The third and most contagious wave of the global pandemic is upon us and it has once again forced us to stay at home, practice social distancing and follow strict SOPs when stepping out for unavoidable chores. While most of us are still working from home, our favourite celebrities have resumed work for quite some time now; as they say, the show must go on! While we’ve seen one celebrity too many throw caution and good sense to the wind, there are a few actors who followed impressive, stay-at-home routines.

Industry veteran Savera Nadeem is one such artiste who not only stayed home and stayed safe, but made the most of it. With countless drama serials to her name, including Bari Apa, Nibah, Meraas, Baba Jani, Haiwan and the super hit drama Mere Paas Tum Ho, she put her safety centre-stage. We caught up with the actress to get an insight into her at-home routine in the initial strict lockdown.

The value of time

According to Savera, the past year has taught her quite a lot about how valuable time is and how one can be more productive at home, especially with two active boys. “When we made the decision early last March to have a self-imposed lockdown, it was kind of like an adventure; it was a challenge,” she shares.

Having some space is important

Talking about the importance of giving yourself some time, the actress says, “I would mark out two hours in the morning with the help of my husband, understanding my need for space.” She continues, “In that time, I would shut myself up in a separate room. I used to do a 30 minute workout with an excellent channel I found on YouTube, and the next 30 minutes were allocated to an online writing class I had signed up for. After that, I had a writing sprint of my own, as I was working on a book. Once I was done with that, I would make some calls, do some browsing and come out fresh for the rest of the day.”

Dividing household chores

Savera further went on to say, “The rest of the household and I divided up chores to be done daily. Since initially we didn’t want outside help coming inside, we kept one helper in the house. The cook, who used to stay in the separate kitchen, would merely make the food and leave. So the household chores were divided between us, relatively young, active adults. We were five in total, including the helper. We would clean, dust, wash and serve food.”

Kid’s time

On how she kept the children busy and active, Savera reveals, “The afternoons were for the kids. I gave them an hour or two of semi-independent study time. They were given writing tasks on a whiteboard along with small Maths and English assignments etc.”

Besides that, Savera and the kids would usually have an hour of crafts or creative activities. “What was challenging was making the kids exercise. The weather was quite was hot and we would try to get out in the garden or our colony park for a while. Luckily, my boys sleep at 7 p.m. so after that it was chill time for us,” she shares. “In fact, it was incredibly peaceful and slow-paced. Amid the chaos, we had to create our own bubble.”

Online classes

When online school started and Savera’s husband went back to work, that’s when the graph came down a bit. “It was far easier to manage. We had to compromise our principles and get laptops for the children, but just for their online classes. All in all that transition wasn’t so hard,” she explains.

A short trip up north

The actress also managed to take a small break with her family and went to northern areas while adhering to the SOPs. “We went to Swat Valley, Kalam and Malam Jabba for the winter break,” she informs.

Zoom sessions

Savera shares that she thought she would go crazy without the gym, salon and family gatherings. “Surprisingly, I was pretty okay managing with substitutes. The gym offers zoom classes and we used to have family zoom meetups. I actually saw more members of my family this way than I would otherwise,” she shares.

On a parting note, Savera Nadeem says, “This time round, with the second and third wave it’s not the same. We’ve had terrible news of near and dear ones passing due to Covid-19 and we can’t even say goodbye.” She adds, “The utopia didn’t last a whole year. Staff started coming back. I was able to get out and do a few commercial shoots. However, this was our routine in the strict lockdown.”