Bhubaneswar: If you thought Bollywood actors like Ayushmann Khurrana were the only ones to shift base due to the COVID-19 pandemic, think again. Thousands of IT and other professionals are returning to Odisha to work from home.
Most IT companies such as TCS have said their offices will not open till July 31 and employees will work from home. “I was waiting for Bhubaneswar flights to resume. Some of my colleagues even hired vehicles and went home via the Nagpur-Sambalpur route. Right now, most of my colleagues have returned home,” said Soumyaranjan Padhi, an IT professional employed with TCS Mumbai.
Padhi, who self-quarantined at home for 21 days, says this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who miss their homes. “My whole career I have been out of home, never had a vacation this long. It is great to relish food made by my mom and also spend quality family time cooking new dishes with parents. It is also a time to catch up on old hobbies like gardening and painting,” he confessed, after having lived alone in a 1-BHK apartment in Powai for more than two months.
However, he laments that eating out and meeting friends and relatives are ruled out now.
Many returning were worried about the rise in cases in metro cities, and the difficulty to cook and manage things in smaller spaces.
Abhinav Mohanty, a software professional who came back to his hometown Cuttack from New Delhi, echoed similar feelings. “Nowhere do you feel more at ease than in your hometown. Contacting someone for help, reaching out for medical help or authorities is more convenient and reliable at one’s hometown,” he said.
He plans to stay back till things become normal and operational. Talking about working from home, he said, “We have been working all through this pandemic from home with almost 100% delivery.”
However, not all have the luxury of coming back home. Some like Rajesh Sahoo is stuck in Bengaluru because his wife has to attend office once a week there. “There are many like me in this situation. One of my friends works in a bank and has asked for a transfer to Bhubaneswar. He is contemplating leaving his job if the bank doesn’t agree. The rise in COVID cases are a concern,” he explained.
While some can’t come back, and some have, there is another group which doesn’t want to!
For instance, a 28-year-old woman working in a marketing firm in Hyderabad told OdishaBytes that while she and her husband can go back home to Odisha and work from home, it would be difficult for her to work staying at her in-laws’ place.
“Juggling between my father’s place and in-laws will be a strain and there will be responsibilities which my in-laws would expect me to carry out while working from home,” she said.
