How To Negotiate Living With Flatmates In India During A Pandemic
Huffington Post | Although the lockdown is hard for everyone, it can be especially challenging for those living away from home, without family.
Ashmita, a digital marketing executive who lives in Dublin, has been crying herself to sleep ever since the international borders closed and the coronavirus pandemic unfolded across the world. “I have been missing my mother and wish I was home during this lockdown,” said the 25-year-old who lives with her flatmates in Ireland. By ‘home’, she means Kolkata, getting back to where now seems distant and uncertain.
Although she has been living away from the country for a few years, this lockdown has been especially hard, as it makes her long to be with her family instead of being with flatmates. “I haven’t been keeping well,” she said.
Narendra Kinger, a senior clinical psychologist from Mumbai, said it is natural for anxiety and stress levels to rise when one lives away from families during any period of crisis. “Everyone wants to be with loved ones during difficult times. And now that young women are unable to ‘go home’ or be with their ‘families’ and / or ‘loved ones’, it makes them feel that something is amiss. This increases stress levels and even leads to depression,” he said.
With more and more single Indian women living away from their families for work or studies, the pain of separation from loved ones during a global crisis is real. We spoke to therapists to understand how this lockdown has been affecting the mental and physical well-being of women who are living with flatmates and how they can see this phase through.
