Ashima Narwal, who made her debut in Tamil with Kolaigaran talks to us from Hyderabad. According to her, this quarantine has given her mixed feelings. “Though the world has been affected by coronavirus and life has come to a standstill, the positive side of it is that Mother Earth is now healing and less pollution has brought about a sea of change in global warming,” she says. Ask Ashima what she has been upto this lockdown, and we don’t get a clichéd response. “I have been into reading and writing, updating myself on technology, indulged myself in arts, been sky gazing and have been noting down the changes in the patterns of sunsets and moon rise. Having a physics background during my academy days, noticing the changes in the degrees of path of sun and moon from one season to another fascinates me,” she adds. Talking about her fitness regime, she says that there has been a lot of talk on social media and in the media on her putting on weight this lockdown. She replies with a smile, “I think it’s not the weight of the body, but how much energy you feel during the day that matters. I have always had a love-hate relationship with the gym, hence I resorted to pilates. It is the most underrated exercise but it is highly effective. Especially for women, it can do wonders by taking away the body pains that you experience by gym workouts. The lockdown also gave me a chance to focus on my mental health and the mental health of people around me.” 

Apart from this she says that she also allocated some time for painting and dancing. “I painted “The Observer” and wrote a few pages about it as well since no one around me actually understood what it was all about. It is a rather unique painting and I am even surprised myself that I am capable of drawing something like that. I enjoyed the rain in Hyderabad by dancing outdoors,” she quips. Ashima, who is an avid reader reveals that she was engrossed in the book “Everything is figureoutable” by Marie Forleo. “After reading it, I touch based with Marie and we discussed about it. It is in my must-read list and I also recommend it. Also, I watched a few good films like Aiyappanum Koshiyum and Bulbul. I would definitely love to do the Tamil remake of Bulbul if any filmmaker is planning to do it in future,” she concludes.