Since the lockdown, all my teams are connecting on Zoom calls and work is being done remotely. We are managing to meet our deadlines, and are in constant touch with all buyers and clients. Though production has halted, we are working on the next two seasons’ collections.Online working is new for us designers because we rely a lot on the traditional system of working physically as a team and sharing ideas in person. This crisis taught us to reinvent ourselves.
Family time suddenly seems to be in abundance. We are grateful to have our kids back home from the US, as their universities closed campus for the semester and moved classes online. I live with my twin boys, husband, mother-in-law and two beautiful golden retrievers. We have live-in help and their children, who are an extension of the family.
When the boys arrived from the US, which was much before the lockdown happened, they insisted on placing themselves in self-quarantine for the next 15 days. We were allowed to see them and their meals were left outside their respective rooms. We saw them only on Day 16 when they were sure they were absolutely fit and fine.
Since we are all together now, my husband and I are doing many activities with the boys, which we haven’t had the time or luxury for, in many years. We play board games, cook meals, workout, watch Netflix and sometimes even sprint together… a rarity with our hectic lives. My mother-in-law too is spending ample time with us.
We sanitise the whole house every alternate day. Each room and surface is cleaned with disinfectants. No one is allowed to leave or enter the premises, except those living here. One of us goes out every few days to get the basic necessities like vegetables and milk, etc., or we have them delivered to us when possible. The person who goes out wears a mask, gloves and carries a sanitiser. If anything is delivered, it is left outdoor overnight and then brought into the house only after a thorough cleaning.
We have been very strict about maintaining hygiene and isolation for everyone’s safety.I am experimenting with cooking, which is a first for me. This time I decided to finally take it head-on, not caring about the outcome. It’s been therapeutic and energising. My boys are most generous and happy to try all my experiments, some are successful and some, disasters.
I am also learning kickboxing with my trainer on Skype religiously every single day and seem to be building more muscle than I have had in years! Some joyous perks of the lockdown I guess.
A lot of plans, including work-related travel, shipments, board meetings, client meetings, birthday celebrations for my mother and more, got cancelled. But lockdown has given me an opportunity to pause, introspect, learn and reinvent. I have found time to meditate, look inwards, exercise, and spend time with my family. I have made a TO-LIVE list! Life is too short to plan ahead, so let us live today to the fullest!
Fashion designer Payal Jain, 48, spoke to Nikita Sharma