Shutterbug's Blog

Living with Multiple Myeloma in Hyderabad , India . Random musings .

Category Archives: covid-19


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Lock-Down Dairies – 13 May 20 : Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Birthday, back to work from 18 May 20 ,Heart attacks /fear of COVID / frustration because of Lock-Down

13 May is Guruji’s Birthday. I heard about Art of Living in 2001 . Very soon came across a course being conducted by Art of living close to where I lived. I immediately jumped at the idea of attending this course. The 6 day ,3 hour sessions were excellent and definitely transformed me internally. I soon bought a lot of books which were all about the knowledge sessions including several question answer sessions . I enjoyed reading these books which helped me deal with day to day situations and also satisfied my spiritual quest to some extent. I also learnt Pranayama and Meditation which I had always been curious about.

All the knowledge, pranayama and Meditation helped me extensively during my diagnosis and treatment of Multiple Myeloma and continue to help me.

I am extremely grateful to Guruji for showing that spirituality is the solution for all problems in this world , for making me a strong person and giving me the courage to fight for my life.

Happy Birthday, Guruji !!

Received a circular from our HR department today regarding starting of operations for all employees from 18 May 20. Called my Driver and told him to come back from his village. Hardly any checks/restrictions by police these days. Namesake Lockdown. Mentally getting prepared for resuming work. Though there is an exception for those with health issues to work from home, I am planning to resume work.

A lot of cases of heart attacks these days. People who are hypertensive or have had heart surgeries/ angioplasty seem to be affected a lot by the media propaganda that they are in the high risk population ,resulting in heart attacks. Can’t really pin point but surely the scare is definitely having an impact is my guess. A lot of men are unable to stay idle at home and would be frustrated, unlike women who have become busier during the lockdown.


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Lock-Down Dairies – 12 May 20 : Passenger trains restarted, Migrants moving from cities to their towns/villages during Lockdown , My mint harvest, Containers/pots made from empty plastic rice bags.

Several passenger trains started towards various cities from Delhi. Several citizens are stuck in other cities/towns during the lockdown and with this step they have some hope that they will finally reach their hometowns and meet their families. There are strict thermal screening tests at the Railway Station. Some of the destinations may insist on the passengers being quarantined but that would be next to impossible. Most like passengers will be told to self quarantine at their home for 14 days.

Meanwhile the number of COVID positive cases are continuing to rise while the number of positive cases that are recovering are also rising.

Mr Modi has addressed the nation and encouraged all to go local and be vocal. He also stressed on being self reliant. There is no other option but to go local and all countries eventually will do the same. That we should go ahead with building the economy while taking all precautions.

A lot of Migrants also moving to their hometowns by whatever means they can. They are even walking hundreds of kilometers. Unfortunately some have even lost their lives on the way.

Decided to harvest Mint leaves from my tiny garden. The easiet greens to grow by a beginner who wants to grow food is Mint leaves. Can be grown in very small spaces and in containers too.

I also made a short video on my Mint harvest. Here is the link –

There was no more space in my tiny garden to sow any more seeds. There was no way to buy some containers/pots too as none of the plant nurseries or online sites were delivering these items. Looked around the home so I can reuse/recycle some stuff and convert into containers, and came across some plastic rice bags.

Containers made with empty rice bags

I had red soil , sand , some cocopeat and manure and quickly took help of hubby to fill these emptly rice bags with this stuff. Before putting the soil I made small holes at the bottom of the bags.

Very happy to see these Lockdown Container s :). Am yet to decide what I will be sowing in these.

I am continuing to work from home and experiencing the busiest days in my life 🙂 .

~ Om Shanti Shanti Shanti ~


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Lock-Down Dairies 1 May 20 : May day today, Movie ‘Bheeshma’ , harvesting Ponnaganti koora – leafy greens , uploading video on YouTube ‘Peanut chutney’ , Lockdown extended to 17 May 2

Today is a public holiday owing to ‘May Day’.

I decided to totally relax today and no work from home too.

Made my Mom’s Peanut Chutney recipe for breakfast today and uploaded the recording on YouTube. The twist in this recipe is the use of Raw Onions at the fag end of the process. Another special ingredient is the use of Coriander seeds/powder which gives a different flavour to the chutney. Also the taste and crunch of raw onion is yummy. Here is the link-

Watched the Telugu movie ‘Bheeshma’ this afternoon . A movie a about Organic farming vs Chemical based farming. A subject which is dear to me. Surely the movie didn’t have much impact on the audience as not many are able to appreciate the difference yet.

Time to harvest my leafy greens namely ‘Ponnaganti koora’ from my little garden . This plant grows easily on the edges of fields in Andhra Pradesh , Telangana , Karnataka ,Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka too. This plant is not usually grown as a proper crop. It is a perennial plant and doesn’t require any maintenance except for a lot of water. It is another healthy green like spinach.

Lockdown on India is again extended by 2 weeks ie from 4 May 20 to 17 May 20.

Don’t know yet if this will have any effect on the reopening of my company on the 4 May 20.

For the first time during Lockdown Indian Railways has arranged a special Train from Hyderabad to Jharkhand for 1200 Migrants. More such trains may be arranged from other parts of the country. Anyday , Home is home , whichever part of the world it is .

