The Dark Truth About Remote Work
my peaceful home is also the front line where the daily battles of work unfold
It’s been 1,669 days since I last set foot in an office—over four years of working from home. I vividly remember 11 March 2020, the day the coronavirus pandemic was announced. I was too horrified to think anything; this is when you miss living with your parents. I booked a one-way ticket home precisely a week later to save myself from the lockdown preparations.
Leaving my bachelor’s pad wasn’t easy. I had slowly started to enjoy this hustle. Life in Bangalore was exciting. Days were spent at my corporate job as a marketing designer, and evenings were spent socializing with my friends and exploring the new hangout spots. Nights were quiet. It was the time when I spoke to my family back in Bhopal and worked on my passion projects.
Packing the life I worked so hard to build wasn’t easy. It took two suitcases and four cartons to seal it and return to a place I couldn’t wait to leave. I didn’t know if I was ever coming back. (And I never did.)
The journey back home was uncanny. I was too nervous to feel the excitement of going home. The face mask didn’t make it easy. Wearing those made me claustrophobic. The sound of people sneezing at the airport gave me shivers. It was a strange time…
