A COUPLE OF THINGS

VIRAT SINGH RANA, 30 Mechanical engineer, Jaipur

“IMMEDIATELY [AFTER LOSING MY JOB], I BEGAN APPLYING AND HAD A FEW INTERVIEWS LINED UP FOR APRIL. THE LOCKDOWN ENDED ANY HOPE...”

Rana, who is originally from Shahpur in Himachal Pradesh, landed a job immediately after completing his BTech degree in mechanical engineering from Lovely Professional Univerity in Jalandhar in 2011. In 2017, a month before his marriage to Hema Tanwar, a textile designer from Jaipur, he got a dream job with DCM Engineering in Ropar, Punjab, where he was project engineer for casting engines and developing technology for clients such as Toyota, Maruti Suzuki and Eicher Motors. The couple lived 600 km apart, but were planning to buy a home when recession in the auto sector cost Rana his job last December.

“Almost immediately, I began applying for jobs and had a few interviews lined up for April. Then, the Covid-19 lockdown ended any hope for a job,” he says. But not one to be easily disheartened, Rana saw the layoff period as an opportunity to spend time with his wife, and shifted base to Jaipur. He has also begun preparing for the Himachal Pradesh civil services examination and picked up books on economics, a subject he always wanted to study but could not before. After a few weeks of WFH, his wife has resumed going to work for a local textile firm, which has slashed her salary by 40 per cent.

But the couple is determined not to let Covid get them down. Rana has begun learning the guitar; he and Hema often sing together. They also go out cycling. “I love cycling since the roads have less traffic these days,” says Rana. He also loves cooking Himachali food. “It took me a while, but I can make Colocasia leaf rolls well now,” he says.