Recently out of his eight-month long detention, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah has offered some tips on surviving the three-week long curfew to contain COVID-19, from “months of experience at his disposal.”

Taking to Twitter Abdullah shared his experience from the time he spent under detention at Hari Niwas Sub-Jail in Srinagar since August 5, 2019 when the Central government abrogated Article 370.

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Abdullah’s release came at a time when the entire nation and many parts of the world are under quarantine due to the deadly Coronavirus pandemic  which has claimed more than 22,000 lives worldwide.

“On a lighter note if anyone wants tips on surviving quarantine or a lock down I have months of experience at my disposal, perhaps a blog is in order,” tweeted Abdullah on the day he was released.

The response to the tweet has encouraged me to share a bit of my own experience. It will probably sound rather self evident but it really helped me over the months of solitary detention. I’ll keep adding tweets to this thread as things come to mind so keep checking back. 2/n

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 25, 2020

He then went on to share his routine during detention at Hari Niwas and urged people to stick to a routine and avoid the lazy sit-ins or such indulgences. Omar, who was a student at boarding school, tried to follow the same disciplined routine of having meals at fixed time.

“Firstly establish a routine & try to stick to it. In all the months I was in HNSJ (Hari Niwas Sub-Jail) I stuck to a routine as though it were carved in stone. The routine gave me a sense of purpose & stopped me feeling aimless or lost.”

I woke up & went to bed around the same time EVERY DAY. No lazy Sunday morning lie ins for me. Get up & get ready. Having no where to go is no reason to spend all day in your nightsuit. I lived in trackpants but I never slept in them or sat around in my PJs 4/n

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 25, 2020

Abdullah also stressed on the importance of physical fitness and said how he exercised indoors if the weather did not permit outdoor exercise.

“Fix your meal times & stick to them. I ate my meals on my own. Put it down to the habit of boarding school & my need for structure For me it was breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 2 & dinner at 7:30 with a mug of coffee at 12 (after the doctor had checked my BP) & evening tea at 6.”

Exercise, exercise, exercise.I can’t emphasise this point enough. I was fortunate to have space & access to the grounds in HNSJ to get outside but even when the weather didn’t permit I exercised indoors – walking in the corridor, up & down the stairs or just endless burpees 6/n

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 25, 2020

Abdullah also recommended a few mobile applications which he used during workouts, “I used a couple of apps which were really helpful because I had workouts downloaded on them earlier. Nike Training Club & Fitbod (both on iOS & probably Android as well) were great for workouts of varying intensity & equipment levels.”

Since his release Omar Abdullah has used Twitter to help Kashmiri students/citizens stranded across the country and world during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Kashmir reported its first Coronavirus related death on Thursday.

The patient was a 65-year-old man Islamic preacher from the Hyderpora neighbourhood of Srinagar, who tested positive three days ago, died this morning at the Government Chest Disease Hospital in the city. He had recently travelled around the country, visiting mosques in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Deoband before returning home on March 16.