that we all have gone through because of the pandemic. This is a tough time for all humans but we need to keep moving forward.