Like most of us, Shraddha Srinath too is feeling a sense of déja vu with the second wave of the pandemic. With a lockdown in place again, Shraddha’s daily activities include yoga classes and house chores.
“I have been eating healthy and keeping myself active. I am also watching one movie a day, playing board games, and doing the same things I did last year at this time,” Shraddha tells CE.
On the work front, the actor had to postpone shooting for a Telugu project. She says there have been no calls for other projects because of the high levels of uncertainty these days.
“The entire industry has come to a standstill. There is nothing happening in Sandalwood and Tollywood,” she says. The ongoing health crisis has brought out a range of emotions for her, including frustration, angst and helplessness for the state of affairs. “It is tiring because there is no end,” she says.
So how has she been spending her time? The U-Turn heroine, who later went on to become popular in south Indian films, has been using social media in an attempt to help patients and caregivers get the help they need, right from her house in Bengaluru. Despite not liking Twitter, the Sandalwood star has been active on it.
“The platform is often filled with negativity. But I knew all the action was here so I decided to step in as well. If a message by me helps save even one life, I really must give it a shot,” she says.
The role comes with a lot of responsibility. “There are usually two kinds of requests; someone seeking a bed or oxygen, and someone else tweeting about availability of the same. The idea is to retweet both and have them connect,” says Shraddha, who is working alone on this.
“I verify resources and tweet about availability of beds, but within four hours, those beds are lapped up. So, I ensure the information is valid,” she adds.
Times like these have made many of us question things and Shraddha is no different. The actor says, “Sometimes I wonder what we celebrities are doing. We are just retweeting tweets. There are people out there who are on their toes, helping others with food or being on the frontline. But I feel like the whole country has come together knowing that the onus lies on them.”