Lockdown Diaries

Our series of articles all about how people are making the best of the situations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Feeling Zoomed Out? – Advice for the fatigued

Do you remember when a videoconference was an infrequent occurrence - something special that you looked forward to? Whilst being locked down, video-calling gave us a way to see each other, even when we couldn't be with each other. The novelty wears thin My first few months of the pandemic were filled with virtual business meetings, virtual learning, virtual happy hour, and...

Lockdown Diaries: My extended vacation and a beautiful entrapment in Holland

It was in November last year, when we decided to visit Europe. We wanted to cover about seven European nations. As our journey date was approaching, an unprecedented global crisis was unfolding fast. Covid-19 or Coronavirus, has taken the world by surprise. The unpreparedness of countries to deal with this virus has been exposed at various stages. We were also quite...

Lockdown Diaries: Reflections In The Wake of COVID-19

Most of us Indians across the globe perhaps share a similar story at this juncture. We are in the same boat, stranded mentally if not physically. For those of us whose families are far away in India, the question that has inevitably crossed our minds is: “When will we get to go home next?” It's my 83rd day today,...

Not Namaste Trump but Phir Milengey: H-1B visas suspended, what now?

It looked like things were getting as close as could be between US President Donald Trump and Narendra Modi but a worldwide pandemic and a scourge of resulting unemployment in the States has put a spanner in the works of ‘Namaste Trump’, as an executive order signed this past week will suspend new visas for foreign workers, including the...

Kaushalya UK’s upcoming project will share stories to empower and uplift women around the world

An upcoming anthology of women titled ‘The New Woman’ - a project lead by Ritu Sharma, is a collection of 34 stories of women who have undergone transformation through adversity, spread across five continents,. The book will be launched on 27 July. Under the umbrella of Ritu's organisation Kaushalya UK, the anthology will showcase "women who have been broken by...

Lockdown Diaries: Abhishek Buddhadev seizes the lockdown as an opportunity, self-isolation as power of growth

Life always gives us the opportunity to improve ourselves, raise our voice, head, and self-esteem to overcome negativity. I was a bullied kid in school and lost the confidence to live life, but I recall the quote of "Do or Die". It's better to Do something else, as I already felt the situation of Dying in my depression. I started...

KASHISH 2020: Atanu Mukherjee’s short ‘Wig’ compels us to think about existence, struggle, individuality, gender

WIG http://mumbaiqueerfest.com/indian-masala-mix-ii/  26 min / 2019 / Narrative Short / India Dir: Atanu Mukherjee Producer: Pooja Gupte (Humaramovie and Easel) KASHISH 2020 Virtual, the 11th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer FilmFestival, South Asia's biggest LGBTQIA+ film festival will run from July 22nd - July 30th screening 157 films from 42 countries. You can register to attend the festival from anywhere in the world. Check...

Lockdown Diaries: Restauranteur Chinten Pandya supports NHS workers and the needy with free Indian meals

Chinten Pandya, a civil engineer and restaurant owner of Desi Dhaba, had to close his businesses following the government's guidelines but he and his wife Mona have never been busier. They are using his Feb-launched restaurant to feed hundreds of NHS workers, the vulnerable and needy in the community. The Wembley-based Director of Apna Construction Ltd. has turned the restaurant...

Rhona Tasmia Rabbani – The bright, young FedEx-pert of the APAC region

People are the core of any business and those who are in charge of driving the people policies, hiring, development and engagement of talents, are the gatekeepers to that resource. Meet Rhona Tasmia Rabbani, the Managing Director of Talent & Learning for FedEx Express in the Asia Pacific region, one of the youngest directors in the region of this...

KASHISH 2021 rescheduled to August due to the pandemic

The 12th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQIA+ film festival which was to be held online in May has been rescheduled from August 19th to September 5th 2021 owing to the current situation of the pandemic in the country and across the world. In a statement released recently the organizers of the film festival said “considering the...