Meet Ginny, I promised her I’ll take her to a new home very soon in January. Ginny is my little money plant, the one I bought when I was staying in a hostel in Bangalore. I had come to Bangalore after a year-long lockdown home back in Kerala. I had the plan to continue with the backpacking across India once the lockdowns end and borders open for smooth transit. But, then life happened! I decided to stay in Bangalore for another year aand this is the story of how things have been from then.
Instead of struggling with my freelance gigs, I decided to join a 9 to 5 job which was a well-thought and planned decision. I was spending the majority of my free time back then on cryptocurrency-related updates, markets, new coins, and blockchain-related “stuff”. So, I was sure to find a job in this space only and I ended up at one of India’s oldest crypto exchanges.
I started working in January and shifted to a new apartment in April, as promised to Ginny! She was not named Ginny back then, I liked the character Ginny from the show Ginny and Georgia and that’s how she got the name later on. I shifted to this empty new house with just her and I think that’s how our bonding got a little stronger. Well, the next few days, weeks, and now months have been a huge effort to make this new house my home. I didn’t know it was that tough.
Meet Genie in her new corner when we shifted, All happy with the sunshine :)
There were a few things that were always in my mind
- I'll live without plastic?
- I'll live sustainably without owning and hoarding things?
- I'll try to live a holistic life and use only natural products…
and the list was long, basically to incorporate all the good things I saw in the internet lifestyle videos.
The first few days, it was just a few things that were kept in the wardrobe and the kitchen cabinets. Very few. Like this kettle I had and all. There was a lot of space after that. It was a huge kitchen. I had my fairy lights at one corner so it made a cozy feeling in the evening. With all the emptiness, it echo-ey inside. It echoed while attending work calls or if someone speaks inside the house.
Slowly, I started buying the necessary items. First, a table and two chairs came. Gas connection to the kitchen, curtains, doormats, plates, water bottles…. places and corners were getting filled. With all these items coming in, I noticed how impossible it is to live without plastic. I mean, I had a pile of plastic covers to throw away every day. I now own way too many things if I want to just leave one day and travel. It was always easy to see different ideologies for holistic living and zero waste lifestyle but pretty hard to implement. It was a pretty good exercise and learning experience.
I wanted to have more plants in the house and slowly I got one palm and a few flowering plants. I loved these plants that I don’t really know the name of, they had a pale violet colour and looked so beautiful in the nursery. Along with it I got another pink flower too. I introduced all of them to Ginny, her new friends! Unfortunately, they started getting dried up day by day. Both the flowering plants dried completely within the pot the nursery gave itself. The palm leaves also dry from the end no matter how much I water or not water it. After all, taking care of plants is not as easy as it seems I guess.
There were huge changes to lifestyle also. I now sat down for more than 90% of the time in the day for work and everything else. There was little to no movement the entire day and without even knowing I was fluffing up. Oh, there was one more thing. I realized I don’t know how to cook. Yup, when I was living alone, I used to cook for myself which was generally an omelet or a vegetable mixed rice.
In Banglore, I got this friend who cooks so well. it was after eating the food they prepare I realized what it means to really “cook”. I mean, it was never in my mind. So, I once made a dish and they gave great feedback asking me to never cook again! After a lot of trials with many different things, I completely agree with that and there started our food delivery days.
For the majority of the days, we either ate outside or ordered food home. I started fluffing up and my cabin was piled up with plastic boxes. You see, I tried my best to re-use the plastic that was coming in! In some ways, I felt guilty of using all this plastic but there were hardly any other options—well, any financially sustainable options.
It was a normal day and I was all ready to go out for dinner after a busy day at work. I turned back to say something to my boyfriend and there I was on the ground. My knee twisted and I was crying thinking I am dying. it was painful, scary, and unexpected. I was crying thinking I won’t be able to walk again. I never had any fracture in my life and experiencing something this intense was scary!
It was a sudden rush to the hospital in tears and few scans of the knee. Turns out it was a normal reminder of me getting old now and a chance of ligament tear. That day I finally realized I have gained a lot of weight. It was shocking to see when that "a lot" translated to 10 Kgs on a machine! There were other health problems that came after moving to Banglore and I started seeing the doctor for them but this was a true eye-opener. Something that told me to look after myself first and all the other works comes later.
A month of rest and the only view I had was through my window!
That was the start of more vegetables more movements time and getting shit together. It’s so easy to pile up things, keep adding, keep eating… but so hard to get rid of things and habits. I was in knee braces restricted to the couch. With all the travel dreams in doubt, that was a wake-up call to make use of every free time not stressing out about the work. It was so easy to give in to that culture too and getting out is also a process that I am working on now.
It’s been almost three months since this happened and I’m walking and going places carefully now. We had a ride to a place called Sakleshpur in September. I truly appreciated that trip breathing fresh air after a long time and now I'm actively finding more time to start writing again, see places and check social media too outside of work! Coming up with the Sakleshpur blog soon and I hope you’re doing well!
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