For wrong reason, but happy to be home
With all sporting events suspended, and most training centres and national camps shut, what are athletes doing with their forced leisure time? Everyday a top athlete will talk about her or his experience of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. This is Sourav Ganguly, former captain of the Indian cricket team and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Nobody among us has experienced anything of this sort. What we are going through right now is new, so we just have to be patient, remain safe and hope that it will pass.
In West Bengal, the lockdown began on Monday. This is new for our state but some of the other states have been locked down for longer. And of course, virtually the whole world has come to a standstill. All we can do is pray everything will get back on track.
I have an uncle, who is 80 years old, and an aunt who live in the UK. I am worried for them. They are at home and being very careful. The UK has always been like my second home and it is very sad to see that things are very bad over there too.
I usually have to travel a lot for work, and it is not easy to travel as frequently as I do. So, in a way, I am happy to be at home. I get some time for myself, which I don’t mind. Staying at home is generally a good thing, but this time it is not for the right reason.
It has been great to spend time with my family though. Everyone in my family is at home; my daughter Sana too. She has no choice but to be at home. She just finished her ISC exams, so she has been indoors for a long period of time now. She went out for a few days before things got really bad to meet her friends. But now she has to be at home again.
Yes, the Covid-19 pandemic has made life challenging for everyone. Everyday is a challenge. But again, that’s what life is. The streets of Kolkata are deserted. There is not a soul on the roads. But that is the case everywhere.
To bide my time I try to handle my social media accounts myself, as much as I can. Although, to be honest, I am not great with technology. But at the end of the day, what is posted is going under my name. So it has to be controlled by me. I tend to be quite careful.
Another way to spend this time is to maintain a routine and workout everyday. I have a gym at home, so that routine hasn’t changed much. I workout for about an hour or so, whenever I get the time during the day. For five days a week.
Do I spend time watching old footage of my playing days? The simple answer is no. I don’t play anymore, so I watch movies on Netflix. It is easy to make some time to watch movies anytime in the day. For most of us, life has come to a halt. But unfortunately, this pandemic has just begun and will go on for a while. My advice to all our cricketers and sportspersons would be to stay home and be safe. Take the advice of the doctors, and listen to what the government has to say.
Eventually, we will all come out this. It’s only a matter of when.