The semester (2020-2021)

(The Author of this piece, Jennfly (pen name) is one of our students who has portrayed her experiences throughout the first year when the Covid-Pandemic hit India at its worse. Like many other students, she had to go through new changes, not only from the academic point of view but also from other spheres of life. This is a humble effort to pen down the thoughts around pandemic from a student’s perspective)

Jennfly writes~

I remember when the pandemic was only beginning. I saw a long comfortable vacation coming my way. I was moving away from the city I had known for 3 years. Moving away from a house, a home, and the one I suppose I miss the most- friends (i.e., other human beings in case you forgot those exist anymore). When it was all in the midst of being a serious threat to human kind, I was busy watching gossip girl at 3 am in my hotel room, patiently waiting to get admission in a school and begin a whole new journey to being popular once more. Yeah, I was that confident my life was gonna change. Guess what? IT DID.

While most people were finding it difficult to deal with the new restrictions full of masks and lockdowns, I was going through a whole other experience. From dreams of becoming popular in school and breaking a leg on teacher’s day performances, my dreams now became limited to even just studying at my new school for once. From the way we’ve been talking one would think I am the most social person of all, with a charm that strikes all. I wish! I just happen to be that kid who loves being part of the school band and dancing in front of a cool crowd. And I can decently do these activities; hence I was hoping to make an introduction through these. It had significantly helped me make friends previously. All of these hopes went down the drain with a heck lot of fatigue as the school year went on and all the online classes became no more than a pain in the neck.

Before I lose myself in the experiences of last year, wait, you didn’t think I was talking about this year, did you? I know how familiar all of this sounds; after all, it is happening again! While last year was full of letdowns and a whole lot of loneliness, it had its own way of making things better. For instance, the pollution levels significantly dropped as we hid behind closed doors and videos of monkeys swimming in hotel pools went viral. Oh! I forgot we were talking about the positive changes for us humans. Well, I ain’t going to talk a lot about that. As a conclusion for that topic, it basically brought families closer together as we were all stuffed into our homes with each other and no one else. Bonds deepened, members of the family finally began contributing to the household!

But, that’s basically general information. What would be the point if I didn’t share something a little different, something a bit more personal? So to begin with, I spent a lot of time dancing! I became more active on my YouTube channel (no it’s not that popular at all, but I love being a creator). I released a ton of content and gained around 200 subs last year (*sarcastic note- wow man BIG ACHIEVEMENT). For me it truly meant a lot. Then to follow up, as the world digitalized and everything became online, my music exams did too! The syllabus was reduced and I no longer had to deal with the anxiety of the tense atmosphere of an exam room and gave an amazing performance from the comfort of my home. My marks which came up in the merits (the 80s), showed me what I had refused to believe until then, we can learn a ton lot through online classes too!

Not only did I learn through online classes, I made bonds. The classes were not only informatively wholesome but there were also the fun interactions that lead to the building of a healthy student-teacher bond that many a time I couldn’t even form with teachers in person.

Moving along, I truly feel the most confusing part of last semester was the BOARDS. Understatement of the academic year 2020-2021, I know, it was probably the most confusing part for most of us board students, and for the 12 graders, it still continues to be.

Truth is, I was only hurt when the boards were canceled because I had chosen to stall studying’ for the pegboards. Again, I know! Came back to hit me in the face real hard. But in the end, I passed nearly touching the nineties despite my laziness, and most of al1, I made to the end of the session 2020-2021!

Following this, we currently stand in the present. Where I am yet to be admitted in the 11th grade, everything is once again under lockdown, and despite everything, I’m still looking forward to the (hopefully) offline adventures the year 2021 has in store for me.

It will be kind of difficult if the store stayed in lockdown though.

But, we’ll all make it through it… for now please stay home, use sanitizers and masks and maintain social distance. Continue communicating with friends and family digitally, at the same time try to be as productive as possible. Maintain a balance, and don’t forget, “this is all too new” is no longer an excuse. So let’s get back to working hard because it is what it is but you’re still alive and healthy. Keep it that way and add achievements to it, not more complaints!