Shutterbug's Blog

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

Category Archives: Lockdown Dairies


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Lockdown Dairies – 26 Apr 20: Zoom chat with schoolmates, Supermarkets sealed in Hyderabad during lockdown, Broadband is down, my glasses are repaired and back , kitchen cleanup , spoilt milk as fertilizer.

Sunday has finally arrived. Had a hectic 6 day week working from home. Earlier , I would see my brother and several others working in IT companies working from home , all the time with ear phones , attending meetings, sitting in front of the laptop or moving around with phone and ear phones plugged in ….. i wasn’t able to understand and appreciate the way they work….it is my turn now and it is definitely very strenuous, been doing exactly what the IT folks have been doing . Learnt that I have to be much more attentive during these sessions and somehow this style of working seems to be more productive. Everyone from our department seems very enthusiastic and working for longer hours.

Came across a news item about a couple of Supermarkets in Hyderabad being sealed for flouting social distancing norms. Either too crowded and no insistence on wearing a mask. This is a good move by the police.

My schoolmates decided to meet on Zoom this morning and it was fun. However , most seem to be having Internet issues, including me 🙂 . Had to log out after a while.

My Broadband is down since yesterday and the service personnel told us that nothing can be done till Monday. Had been using my Mobile Data connection to manage work yesterday. My data plan is limited hence did not want to use it for WebEx through the web. I joined the meeting through a voice call and managed quite well.

Yayy, my reading glasses are back after being repaired !! Thanks to the owner of the organic store whom I know since two years. She took my glasses when she had come for delivering veggies few days ago, she has the permission, they were picked by the optician who is close to her store, repaired and handed over to her after couple of days , and she brought them to me today when she came to deliver veggies . The lockdown has made it very difficult for getting anything repaired.

Spent some time cleaning the kitchen. Feeling good now. I always try to do my best to cleanup after cooking but never do a good job. Have to be more organized. Got so used to the maid/cook doing the cleanup 🙂

There was some leftover milk last night that i didn’t refrigerate. Obviously got spoilt by morning. I had this thought whether it can be used for plants as a fertilizer. I looked up some youtube videos and did find a few where spoilt milk was diluted and given to plants. This is a good source of calcium for the plants which is an important nutrient that plants require. Yellowing of leaves is caused due to calcium deficiency. I diluted the milk with water and gave it to my plants. There are a few plants with yellow leaves.

These days I have been experimenting with different organic fertilizers and this is one of them :). I am discovering a lot about growing plants these days .

Hearing good reviews from family and friends about this Telugu movie Bheeshma. Was unable to watch today. Looking forward to the holiday on 1 May.

~Let Go~


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Lockdown Dairies – 25 Apr 20 : Harvesting greens in my little garden , Aloo fry by my Son , my current diet

For the first time ,my Son is showing some interest in cooking ….may not have happened if not for COVID-19 …hmmm…anyway good for him.

His Maternal aunt ie my sister sent photos of her daughter ie my niece, cooking in the kitchen..my niece then challenged her cousin ie my Son to prepare some dish and post pics on the family whatsapp group. So my son chose Aloo fry.

I did help him here and there but 75% effort was put by him.

It was time to harvest some greens in my little garden . Here they are –

Two types of Amaranthus varieties.

The lockdown is helping me spend some quality time in gardening . I actually make sure I spend some time with my plants twice a day . I sprayed some Neem oil on the plants this evening. Leaf miner is one problem …also too many ants sucking on the flowers and little ridge gourds. Yet to find a good solution for this problem.

Coming to my diet…I have been following the diet prescribed by an organisation called ‘Natural Lifestyle’. The diet consists of only plant based food with lots of juices, fruits, raw vegetables and cereal only once a day. So far so good and all the parameters in my recent blood reports are normal. And so I have decided to continue this diet. I do cheat once a week :).

Will write more on this diet and lifestyle soon.


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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 – 20 Apr 20 : Summer showers / Mango showers / April showers

Lockdown in Telangana state has been extended upto 7 May 20.

Our CM is being praised for taking good care of migrant labour ,coming from various parts of the country, who are working in construction sites in Hyderabad. The Municipal corporation is hosting the labourers in Function Halls and empty buildings and providing food and Television for their entertainment.

It is peak of Summer here in India but for some reason the weather is much cooler and we don’t really feel the need for switching on the A/C. There are drizzles and sudden gusts of wind during the evenings . Today is  one such day. Whenever it is windy ,my neighbours Mango tree showers one or two mangoes in our plot :). The tree has branches over our plot and whatever grows on these branches belongs to us :p

Today’s showers gave me four mangoes.

They are a bit bruised but are good for making dal or instant chutney.

Had a busy WFH day today. Our Head office is collecting all WFH activities being done by all the branches of our company situated all over India. Though we are a manufacturing company the IT department is working full time though all manufacturing is stopped. For the first time some of us are working from home. All those working from home are highly enthusiastic and the productivity is much higher too 🙂

I don’t need to water my plants today. Went and had a look at how they were doing. They seem very happy in the cool weather :).

~Sarvesham Poornam Bhavathu~