Tipped to be an ‘extraordinary’ situation across the world, Covid-19 lockdown is slowly becoming a way of life for people and is giving many of them food for thought to have a re-look at ‘essentials’ in life.

The tiny hill state of Himachal Pradesh is no exception.

Even as the people living in the tight urban areas in the rural state of Himachal are missing their spacious homes back in villages, which, they said, could have offered them much more relaxation in this compulsory break, the lockdown has certainly made them realise what they always missed in the busy life.

The lockdown and curfew in Himachal was earlier imposed from 24 March to 14 April and has now been extended to 3 May.

“It has restricted movement, but has done many other good things at home.  Both my kids, who were working outside at separate places, are with us after a long gap and we all spend quality time together inside home, rebuilding bonds which we had lost for lack of time,” said PK Chauhan, an apple orchardist from Shimla.

“It gets boring sometimes, but the lockdown has given me a chance to have healthy meals on time and do some exercise. In routine, I didn’t bother about diet and had lost that discipline of eating healthy in rush against time,” said Dr Maninder Jeet Kaur, scientist with Himalayan Research Group (HRG) here. She said she would love to keep this routine even after the lockdown.

SK Sharma, a local shop keeper, said for the first time he has realised how difficult it was for his wife to do the entire work at home all by herself in the joint family. “I lend her a helping hand at home now and probably, I wish to carry on like this later also,” he added.

While any others find that lockdown has given them time to go back to their hobbies like music, reading and cooking, some other professionals are learning to work from home, which they said, is building their capacity to work in any situation.

The technology no doubt has helped people stay creative on social media and connect with friends. “I was always critical of it earlier. Now I realise that connectivity on Facebook and WhatsApp with friends and relatives at distant places gives me a feeling of togetherness in isolation,” said Meena Sharma, an architect.

Incidentally, the lockdown has also come as a ‘blessing in disguise’ for tipplers who always wanted to get rid of alcohol, but never found such an ‘enabling environment’.