I am sure the title may sound absurd to you. But yes, I managed both during the lock-down in Delhi and subsequently 14 days of quarantine in Bangalore. Want to know how?

My Pain:

What will I do at home during lock-down?

My Experience:

During Lock down in Delhi:

I took a flight from Bangalore to Delhi on 20^th Mar 2020. Almost 70% of the passengers were wearing a mask at airport. I could sense the Corona pandemic fear growing bigger. As I had already booked my flight ticket I decided not to cancel my program. Same day evening at 8PM our Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi addressed the nation for a 1-day lock-down. Subsequently there was a series of Lock-downs. But finally managed to book a return ticket to Bangalore for the 2^nd June.

75 days under house arrest in Delhi at my mother’s place. But honestly two wonderful things happened to me in my life.

First Experience:

Blog: In the first week of the lock down my Digital Marketing guy called me and suggested that we now have to start writing blogs which will have a back-link to our website. This will improve ranking of our website. So, we need to decide on the content.

My only knowledge about blog then was, some content writing on the internet for others to read.

Content: I decided to explore the internet and find out what content to write on? I came across a beautiful YouTube wherein the Vlogger explained very nicely.  She made two points.

• if you are going to write content about your service apartments, product & services which is already there on your website then it’s a flop show.
• Write about the pain point of your customers, they would like to read only if your content is trying to solve their problem. She further went on to give a solution. She said just recall all the questions that your customer asked. The most frequently asked questions should be the subject for your blogs.

I thought about it and within few minutes I started getting answers about my content. I made a list of 35 subjects that my associates (I believe that my fist customer is my Associate and then comes Guest. I strongly believe if you can’t keep your partners happy then you can never keep your guest satisfied) have been asking me frequently and I have been responding through mail repeatedly. All that I had to do was write blogs on these 35 subjects one time. Here are the top few subjects.

• I have a 4-bedroom bungalow, how do I start a serviced apartment?
• How do I ensure customer revisits our service apartments?
• How to do an effective cold calling?
• How do I market my serviced apartment?
• As a customer how do I get confidence that the service apartment is safe?

Etc.

The whole theme revolved around the service apartment operations and marketing which was our core competency. I set the ball rolling.

Keyword research: Once the blog is written, there should be a method of finding that blog on google search. A research on keyword was required to identify the right keyword that could bring the blog on the google search. This part was done by my Digital marketing team. He then posted blogs one after the another. By the end of the lock-down period 22 blogs were written and posted. Each blog took an average 3 days to complete.

Honestly, I always believed I cannot write blogs. But so much was the passion developed that I used to eat, sleep and drink Blogs. Had I not got this idea, I wonder how I would have survived through the lock-down.

Second experience:

Intermittent Fasting: Second good thing that happened to me during the lock down was the impact of my Intermittent fasting on weight loss. I started intermittent fasting way back on 15^th November 2018 when a friend of mine forwarded Dr Dixit’s YouTube Link. Intermittent fasting is known to help reduce weight and control diabetes. My Diabetes was already under control due to daily 1 hour walk without medicine. My objective was to reduce weight. I was 86 Kg consistently since 2010.

Within a month of having started intermittent fasting in 2018, I started losing weight at the rate of 2 kg per month. Within 3 months my weight was 81 Kg. The weight was stagnant till I came to Delhi. Like many, I would have given up my intermittent fasting. But I continued since I was enjoying my 2 meals regime.

My mom being diabetic and pure veg., no sweets or non-veg was served at home in Delhi. Another thing was that whatever was made during lunch was not carried forwarded to the next meals. So limited quantity of meals was prepared. After my meals I generally used to feel a bit hungry but then within an hour I used to feel good.

As mentioned earlier, during the lock down I used to sleep long hours, eat two meals & write blogs. I had stopped morning walks to experiment and understand the impact on my sugar levels. in spite of reduced activity levels I was not feeling lethargic. I always felt energetic. I could feel my body lighter and I felt I was losing weight. But could not check as there was no weighing machine at home.

During Quarantine in Bangalore:

2^nd June 2020 I took my return flight to Bangalore. At Delhi airport I saw the flavor of COVID Pandemic fear. I saw many travelers wearing the complete PPE suite. 100% people with face mask. And then a double protection of shield supplied by Airline. I was worried.

On my arrival at Bangalore airport my freedom was not over yet. I had to do a home quarantine for 14 days as per the BBMP SOP. Though I could have quarantined at home but then my wife also had to do a forced quarantine with me at home. She being the owner of Alcove serviced Apartments, decided to offer me an independent 3 BHK serviced apartment at my disposal. I accepted the offer.

Service Apartment in Bangalore

I loved the process by the society. I was asked to fill the form at the main gate. A Poster “under Quarantine” was pasted on the main door of my serviced apartment. The serviced apartment was fully loaded with all essentials.

In the serviced apartment I had to make my own tea, clean utensils, clean the house and wash clothes on my own. The 2 meals were supplied to me by the Alcove staff. They left the meals outside the door, rang the bell and vanished. After eating I had to wash and leave it outside the door.

The first thing that I did was I got my Glucometer kit & weighing machine at my serviced apartment. The sugar level was excellent and the best part was that I had lost 5 Kg during the lock-down. My weight was 76 kg now. So, what I can conclude is along with intermittent fasting, control of food intake is equally important. And I think I will continue doing so after seeing these amazing results.

But during these 14 days of quarantine I went to the next level of blogging. I decided on monetizing the blogs. I became an affiliate marketer of Amazon. I will share the results of Affiliate Marketing after 6 months once my blogs start to gain traction.

Finally, tonight I will step out into freedom of Namma Bengaluru. My last day of quarantine.

My Conclusion:

Lage Raho Munna Bhai. That’s life for me.