Tresvista MD can't wait to get away from city life and go camping with family

Abilash Jaikumar shares how he would like to bounce back and revive himself from the pandemic.

By Maleeva Rebello, ET Bureau | Jan 22, 2021, 05.25 PM IST

Since the start of the pandemic, Jaikumar has invested in a home gym and has even given himself a haircut.

The thing Abilash Jaikumar, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Tresvista looks forward to the most amidst the pandemic is meeting family. All the children are growing up so fast and you don’t get these days back, he feels.

"As I’ve been stuck in midtown Manhattan for the last few months, I’d like to get away from all buildings and the density of a city. Camping with my wife and son in the outback and seeing stars and not hearing anything but nature sounds like the perfect holiday for me," he shares.

Pampering
Since the start of the pandemic, Jaikumar has invested in a home gym, electric foot massager, and has even given himself a haircut.

"I’m not sure I’ll ever need 'pampering' services again. I haven’t dined out or ordered in once since the start of the pandemic as I’ve really enjoyed cooking new recipes and I’ve been eating healthy. I now look forward to seeing how long I can continue going without eating outside food," he says.

Shopping
Online shopping has made it so easy to get nearly anything delivered. "I even bought a new car without having to go in. The one thing that I’ve had a hard time getting delivered in NY is achar and wish I had stocked up on it," he shares.

The nature of Jaikumar's work before the pandemic required him to travel frequently which meant he worked exclusively on a laptop in non-office settings.

"The primary change in a WFH is the video conference call. I’ve invested in a laptop stand to raise the screen and camera to eye level, a 4k external webcam, an external microphone, a new laptop, and low profile Bluetooth ear buds. WFH would go a lot smoother if I could get a microphone that would cancel out a crying baby in the background," he says.

Challenge
Jaikumar experimented with a lot of activities during the pandemic. "I got a keyboard and practiced nightly for a while until I didn’t. I got a workout bench and worked out for a while until I didn’t. The only thing I’ve really built upon is cooking. I’m really mastering making pizza in my cast iron pan. Most recently I’ve added Detroit-style pizza in a steel pan to the repertoire which I’m excited about, though I’ve never been to Detroit. Maybe when we can travel again I’ll head to Detroit and get a pie at Buddy’s, where they invented Detroit-style pizza in 1946," he says.

At first, he was doing body weight exercises using an app, then he added exercise bands, and finally he got dumbbells and a workout bench.

"I don’t use any of them and have been focused on just eating healthy. I try to always look for the positive in any situation. The silver lining of this pandemic for me has been being able to be at home to spend time with my wife and son. In a normal year, I am travelling for over 180 days in the year and I would have put in close 200,000 air miles. Being around to play with my baby boy and to watch him grow and having dinner with my wife every night has been a blessing," he says.

Novelty
Jaikumar went nearly ten months without a haircut and it got to the point he was borrowing his wife’s hair clips to pin it back.

"The beauty of a video call is as long as I didn’t turn my head, no one could tell I had a ponytail. Eventually I shaved it all bald when we did my son’s mundan. Much easier to groom when there is nothing to groom," he ends.

Keep Calm And Work From Home! Tech & IT Giants That Are On WFH Mode Till July 2021

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The Covid-19 pandemic posed a plethora of challenges before humanity - the cancellation of major events, economic slowdown and job crisis to name a few. One of the biggest challenges was faced by workplaces around the world, as they struggled to work out an arrangement where employees could stay productive without being physically present in the office.

However, workplaces soon embraced the new normal and got accustomed to the changing times, so much so, that many of the tech and IT giants decided to extend their WFH policies even after the pandemic has subsided, with many of them deciding not to return to offices till summer of the next year.

Here’s a look at all the major companies that are on WFH till July 2021.