When I first heard that our office was going fully remote in 2020, I was thrilled. No more crawling through Bangalore traffic for two hours each day! I pictured myself sipping filter coffee on the balcony, neatly dressed in a crisp shirt (at least from the waist up), and working peacefully. But little did I know that working from home was going to be a roller coaster—full of tiny wins, hilarious mishaps, and surprisingly deep life lessons.

My Digital Survival Kit

My laptop quickly became the new “office building.” The moment I logged in, the day began. Some tools became as essential as my morning coffee:

• Microsoft Teams for those endless meetings (and the occasional awkward silence when everyone waited for someone to “unmute”).
• Zoom for client calls where I prayed my camera angle didn’t reveal the laundry drying behind me.
• Slack to send quick updates that replaced the old habit of leaning across my cubicle to ask a colleague.
• Google Drive & OneDrive—lifelines for collaborating on spreadsheets at odd hours.
• And of course, my VPN—the invisible wall that kept sensitive banking data safe.

But above all, the one true hero was my Wi-Fi router. Honestly, it felt like a family member. We treated it with respect, never placed water near it, and even blamed the weather if it misbehaved.

When the Internet Betrayed Me

I still remember presenting a quarterly report to senior management. My graphs looked perfect, my voice steady. Then—bam—everything froze. My screen went black, my heart raced, and my phone lit up with frantic pings from my boss: “You’re frozen. Can you hear us?”

My savior? The mobile hotspot. Within minutes, I was back online, smiling nervously: “Ah, the joys of Bangalore Wi-Fi!” That’s when I learned—always have a backup.

Hacks That Kept Me Sane

Slowly, I built my little system to stay productive at home:

1. No Pajamas Allowed – Dressing up (at least top half) gave me the mental push to focus.
2. Dedicated Desk – A table by the window became my “office.” The bed was strictly off-limits.
3. Sticky Note Rule – If there was a red note on the door, it meant “Do not disturb unless the house is on fire.” My husband and in-laws respected that code.
4. Mini Breaks – Two minutes on the balcony, watching the neighborhood kids play, helped me recharge between calls.
5. Cooking Experiments – I’ll admit, banana bread made its appearance in our kitchen too. But what I loved most was cooking lunch with my husband—something we never got to do before.

Lessons From Quarantine

Looking back, the pandemic didn’t just change how I worked—it reshaped how I lived.

• Family Time: My husband and I bonded in ways we never had before. Shared lunches, inside jokes during office calls, and even silly fights about Wi-Fi usage brought us closer. Living with my in-laws also gave me a deeper appreciation for their routines and quiet strength.
• Lifestyle Reset: With no commute, I had time to breathe. I tried yoga, picked up journaling, and even attempted meditation (though my mind kept wandering to emails).
• Life Perspective: I realized that control is overrated. The internet might fail, deadlines may shift, plans may collapse—but resilience, adaptability, and humor will always carry you through.

The New Me

Even now, as life slowly returns to normal, I carry these lessons with me. Work-from-home wasn’t just a chapter in my career—it was a mirror that showed me what truly matters: family, flexibility, and faith in myself.

As an ambitious banker-wife in Bangalore, I once defined success by promotions and numbers. Now, I’ve learned that true success also lies in sitting with my husband over a cup of coffee at 2 PM on a weekday, or laughing with my in-laws over an online grocery fiasco.

Working from home wasn’t easy, but it left me with something priceless: a stronger career and a stronger life.