Welcome to the world of Harika!

That is March 13th , 2020 (Friday) and Harika who is mother of two kids woke up at her usual time and
was getting things ready to start another day. As usual she started checking her office emails which is
her daily routine to get prepared and plan for the entire day. One mail catched her attention and it is
from the HR saying that “ Employees from all our offices across the globe are suggested to work from
home from March 13th onwards for two weeks to protect ourselves from the Global Covid pandemic.

Harika was very happy as she was worrying about the situation and thought that she can take care of
the kids well as schools will also be shut.

And the day started, and it went well as it was a Friday with some work that was manageable. On the
next Monday her real troubles started. Kids were so happy that they need not go to school and woke up
late but she had to attend the scrum call at 10:00 AM and by that time she could not complete all the
works at home. Multi tasking had started and the day went along with lot of calls. End of the day she
realized that work from home is not a cake on the walk.

From that day she somehow managed to settle down the things and made her timetable accordingly
and the days were passing. She got frustrated with lot of calls, deliverables in short timelines , home
schooling and as usual routine of working mother.

Suddenly she got an opportunity which she did not expect to work with another company which gave
chance to pursue her dreams and she could not reject that. Along with the frustration of work from
home at that time she was in a dilemma to accept the offer or not as it was a situation that many layoffs
were happening in the industry and she had to leave her comfort zone which she was been from last
seven years.

With the help and advice of her family members and her friends she decided to move on and the time of
notice period was real hectic thing. Work life balance became a night mare and she became so
depressed. She did not realize that days were passing and her last working day was a virtual one which
she never expected that June 12 was most difficult day for her as she would not be working with her
best friends or colleagues she made from all these years.

With mixed feelings she had her virtual onboarding on June 15 with Advance auto parts and she was
excited as she got very good reviews about the company. Day 1 passed with induction and day 2 was
good as she was interacting with her team members. A week passed by and she started missing her old
friends and again she struggled with adjusting her work and personal life balance.

Everything was new to her and along with office work school started the online classes for children. She
had to sit with them to get them acquainted and also had to spend time on her new trainings. Along
with all these she had to prepare for the exams of the executive diploma she has been doing from last 6
months. She got stressed and frustrated and many of the thoughts had come to her mind. She was the
one who likes to travel and spend with people and staying at home completely made her struggle more.

She became sleepless and spent some nights without sleeping. That affected her a lot and she decided
to make herself better. She spoke to her best friends about all the things she had been going through
and got relief with the suggestions she got.
She started doing things like walking on the terrace in the early morning when no one is there listening
to some good music , regularly talking to her parents and friends on phone, spending more time with
kids, planning and dividing her work in a more efficient way, reading her favorite books , watching her
favorite old movies , meditating whenever she felt depressed. Now she became strong ,not getting
frustrated anymore and mentally prepared for the pandemic situation.

And of course she is still waiting for the day to go to her new office , meet her new colleagues and start
her new career. Want to hang on with friends , get relaxed and go for lunches and solo shopping.

“ This story is same of all working mothers and this Pandemic is a temporary one and good lesson for all
of us teaching Time management , Relationship management , dealing worst situations and learning
new things . Keep up the spirits and go on we all will have good time “.