With stay-at-home orders in place amid the COVID-19 lockdown, it’s no wonder many are turning to social media to beat lockdown blues. And while some are getting thumbs-ups on social media posts by showcasing their creative skills, others are taking on trending challenges to keep themselves busy.
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#Dalgonacoffee, #buttabomma, #handemoji... Muskaan Shiju, a class five student, has participated in most of the currently trending challenges. “My friends and I tag each other when we come across a fun task. Accepting them is a safe way to interact with my friends,” says Muskaan, adding that she plans to do a planking challenge next.
For Saniya Biju, a class 10 student, participating in such viral trends is all about killing boredom. “Some of them like the #handemoji, where one has to follow a list of hand emojis that appear on screen, and the #submarine, in which you need to move an animated image of a submarine with your nose, are amusing. However, as our school has begun online classes, I am occupied and don’t have much time now. I do have my eye on #memoriesbringback though, where one tries to recreate a scene from an old photo, and I hope to do that soon,” she says.
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Singer-composer Sajna Sudheer has been tagged in lots of viral challenges on Facebook, right from the extremely popular #sareechallenge, where one has to share a picture of oneself in a sari to a #bookchallenge, which involves naming the books one has read from a list of genres.
“I have also been tagged in a variety of music- and dance-based tasks. A fun one was where I had to emote to the song ‘Unnai kaanamal’. The #njangalkalapravarthakar challenge for artistes was heartwarming. It was in support of artistes struggling to make ends meet during the current lockdown. We had to come up with one-minute videos of any art form,” says Sajna.
Joining the #motherhooddare and #natyamheals was a walk down memory lane for Sankari Unnithan. “My daughter, Vaiga, and I went through old photo albums to search for a memorable photograph of the both of us for the #motherhooddare. Going through the photos was nostalgic,” says Sankari, executive director at Timetronic Management Consultants Limited, a technical recruitment firm. The #natyamheals challenge saw Sankari posting images of her memorable moments and memories as a classical dancer.
Mathew Thannimootil, who is on a sabbatical from his management consultant firm shared a recipe for Mangshor jhol when tagged in a #quarantinerecipe challenge on WhatsApp. “Eversince the lockdown I have been introducing a new dish to the dining table each day. Although I am not a big fan of online challenges, since food is something close to me heart, I decided to partake in the #quarantinerecipe,” says Mathew, a former student of Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and Mimo, San Sebastian.
Home chef Sheeba Lefleur wanted to be different from the rest and so decided to share a picture of a Dalgona cake instead of a cup of frothy Dalgona coffee for the trending #dalgonacoffee challenge.
Fashion designer Sobha Vishwanath too wants her post to be unique. Sobha who didn’t quite understand TikTok challenges initially, says, “I thought that there was no way you could catch me doing one.” However, after a couple of hours of scrolling, she was hooked. Sobha is planning to participate in the T-shirt challenge, which requires the participant to put on a T-shirt while doing a headstand. “I plan to do the headstand in a sari and then put on a T-shirt. Although my yoga is rather rusty, I think I should be able to do it,” she says.