The Lockdown Journey, Mumbai, India, 2020

As the virus news spread across the county in march 2020, like many others, i had much awaited plans of travel for work, so i was busy roaming the streets of old Bombay and making images, keeping my eyes trained. As my travel date was nearing, so was the lockdown, I guess when subjects suddenly started appearing with masks on and the streets started becoming secluded I should have guessed. I still shot as I found something peculiar and connecting with these subjects, as like me even though they were still going on with their work, a mask was an added responsibility to take care of oneself and of the surroundings too. Suddenly a year and a half's wait to travel ended in being locked down in the house. I took it as an extension of my mind's training and acceptance of what is as it was globally in the best interest of humanity. As humans we have great efficiency to adapt. We can mould ourselves in any given situation, given the fact that life is the most precious thing gifted to humanity so it should be taken care of above all. So the lockdown life began within the house, for some one it was one room, for some two or three BHK and for some it was a bungalow. It was a relative parameter for everyone still everyone felt locked down in the beginning and eventually settled in their parameters, some were alone and some had a group , so activities accordingly fell in place for each one of them. Sadhguru came into the lives of people every evening for psychological and spiritual support, something that was a dire need as the lockdown happened. I am sure as we pass by the covid era, spirituality and yoga will be engraved in people as a defence mechanism for future unpredictable happenings. Discipline and silence became a way of life, a set format was built from wearing gloves to buying veggies, to washing and drying them. The vegetable bag got it's fixed position in the balcony, vegetables got a bit more relaxed space to dry after a luxurious bath, clubbed with the silence and beauty of the sky which treated one with different patterns every day. Suddenly a guard's duty became beautiful, because one could see that he had time to sit and contemplate and adore the beauty of nature everyday. Sitting ideal became the most fantastic thing for humans to observe life and it's magnificence. Alongside that, a homemaker became a center of my attention, the cycle never stops for her, we go out and seek appreciation through the rewards that our work gives, she is selfless and a multitasker, a leader, a lover, a teacher, a visionary , a creator, she blooms on our faces and in every activity that happens in the house as it is her world, she is the essence and the balancing act as well. Though things have slowed down by a year for everyone on a personal and a professional front, some have lost their loved ones and their lives will not be the same again, for some work has doubled up immensely and they are still catching pace with it, for some their duties have become much more than their existence, it has become their zeal for life, for some their little one are opening a new chapter of love and life in their world, many have lost their jobs, many will be starting fresh with their careers. Life's meaning will be relative for everyone but still we will all have lives which will be one constant factor binding as all together.