Shutterbug's Blog

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

Category Archives: Work from Home


by Leave a comment

Lock-Down Dairies – 14 Mar 20 : Hubby is back to work , Vegetables to be sown in May, Plastic shields inside cabs

Hubby is back to work today after almost 50 days of social distancing. While getting ready to go to work and wearing socks and shoes he said , ‘I feel like a school kid going to school after Summer vacation’ 🙂 .

I have a few emply containers now and ready to sow some seeds. I googled to find out which seeds are best sown in May and found that Parwal , colocasia, ginger, turmeric, onion, capsicum, okra, brinjal, chilli, coriander are to be sown now.

I had planted 4 colocasia roots in the beginning of May unknowingly and two of them are growing.

Colocasia

I sowed chilli seeds last month and transplanted them around the last week of April. They are growing too. I have capsicum seeds and sowed them today.

I too have to start going to work from 18 May onwards. I called my Ayurveda Doctor to ask him for his advise, as I depend on a Driver. He asked me questions like , where does he stay , whether he stays in a slum or a proper house, whether he has a separate bath/toilet . Said I should give him Tinaspora cordifolia and zincovit . That I should keep the car windows open , if possible use a full face cover , to use a plastic shield between the front and back seat of the car, to spray sanitizer on this cover frequently.

I know one vendor who is supplying Face shields and I am checking if he can give me a few. He is usually supplying to Hospitals and Health workers.

The plastic shield in the car is something that I was hearing for the first time.I assumed that a lot of people in Mumbai are already using these as the number of C19 cases in Mumbai is very high. Doctor lives in Mumbai. I looked up on the Internet to check for some pictures as to how these plastic shields are fixed and came across very few videos that too only from China. These are being widely used by Cab drivers.

A thick plastic sheet fixed between the front seats and back seats

Got an idea as to how to fix these shields . I now have to get hold of a two sided tape and a big thick plastic sheet. Seems like a big project. But I like the idea. Very useful for people like me who are dependant on a driver to move around. Surely the Drivers too would prefer to be safe and this is a great way.

Hopefully these plastic shields will soon be available in the market.

Anything and everything to be safe.

Take Care folks !!


by Leave a comment

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.


by Leave a comment

Lock-Down Dairies – 4 May 20 : reopening of our company operations and preparing for a new way of living

A circular was issued by our HR department regarding starting of operations by our company from tomorrow.

A lot of confusion initially as to who should get back to work as a lot of employees live in Red zones and containment zones and also live very far off from the office.

There will be 2 shifts of 5 hours each and not more than 50% in each shift. A roster was prepared and sent by the Heads of Department to all their team .

Another circular also sent to all regarding sending a request for approval for working from home in case the employee has any issues.

I stay 15 km from my place of work , I use personal transport and my driver to is now in his village and I dont drive and my place is also in GHMC limits whereas my Office is not in GHMC limits. Hence, I applied for WFH. Yet to receive a confirmation approving my request from my HOD.

The central government has imposed lockdown till 17 May 20 ,whereas the State Government upto 7 May 20.

Got to wait till tomorrow for the state cabinet to decide on the future of the lockdown.

Called my driver to know how he and his family were doing and also to hint to him that my office is starting.

All of us have to mentally start preparing for a new lifestyle. Just when we all are getting used to the present circumstances we now have to start thinking of new way of life :

~ Sarve janaja sukhino bhavanthu ~


by Leave a comment

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~