As the end of the year is fast approaching, we wanted to share something different with our readers. This year has been unlike any other for us – we’ve all had to navigate the challenges of COVID-19, stay-at-home orders, and Pune Learns going virtual. We’ve been lucky enough to find some time for ourselves too, and decided that this was a good time to look back at the year and be thankful for the things we’ve had a chance to learn. Some devoted time to new hobbies, while others took risks that led to huge growth. Read on for a glimpse into all the things we’ve learned this year, we hope it’ll inspire you to pick up something new!
Let’s start with some new hobbies we took up. We hope some of these pique your interest and inspire you to pick up something new! This broad range includes activities that you can start immediately with little prep, and some activities that need considerable investment of either time or money.
Cooking
“For me personally cooking has always been an expression of the land where you’re from, and the culture of that place! I actually started my cooking spree a few months back in April by following a simple YouTube recipe of a Chicken Curry. This was followed by a Butter chicken recipe and then week by week my confidence in cooking as a whole was on another level! In these past few months I’ve made different breads, cakes, desserts, curries, you name it! Through this pandemic cooking has really helped me keep my mind engrossed. In my final year as an engineer with literally nothing to do I had an opportunity to look into my grandmother’s cookbook and go through some real classic Maharashtrian recipes! They’re quite simple but need to be done with absolute precision or you’ll end up with a sticky mess! As I’m planning to do masters abroad I think cooking delicious food is something which will definitely aid me in exploring different people along with their cultures and I’m confident I’ll be able to create a strong bond with them!” – Harshal Kelkar
Playing the Ukulele
“I always loved good music, but never considered myself as much of a musician. This year was when I actively ventured into music by learning how to play the ukulele. Beginning with the basics and practising a lot, I can now hit a few decent notes, enough to play a few songs! It was also a good pastime to beat the monotony during lockdown! It is also making me a braver singer. The best part was when I presented a rendition of Count on Me by Bruno Mars on one of my friend’s birthdays!” – Ketaki Jain
Sewing
“I bought a sewing machine at the beginning of 2020 on a whim. At the time I had no idea how hard COVID-19 would hit us, but three months later, we were in the middle of an indefinite stay-at-home order, and I had much more time on my hands than expected. I spent a couple of weeks reading instructions on how to start, agonising over what my first project should be, before I realised I had to bite the bullet and just get started, and I jumped right into making a top. That very first project actually turned out to be one of my favorite things I made, and since then I’ve sewn around 4 new tops, a dress, and a couple of skirts. This new hobby has been a pretty big learning experience for me. I’m not nearly as fast as people who sew professionally, so making one garment takes anywhere between 4-10 hours, and takes a lot of patience. I also believe I’ve gotten better at spatial reasoning, since an important part of sewing without a pattern is the ability to visualize how the end product will look. Finally, I’ve also learned a lot about the clothing industry, and about the importance of being sustainable and mindful about what you buy, and how much you buy.” – Pallavi Patil
Gardening
“I bought over 15 plants over the lockdown, and learned how to grow them, tend to them, and care for them, over the past few months. This has taught me a lot of patience – every little leaf/ root/ stem is tender and needs to be handled with that much care. This inculcates not only a sense of responsibility, but there’s a kind of calmness that washes over you while you tend to plants and talk to them. It has made me a kinder, more patient person, which I have taken into work and other aspects of my life.” – Nehal Binani
Speaking of becoming kinder and more patient people, there are many skills we’ve learned during this time that have made us better teachers to our students. Patience has been incredibly necessary during this shift to virtual learning, as all our students have adapted at different paces. Here are some more abilities we’ve picked up this year, which we’re using to help our children through this time!
Active Listening
“Kids have so much to share that we sometimes may get overwhelmed with the amount of information they bombard us with. It is important to differentiate between what requires a specific focus and what does not. When a child shares something, it is also important to understand their expectations, whether they are looking for advice, or just a friendly ear who will listen to them. Identifying this intent helps you be a better audience and establish a connect with the speaker. As communication has become especially challenging during the pandemic, I have learned how to pick up on these signs virtually, and have become better at actively listening. Learning this skill has helped me help kids better” – Mihil Ramaiya
Learning Spanish
“Given that I’ve spent a considerable amount of time, these last 6 years, teaching my students English, I thought it was only fair that I take on a similar challenge. Once I chose Spanish as the language I wanted to learn, I downloaded Duolingo (obviously) and slowly began building on new vocabulary and figuring out sentence construction. While I may not have learnt a ton, I definitely understand how difficult it is to learn a new language – it gave me a whole new perspective while teaching my students. Muy bien!” – Pooja Kulkarni
Not only have these skills made us better teachers, they’ve also resulted in a lot of personal and professional growth. Having had some time to introspect and really think about our goals and dreams has given some of us the chance to take risks that we ordinarily may not have. As you’ll see, things have worked out the way we hoped, and hopefully our stories will inspire you to follow your own passions!
Working at a seed-stage startup
“At the beginning of the year (2020), I was looking for a job, targeting technology startups. Early stage start-ups are thought to be high-pressure environments by most, but having worked for a Fortune 500 company, I wasn’t too keen on repeating the experience. I knew that bigger companies too in fact struggled with the same issues that some start-ups are notorious for – long working hours, low vacation time, and potentially subpar compensation. I respect the benefits that larger companies offer, a significant number of people simply don’t want to gamble with their livelihoods, and risk getting a poorly paid, high pressure job, which is quite possible at startups. But the opportunity to pick up whatever tasks you want, in any field, even one you have never worked in before, is something that rarely comes by at an established company. Choosing to work for a seed-stage startup (they closed Series A funding a couple of days after my interview) was a decision I knew I had to make at this point of my life, and I’m glad I did so!” – Dipack Panjabi
Starting a Podcast
“When lockdown hit, we all had more time on our hands and in that spirit, on a whim, I started a podcast with my best friend! We did this while being in different cities so there were more challenges than normal in figuring out how to be a podcaster. Podcasting has been really fun, informative and has made me more confident in publicly speaking.” – Arzoo Sattikar
Finally, while we’re on the subject of podcasts, some of us have been discovering the quality content that this new format has made so accessible for those of us who may not enjoy reading or watching television as much as listening.
Listening to Podcasts
“The podcast “Business Wars“ intrigued me since it gave a detailed overview of actual wars between two successful businesses. I got some insight into how top companies compete with each other and how they create new products to nip their competition in the bud. Another podcast by a life coach, Brendon Burchard, taught me a lot of life lessons. By incorporating these lessons in my day to day life, I started learning about having a disciplined routine, a focused approach to things, the importance of having empathy and how we can use these lessons in a business.” – Sanika Oke
We hope that 2021 will bring us all relief from the COVID-19 pandemic, but we’re bringing these learnings from 2020 with us into the new year!
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