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COVID-19 Lifestyle Lite Blogs

Engage Yourself Amid Covid

Five screen-free ways to consume content.

This year has been a rollercoaster ride and has seen most of us adapting to the “new normal”. Remote working has become the order of the day, and people are spending longer periods of time in front of a screen, be it for work or entertainment…writes Siddhi Jain.

Due to this, screen fatigue has become a real concern, with experts suggesting that it is beginning to impact people’s health. In a recent report, a doctor practicing telemedicine said there was a 30 per cent increase in complaints of eye strain, dry or itchy eyes, headaches, blurred vision and physical and mental fatigue.

The challenge is to able to learn something new, pursue a hobby and keep yourself entertained without straining yourself on a screen. Here are five ways to keep yourself occupied and productive, without being glued to your screens:

COVID-19: 7 tips to defuse family conflict and preserve relationships. (Photo Courtesy: Pixabay)

Marie Kondo your personal space

Cleaning always comes across as a chore and we neglect it until that one chair can no longer bear the weight of the pile of clothes. A fun way to look at cleaning is decluttering and redecorating. Choose one room at a time, pick up things that don’t bring you joy and throw them into a giveaway pile. Pick out reusable items like empty water bottles, plastic boxes, worn-out clothes, shoe boxes, tin cans, light bulbs with which you can make DIY decorations. Not only will you be proud of your own creations, your home just got a whole lot prettier at no cost at all.

Hands busy, mind free

It is an established fact that listening to audiobooks is more emotionally engaging than watching TV or films. Whether you are looking for stories or simply want to experience some downtime, Audible and Audible Suno are the right places for you. Unleashing the power of the spoken word, these platforms offer an extensive library of audiobooks and audio series narrated by talented and celebrated personalities that are sure to inspire creativity.

Get active, get going


The lockdown has everyone stuck at home, which has led to the discovery of innovative ways to keep ourselves healthy and active. Whoever thought that working out with basic household items at home can give you a full-fledged gym experience? Here are few ideas to make your home workout more fun and efficient:

– Use cans and jars as small weights

– Use stairs as a cardio machine

– Use a bag of flour or rice as heavy weights

– Apart from these, you can do yoga, stretching, crossfit (workouts using bodyweight), all from the comfort of your home.

Women empowered by EWOK Society working with necessary precautions in COVID times at IIT Mandi.

Grow your plants, grow your soul

To be closer to nature is to be closer with your inner self. Indoor plants don’t just look good, they make you feel good mentally and physically, too. Growing and taking care of plants is a worthwhile hobby for anyone who is wondering what to do to keep oneself occupied. It is a simple activity that decorates your house and gives you unadulterated joy in an environmentally-friendly way. Get creative while making your space greener — think the kitchen slab, your window sill, the balcony, or even your bathroom where bamboo plants can be kept.

Awaken your inner Picasso

One needn’t be a trained artist to create art. All you need is a canvas, paint, a few brushes, some free time and your imagination. There are no rules when it comes to painting to unwind yourself. It has been said that painting has therapeutic qualities and with no prior training, you can just let the brushes play with the colours. You never know — you may just end up with something frame-worthy that brings you happiness and serenity.

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COVID-19 Fashion Lite Blogs

Shoe Care Trends With Covid

New Delhi: A model walks the ramp during Bata Fashion Show in New Delhi on May 2017. (Photo: IANS)

Covid-19 has changed consumer buying patterns across segments, ranging from FMCG, personal care, apparel to footwear. The change has also led manufacturers to take innovative strategies and widen certain product portfolio ranges to attract consumers and gain a competitive edge…writes Siddhi Jain.

According to recent reports, the Indian footwear market is growing at a CAGR of 4.5 percent in India; however, owing to the current pandemic, 2020 witnessed changing consumer needs. India’s homegrown e-commerce player Flipkart, observed some interesting trends on the platform. With people placed a greater focus on being fit and healthy, the demand for athletic shoes has grown. Running shoes emerged as the top searched items under the sports footwear category. The platform also witnessed a spike of 1.5X times in the sale of sports footwear compared to pre-Covid times and the revenue of this category saw a spike of 20 percent from July to August. Additionally, running and walking shoes searches for women marked a 2X growth.

The Sneaker Edit.

With people continuing to stay indoors at most times, the preference for comfortable footwear is at an all-time high. Sandals and Slippers now constitute the top 5 searched queries under Men’s footwear – a trend that has never been seen in the recent past. Additionally, slippers have taken precedence over heels on the platform, becoming the most searched vertical under the women’s footwear category.

“To fulfill these ever-evolving demands of consumers, Flipkart is continuously working with brands and sellers to ensure they are able to benefit from the opportunities that e-commerce presents. During the pandemic, we’ve been working closely with a growing number of national, international, and regionally-renowned fashion brands and sellers, in different ways,” Nishit Garg, Vice President – Flipkart Fashion told .

Bengaluru: An interior view of newly inaugurated Flipkart premises, in Bengaluru, on Aug 22, 2018. (Photo: IANS)

Adding, “This includes identifying opportunities for them to connect them with consumers across India through our online marketplace, scale their online presence and diversify existing product portfolios. This is being facilitated through an insightful collaboration which is based on a very deep consumer understanding. This approach has enabled our partners to strengthen their business, while reaping the benefits of e-commerce in a fair online marketplace.”

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COVID-19 World News

Covid 19: Spanish minister warns Madrid of serious risk

The Spanish government has urged authorities in Madrid to tighten coronavirus restrictions across the city, warning of a “serious risk” to residents if they do not.

Madrid extended restrictions in Covid-19 hotspots on Friday but rejected calls for a city-wide lockdown, the BBC reported.

On Saturday Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa said current restrictions did not go far enough.

He said it was “time to act with determination” to control the pandemic.

“There is a serious risk for inhabitants, for the neighbouring regions,” Illa said, calling on the capital’s regional authorities to “put the health of citizens first” and impose a partial lockdown on the entire city.

Spain’s regions are in charge of healthcare and so the central government does not have the power to impose the restrictions it prefers.

Madrid is again at the epicentre of Spain’s coronavirus outbreak, as it was during the first peak earlier this year. The country recorded a further 12,272 cases on Friday, bringing the official total to 716,481, the highest infection tally in western Europe.

Spain and many other countries in the northern hemisphere have seen a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a stark warning about the resurgence of the virus in Europe and elsewhere as winter approaches.

European countries were seeing “worrying increases of the disease”, with “a small uptick in deaths in older people” that will inevitably increase, Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies team, said on Friday.

Dr Ryan questioned whether European countries had “really exhausted all the tools” at their disposal to prevent a second round of national lockdowns.

“Lockdowns are almost a last resort – and to think that we’re back in last-resort territory in September, that’s a pretty sobering thought,” Dr Ryan told reporters at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.

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