Life in 4 walls

 Life in 4 Walls

Getting work from home was a luxury some time ago. People longed for it and now they don’t want it any longer.

This is an analysis of a commoner’s life in 4 walls with an advent of uncommon situation.

Astha joined an organization in Sales. She also had a 3 years old kid while joining. After a year, when she was able to prove her credibility, she was granted to work from home. This work from home included alternative week travel to manage client meetings at different locations. Considering the trade-off of few days on travel with quality time for kid every day, she agreed.

People envied saying, How lucky you are – you need not to be in traffic, you need not to face your boss daily, you can watch movie or rest whenever you want, you can manage all you emergencies without taking leave, Why are you not picking calls at times – you are just at home, if you are good at communication – you can get any lenience etc.

The irony - As usual, Astha was up by 5:00 am to start the day. After preparing breakfast, lunch, feeding son, sending off son to school and so on, she used to plug in ear phones and open system by 8:30 am. The moment she sent a reply to first mail, she used to get call from boss to plan the day. Wearing ear phones all the time, hardly getting time to sip a cup of tea most of the days, the lunch hour tickled tummy. With a little greed of having lunch with son, she waited till 2:30 pm to feed him and have it together. But, that’s a mistake again as 2:30 pm is post lunch time and you have mails or calls pouring in. So, again with earphone in ears, spoon in one hand and one hand on laptop, shushing the son, she fed and ate. Post that, she had to put the son to sleep to continue working. That was time, she took some time off, lied on bed as the son would sleep only if there is complete silence. He would fall asleep in no time allowing her to slog till 6:00 pm. At that time, her husband came home and mostly she did shut her system off.

Now, this is a situation in contrast where everyone is working from home and complaining of boredom or excessive work. Astha has finally got some time off for her as all her client offices are not functional due to the Corona Virus circumstance. No one wants to do a new investment. All she could do is management of basic sales operations and has plenty of time for her. But, like everyone else, she also prays to step out of 4 walls and greet the world again.

- Saranya