Indian Railways is doing a great job under the leadership of Mr Piyush Goyal. Lot of essential supplies like food, medicines, milk etc being transported across the country.

Had another great Meditation experience during the live session by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. During the question answer session after the Meditation he says that after one year all the pain and suffering because of COVID-19 will be gone and things will be normal again.


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Lockdown Dairies – 23 Apr 20 : A surprise visitor

It’s been exactly one month since the lockdown started in Telangana state.

Feels like ages , never been this busy in my life. I thought I would be able to watch a lot of movies but that is impossible. But I did manage to watch couple of movies on a public holiday.

Looking forward to the next public holiday comin up on 1 May 20.

Each morning,as soon as I wake up ,I open all the doors and windows . More so during summer. The cool morning breeze is the best part of Summer. It is very humid throughout the day but we have not yet switched on the A/C . Not so hot yet.

So this morning after opening all the doors and windows I went to the bedroom and came back to the hall almost immediately. I see a visitor happily eating the fruits on the dining table sitting on the table.

I was stunned for a moment and let it eat a few fruits before I slowly shooed it away. It was a medium sized one. I looked around to see if it’s family or friends were also around but didn’t find any. I then came out the main door and saw my neighbours , they were trying to tell me something. I told them what had happened and asked if they saw it enter and they said it climbed the Neem tree in my adjacent plot and jumped into our balcony. Thankfully it was not violent.

Later on i spent some time with my plants.

Here is click from this morning.

I liked the shadow and the green shade of the fern in the morning rays of the rising sun and so clicked this .

Wanted to spray Epsom salt liquid on my plants in the evening but had lots of WebEx meeting.Was unable to look at my plants this Evening 🙁

Had raw veggies for my dinner and then prepared dinner for the guys with their help.

Feeling very tired today. WFH is very demanding and I always thought otherwise. Meetings without much advance notice. Meetings late in the evenings. Unable to plan other activities at home. Hubby and son helping me a lot . They too were never used to doing all the work at home.But doing quite well now.

Don’t know what COVID is doing but heard on the Television that cases in Andhra Pradesh are increasing steeply. Came across a message where it said that India is in stage 3 and there is no stopping :(.

All the migrant labour in Mumbai are going back to their homes in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Sad to hear about a 12 year old boy succumbing when he almost reached his Village by walk from some other part of the country.

The only way out of this misery is to make use of the lockdown and get as fit as one can so we are prepared. Eat healthy , do some breathing exercises, exercise whatever way you can , meditate if possible. Have lots of fruits and vegetables.

I am gonna sleep early today.

~ Vasudhaiva kutumbakam ~


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Lockdown Dairies – 19 Apr 20 …it’s a Sunday !!Yummy Salad with beets, spinach , cranberries ,nuts for my breakfast .

Yayy it’s a Sunday !!

The only day during the week when I get an off from work. Usually this too is another busy day. A day to do some pending clean up , to cook something special for the family, talk to neighbours over the gate/compound wall , catchup with extended family and friends.

I have been spending sometime each morning and evening with my plants. Have very little place. Yesterday I harvested some spinach and shared the picture with some whatsapp friends . All were happy seeing fresh spinach and I got several suggestions as to what I should do with the spinach. These days everyone is experimenting with new varieties of cooking at home and sharing pics of their culinary skills all over social media . No one wants to order food from outside though very few options may be available.

This is the harvest 🙂

Dal with spinach and raw mango, salad with cranberries and walnuts , veggie omlette were some suggestions by friends. I finally decided to make a salad for my breakfast today using the tender spinach leaves that I harvested.

Here are the ingredients:

Veggies :

Chopped Beets , grated carrots, chopped tomatoes, roughly chopped spinach and lettuce, dried nuts, dried cranberries and slices of raw Coconut.

Salad dressing:

Lemon juice ,honey, salt, pepper and Olive oil.

Mix all the veggies in a bowl.

Mix all the ingredients to make salad dressing and pour over the veggies.

Your salad is ready to dig into.

You can add whatever veggies you like and have at home. Red/yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, microgreens , dates, any other dried nuts are some of the other options. You can also sprinkle a few pomogranate seeds, small pieces of pineapple etc.

Yummy salad is ready in a jiffy. This I my breakfast today and I enjoyed it thoroughly…. tummy is happy too.

I did share pics and videos of my preparation and got some compliments on my presentation and photography skills.

Also made Veg Biryani , Stuffed brinjal and Raita for lunch. Used store bought Biryani powder and the Biryani turned out just like the one we get in restaurants.

Used the recipe from Cookingshooking channel on YouTube. Link was shared to me by my son. I picked up the recipe for Stuffed Brinjal (gutti vankaya) from Hebbars channel on YouTube.

Both the dishes turned out just like those in the restaurants. Hubby and son helped me a lot and we enjoyed the whole process. I think the best part of this lockdown is that families are getting together and helping in all the household chores.

Had a great day and another busy day today

Situation in India is worsening day by day as people are not serious about staying at home. The counts are doubling every 6 days. Not enough testing being carried out and many asymptomatic people going around ,which is dangerous for the high risk population.

Hope people get serious.

~Sarveshaam shantir bhavathu~