Name: Neil Noronha

School: St. Anthony’s Secondary School

Age category: Junior
Topic: What did you miss most during the pandemic?

During the pandemic almost every country went into lockdown and its very likely
that people haven’t seen their friends or family in months at most. We could only meet them
virtually. For some of us, even after we were allowed to roam the outer
world, we were not able to see everyone we cared about. We weren’t
allowed to go outsides for a walk or a stroll, just confined to our property
which our homes were in. Shopping was a pain in the butt as every time
groceries entered our households, sanitization was the first thing we did.
But perhaps the thing I missed the most during the pandemic might be….
social life.
Well by “social life” I mean being unleased into the world
and meeting people or seeing normal things like an airplane fly by or cars
driving away. Instead, all we could do is have a video call/chat on websites and apps where we
could only be able to see a flat person. Sure, it was similar, but doesn’t change the fact that
what you were seeing is flat. I missed being able to go to a library and read with other people
and just be active socially sometimes. It can get boring being with people who you know for 13
years, and a change of scenery is nice for the brain sometimes.
Going to a party can be nice sometimes as you meet new people sometimes or
see people whom you might haven’t seen in a while. I especially missed
reading at my school library during the times I would get. Other wise I
would find people from other classes randomly whom wouldn’t know
and play a game of chess with them and improve my skills as well as
experiencing how others might play this strategical game.
Another thing I missed in my “social life” was school.
During lockdown, all schools were forced to shut down and my
school was fortunate enough to get back to learning almost
instantly. Online school was very different as we took picture of our
work or did them on Microsoft Word. But soon we got used to it
and it was a struggle no longer. Going to actual school (face-to-
face) we would sit at one area and eat or watch people play a
sport, whereas online now, we watched videos, played games or
talked with our friends on social media platforms.
 Now with this lockdown, all ways to enter and exit the country
were closed. This meant that visiting other countries or going to visit your
homeland and being able to meet close relatives was not possible. During the
Christmas holidays as my family and I normally visit India, where my cousins,
grandparents and other relatives resided. This, in December was possible with my
parents decided against it, acknowledging the risks we would be facing.

With the many things, I would have missed social life and
interacting with people is the thing that held me back during the
prime of Covid-19. Meeting people in real time, interacting with
them in real time, bonding with people you see once a year and
doing the normal things is what I missed the most during the first
year of Covid-19.