145: Adventurous “Lockdown”

A lot of people were lucky enough to stay with their families during the covid lockdown. They had an issue with the fact that they could not meet any of their friends, they couldnt go out and how their life was becoming monotonous because of the lockdown getting extended time and again. However, it was a completely different situation for me. I only had my friends around me and wanted to see my family.

I was in the US when the initial lockdown had started. We all were told that our flying was going to be halted till the time they figured out a solution. For me, I needed to fly. I wanted to get back home at the earliest. A lot of people opted to not fly because of the scare that the virus had caused.

My flight school had given us two options: 1) You could choose not to fly but had to deal with the delay it would cause to complete their training and 2) Fly but take extreme precautions while flying. I was skeptical at first to make a decision because the situation was becoming worse but then the thought of not flying for a while would mean that i would slowly start loosing my proficiency and control over the aircraft. I had my solo hours to finish and with people opting not to fly, it meant that more and more aircrafts would be free, hence giving more time to fly. Getting back home as soon as possible was a thought that never left my mind. I took the decision of flying and i dont regret it for a single minute.

I started flying while wearing my uniform, gloves, glares, a mask and a full bottle of sanitizer. Although chaotic, it was the best time of my life. I started flying to places that i hadnt even thought i could go to. While most people were sitting at home not flying, I made every minute in the air count. From flying over one of the tallest mountains covered in snow in Arizona to flying to Vegas in the night all by myself, flying to Lake Hawasu just to eat onion rings to getting stuck at an airport and seeing George Clooney board his private jet, I did it all . Some moments are just unforgettable.

Not going to lie, the pandemic taught me the valuable lesson of being clean and making sure that my surroundings are clean as well. Ive had some of the best times with my friends. To randomly dressing up well and sitting in our hall acting as if we were going out to making tik toks, it was a rollercoaster of a journey. It was during this time i realised the true value of friends and how each of them helped pick the other up when they were feeling low or when they were on the ground because of the amount of alcohol they had.

In short, the lockdown for me had been adventurous. “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.” – Rocky Balboa. This is how the lockdown changed me. It changed me for the better.

Joshua Varghese – Reposted from youthof2020stories on Instagram, a humansof2020 initiative

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