Good Bye 2020

Everyone around me has been writing a gratitude post or good bye 2020 post on their blogs or social media. I have been dutifully resisting the urge to do so. That is until I realised that we are coming to the end of not just a year but a decade as well. When I was a child, I asked my father what a decade is. He said 10 years is a decade, a 100 years is a century and a 1000 years is  called a millennium. For the life of me, I could not figure out what one did for ten years. It was too long, I thought. Later as a history teacher and researcher when I began writing about customs spanning 1000s of years, I understood that time flies. A decade can be long or short depending on person who lives through it.

2010s was eventful; For that I am thankful.

I participated in the Decade in review challenge by Marie Folio in beginning of January 2020. I worked through my insecurities and wrote an honest post. Without ado, I set up goals and commitments. I must not have meant what I wrote for I did not accomplish much. Or so I thought. Then I read a post which said – Don’t obsess over what you could not accomplish this year, consider everything you have done. It got me thinking about the true lesson this year taught me – to appreciate what I have.

What I love about 2020

While it is not easy staying with elderly parents at home, it has its moments. I wanted to spend more time with them and got it, so I am thankful for it. I only wish that we had all been healthy to actually enjoy it. Atleast, I was able to care for them when they were unwell. I am really thankful and grateful for my students and their love for me. It gets the strongest in the fourth year and then they leave. Then the next batch comes and the cycle begins anew.

Work from Home

I LOVE Working from Home and am really thankful for 9 months of the same. Apart from my regular teaching of 21 hours a week, I accomplished so much more. I was able to attend a jury, a training program while suffering from covid and taking care of my house and my father who was recovering – because I was at home. I have been able to cook (a lot) for my family, clean and take care of my parents for the long periods they were sick, all without taking leave was because I was working from home.

I had time for art and craft. There were so many insta lives, seminars, online courses, talks and lectures that I attended as I was working for home. I was relaxed in the mornings, ate lunch on time, took enough bathroom breaks and was super patient with difficult students as I was working from home. Only teachers, you will understand the importance of the previous sentence. As I get ready to go to college full time while teaching online, I cannot help but wonder why WFM cannot become the norm!

Open Access education

2020 proved that education is for all and open access online is the way to go. I took advantage of the same and completed several short courses this year. I did two free courses from MOMA in May-June. One on understanding Modern art and the other on Contemporary art. The modern art course was crucial in how I redesigned the session plan of the Visual culture studies course that I taught in the July-Dec semester. There is also a paid version of the course where you can get a certificate which I did not opt for.

I got GIA certified! I completed three entry level courses – jewelry essentials, gemstone essentials and diamond essentials. This in turn gave me the required credits for becoming an AJP – Applied Jewelry professional. It was a paid course with a written exam but I got a huge discount as GIA had a promotion running due to lockdown. I had been wanting to do it for 7 years and finally got the time. The course gave me a strong theoretical understanding of gemstones which enabled me to teach a course on precious jewellery better.

I completed a 8 week Faculty Development Programme (FDP) certificate course on “Understanding Ethnography” from IDC- IIT Bombay along with a proctored exam. I had wanted to take this course since 2017 but it was in campus. Therefore, I am thankful that I finally got to do it online this year. Unlike the typical FDPs and TOTs this was quite useful. The visual ethnography part of this course fed into the visual culture studies as well.

While I did not become a better jeweller or designer this year, I did become a more skilled teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed all the four courses and highly recommend them.

Entertainment

I love watching TV shows and movies. Therefore this year I got to catch up on a lot of shows and movies – both old and new online between April and December. I re-watched and binge watched a few hits too. Yes, screen time is bad for eyesight but its so much fun! Best re-watched show – Suits/one tree hill. Best online series (Indian) Scam 1992 and Test case. Best movies – Vincent, imitation game, contagion, C U Soon. I am currently watching Victoria and looking forward to see all the 19th century Indo-European jewellery.

Virtual shows and webinars

2020 is the year of virtual events and I attended so many webinars and talks. However, I loved the weekly AJF live shows the most. Getting to hear contemporary jewellers and academicians talk about their work and show it was awesome. I hope that they continue to do it in 2021 too. Then there was NYC Jewelry week. It was indeed a privilege to attend so many lectures and exhibitions online for free. I really think that Indian gems and jewellery organisations should take the cue and open their shows beyond trade members and exporters to the public too.

That was my best of 2020 and I am not going to contemplate the bad or the ugly. However the year was, it will be remembered for a very long time to come. 2021 will be illness free, prosperous and happy. We will be joyous in the company of those whom we love and those who love us. We will travel the world, study, research, teach, create and sell with a new found enthusiasm.

Good Bye 2020 and please don’t come back in any form, ever again!

May prosperity and wealth, happiness and peace envelop us as we live the best year of our lives. Happy new year and a new decade.

Yours gratefully