It will be a month soon that the schools and offices and shops are closed owing to the Corona pandemic. Everyone has the same routine of getting up, having 3 meals a day, watching TV or surfing the internet, and sleeping. A few activities like baking, writing, reading, sketching, going for a short walk in the fresh air may be the activities for the few privileged ones. Still, for an average woman, it's just cooking, cleaning, and answering many questions. The man of the house is busy working on the home office model, and his help can hardly be anticipated in this new scenario.
Luckily on eBay, I found a woman selling 2 puzzles belonging to her daughter for meager prices. And she was staying very close to us too. I immediately messaged her and booked the puzzles. I picked them up the next day, and T and I were too excited. This puzzle was huge, it had 200 pieces, and T had never attempted such a big puzzle anytime. He had done one of 1000 pieces, but he also had an army of friends helping him out. T seemed nervous, and I had to make him understand that trying is important than being successful at doing anything in one go. I don't know how much he could really understand, but I sat down with him to do it. I was doing a puzzle for the first time in my life. I didn't know where to start, but T quickly arranged the pieces according to their colors, and we started doing it patiently. It took us around 3 hours to just do half of it, which is only 100 pieces. We decided to take a break and continue with it the next day. The following day after having breakfast, we again got busy completing it. Those parts that looked hard to end yesterday looked easy today and got completed faster than anticipated. It still took another 3 hours. There were a few pieces in between that we couldn't find, and they were looking like holes in the beautiful puzzle. We tried hard, but we couldn't find the right piece. T's friend came to say hello to him, and he quickly slid the right pieces into those 2 problem areas, and the puzzle was complete, and it looked beautiful. I realized two things from this activity:
1) If you come back to your problems at a later time, they don't seem that intimidating.
2) The intensity of the problem is different for different people, and a third person can often give you an insight or a perspective, which you sometimes lack.
The completed puzzle looked beautiful. We beamed at it, took pictures. We didn't have the heart to break it into the 200 pieces again!
I thanked that little boy and told him how we were struggling so much over these pieces and how he quickly helped us solve the puzzle! He didn't realize the depth of this, but I hope the boys understand at some point in life that life is all about putting the right pieces at the right place at the right time.
I had gone for a walk with my Brazilian friend one day (we are allowed to go in 2's for a walk still). And there I came across some plastic bags tied to the gate of a big bungalow. I was intrigued, and I stopped by to see what it was. Different toys were kept in the plastic bags, and kids were free to take them if they liked them. The E-Mail address of the couple who showed such a big heart was also written on a paper. People could write to them about which toy/game did they pick up and why. The responses of people were also publicized on the compound wall on a sheet of paper. I found this idea totally awesome. Kids getting bored at home who came for a walk that side got a lottery, and they returned home with a new toy. T was also eager to go there and pick up some stuff for himself. Almost all the toys were gone, and a few were remaining. He picked up a puzzle that had 24 parts and was excited like a small baby to come home and do it. We reached back with the bike in no time, and he immediately started doing the puzzle. In no time, he finished it and attempted to time the puzzle-solving too. As it was way beyond his age and very simple to do, he did it very fast. I realized that this could be something different that I can offer to him during these lockdown times. I searched for second-hand puzzles in the vicinity. The new puzzles were damn expensive, and ordering them online would have taken another 2 weeks to get delivered. He would have lost interest by then.
Luckily on eBay, I found a woman selling 2 puzzles belonging to her daughter for meager prices. And she was staying very close to us too. I immediately messaged her and booked the puzzles. I picked them up the next day, and T and I were too excited. This puzzle was huge, it had 200 pieces, and T had never attempted such a big puzzle anytime. He had done one of 1000 pieces, but he also had an army of friends helping him out. T seemed nervous, and I had to make him understand that trying is important than being successful at doing anything in one go. I don't know how much he could really understand, but I sat down with him to do it. I was doing a puzzle for the first time in my life. I didn't know where to start, but T quickly arranged the pieces according to their colors, and we started doing it patiently. It took us around 3 hours to just do half of it, which is only 100 pieces. We decided to take a break and continue with it the next day. The following day after having breakfast, we again got busy completing it. Those parts that looked hard to end yesterday looked easy today and got completed faster than anticipated. It still took another 3 hours. There were a few pieces in between that we couldn't find, and they were looking like holes in the beautiful puzzle. We tried hard, but we couldn't find the right piece. T's friend came to say hello to him, and he quickly slid the right pieces into those 2 problem areas, and the puzzle was complete, and it looked beautiful. I realized two things from this activity:
1) If you come back to your problems at a later time, they don't seem that intimidating.
2) The intensity of the problem is different for different people, and a third person can often give you an insight or a perspective, which you sometimes lack.
The completed puzzle looked beautiful. We beamed at it, took pictures. We didn't have the heart to break it into the 200 pieces again!
I thanked that little boy and told him how we were struggling so much over these pieces and how he quickly helped us solve the puzzle! He didn't realize the depth of this, but I hope the boys understand at some point in life that life is all about putting the right pieces at the right place at the right time.
One thing I am observing in these challenging times that in general people are becoming kinder and small things in life are bringing much joy.
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