When life gave them a lockdown,they made it lively!
Before the pandemic hit, Sushil Kumar Jain didn’t know what a dull day felt like. Multiple professional commitments and a buzzing social life always kept the 57-year-old on the run.
Jain is the president of the Sector-18 market association, general secretary of the Noida Jewellers Welfare Association, Convener Delhi/ NCR of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), and also a doting father and husband.
With the lockdown, Jain was confined at home with wife Sandhya, sons Mohak (28) and Samyak Jain (20) and their pup Joe. “It was an unprecedented situation. People were getting anxious. But I decided to not let it affect our sanity. A good way to fight the gloom and panic that the pandemic brought was to remain connected with our extended family,” says Jain.
The family decided to celebrate every special moment of life together, without compromising on Covid-19 safety protocols.
Jain’s love for technology came in handy and he planned exciting virtual gettogethers on every key occasion. Dressing up and enjoying some great food made these celebrations unique and exciting. “In June and July, we celebrated the first anniversary of our daughter’s engagement and marriage respectively. We had a fantastic virtual celebration on my birthday as well. Be it my nephew in Bangalore or my brother’s family in Sikandarabad, Uttar Pradesh, everyone attended it,” shares Jain.
Their parties turned out to be super fun. “We sang, danced and even played virtual games. For my daughter’s first anniversary, we put together a quiz for the couple. It had questions related to their life events, funny moments etc. Family members took turns to ask the questions. The responses were hilarious,” says Jain.
For each virtual function, the participating families cooked themselves special dishes and also baked cakes. “We cut our cakes together and devoured them on the video call itself,” says Jain.
On Rakhshabandhan recently, Jain’s daughter Palak and son-in-law Sagar visited their house while all other relatives once again connected virtually to celebrate the occasion.
With some imagination, you can always turn around adversity, isn’t it?