SOCIAL DISTANCING, virtual togetherness

From Virtual Birthday Parties To Online Multiplayer Games — During The Pandemic, Technology Is Helping People To Remain Together Even When They Are Apart

Priya.Menon@timesgroup.com  22.03.2020

On Friday night, Ramya Cotah got ready to meet friends. But instead of heading to the nearest pub, she logged on to Zoom to join an ‘Online Covid-19 quarantine party’, where she and 15 of her former schoolmates partied the night away.

“My friend Sathya Xavier had just become a doctor, and another, Adithya Gopi, had released a music album.we wanted to celebrate it,” says Ramya, adding that all of them were dressed for a night out and had their food and drinks with them. After days of being cooped up at home, I had a really good evening.”

With social distancing being seen as the biggest factor, which can help prevent the spread of Covid-19, many people in the city have ceased to have a social life. Eating out, shopping, and having a drink with friends — things which people took for granted, are no longer the norm, which in turn is creating a sense of social isolation. But with technology available at fingertips, people are coming up with ways to remain together, though they are apart.

The party to celebrate self-isolation, for instance, was the idea of Denmarkbased Karan Rajan. “He is a professional shuttle player but can’t step out of his house. So he decided to organise an online party for schoolmates, who are all confined to home in different places?” says Mishal Ahamed, 24, who helped Karan organise it. “We had a quiz about embarrassing things that had happened in school and played games like Taboo.”

In another part of Chennai, Akhila Krishnamurthy’s son Aryan Varadvangal turned six a few days ago. Unlike the previous birthdays, this time there were no elaborate decorations, or friends milling around. But the day was still full of cheer, as friends sent audio and video messages, and relatives joined in the celebrations virtually.

“We had planned to have a party but I called it off 10 days ago,” says Akhila. “Usually, on the birthday eve we start celebrations, but this time even my father, who wasn’t keeping too well, chose to dial in.” She also baked a cake for her son for the first time. “My husband got balloons and my son pumped them up a day before so he woke up to a room filled with them. And we realised it takes so little to make a child happy.”

Assistant director Richard Anthony and his friends have been catching up on music, making and sharing playlists with each other as they can’t gather for a show or meet in clubs. “My friend Pranathi has made a playlist ‘Love in the time of corona’,” says Richard, who is working on his playlist, ‘We are in this together ’. Richard, who was not really into making video calls, has been using it more now to stay connected with his former schoolmates and to jam with his cinematographer friend. “We use each other as sounding boards whenever we come up with a story we want to work on. Usually we meet for a drink but this time we discussed it over a video chat and it was as engaging.”

With schools closed and parents restricting outdoor activity, online multiplayer games are the answer for bored teens. “I like badminton but now, I use the PS4 to play with friends. If it’s three or four of us, we play ‘Fortnite’, which is a shooting game, but instead of playing individually I prefer to play the ‘Creative’ version of the game where all my friends join in. Then we are in a virtual world together, playing the same game,” says 14-year-old Tanveer Singh Sethi.

In these difficult times, it’s good to spread cheer, and Sakthivel Pannerselvam, who runs surprise planning company the6.in has come up with a way to do that, virtually. “We are now offering virtual surprises,” he says. For instance, many of his clients want to surprise the women in their lives by getting a guitarist and a singer to show up at her door and perform just for her. “We are still offering the same service but now, the musicians perform virtually,” says Sakthivel.

FAR BUT NEAR:

Aryan’s friends sent video messages on his birthday

I LIKE BADMINTON BUT NOW, I USE THE PS4 TO PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS. IF IT’S THREE OR FOUR OF US, WE PLAY ‘FORTNITE’, AN ONLINE GAME – Tanveer Singh Sethi | TEENAGER