In India’s lockdown 1.0 last year, there was an explosion of trends — from making the wildly popular dalgona coffee to fitness challenge to making banana bread. Now that we have learned to stay at home without losing our marbles, here are some trends for the new phase of restrictions 2.0. It goes from Temperature to Karaoke to funky haircuts.
Last year, even the humble ludo made a return in both online and offline formats. And family time became an imperative.
As India recorded 2,17,353 new Covid infections Friday, and the number of cases growing everyday, various curbs have been put into place. From Maharashtra imposing section 144 for 15 days beginning 14 April, to Delhi’s weekend curfew and Uttar Pradesh’s Sunday lockdown, states have taken measures to combat the deadly virus.
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New curfews, new trends
This time around, it is quite the lockdown like last year, but we can call the new restrictions the mini-lockdown. And we are smarter than wandering about defying government orders in the middle of a pandemic, aren’t we?
As ‘veterans’ of previous curfews and lockdowns, we may yet have a better chance at surviving being at home, more so with most of us having worked from home for most of last year and up till now.
The Instagram Temperature challenge seems to be first in line to be part of the 2021 lockdown trend. If you watch the original video featuring Sean Paul, it is already quite cringe. The trend mostly involves being your wackiest best with your friend at home. While one takes centrestage in singing along with the lyrics, the other or others clap.
Instagramers quickly picked up on it, and got creative with hoodies and sunglasses, and mics.
As usual, influencers too picked up on the trend. But while it was fun to watch everyday people do it in a casual manner with their friends, the influencers’ reels felt smooth and wacky. I have always loved the song, and have fond memories of it being played by autowallahs in Hyderabad, but opening your IG to see your feed flooded with the Temperature content has ensured I will never listen to it ever again.
And with 15-second reels catching up as the latest space for being ‘hip and happening’ on social media, we can surely expect more such trends to come up soon.
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But not everyone is jumping into the #reelkarofeelkaro bandwagon just for the sake of it. Comedian Saloni Gaur decided to use one such challenge to make us see ourselves for exactly who we are when it comes to taking precautions against Covid.
Saloni picks on the trend on ‘Got me Good’ song by Ciara and its lyrics “My back is aching, my bra too tight, my hip’s shaking from left to right”. The first few seconds being slow and not very happy, with the tempo picking up on the latter half, while you dance energetically, showing a this vs that. Saloni uses the trend to comment on the ground reality of Covid vs how Indians are dismissing all safety precautions.
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And who can forget the ‘Bajre da Sitta’ challenge where everyone showed us how they ‘glowed up’ from then to now, or as teengaers to adults using the song as background. And the ‘Buss It’ challenge that had Kusha Kapila make a very real’ behind the scenes’ video of the ‘potty pose’ one needs to ace the trend.
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It was Karan Sareen who showed us how aunties would totally ace the ‘Buss It’ challenge, albeit with a broken kamar maybe.
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Comic Vir Das too showed off the most mandatory skincare routine, of wearing a mask whenever one steps outside.
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What about Bollywood celebrities?
Malaika Arora has definitely taken the Maharashtra restrictions seriously, and decided to WFH. I wish I ever looked so well-put together, while working from home, the way she does. Or my interiors ever looked so appealing. But I suppose that is the power of being a celeb — their casual/WFH look is our ‘best ever’ look.
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Taapsee Pannu decided to invest in a karaoke afternoon with her constant companions, sister Shagun Pannu and cousin Evania Pannu. The amateur singers crooned along to Kasam Ki Kasam from the film Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon to the 90s hit Tere Ishq Mein Naachenge from Raja Hindustani.
Vir Das yet again does something hatke and goes for what he terms ‘fuckboi’ haircut. One wishes a particular haircut was actually the universal, defining feature of all fuckbois so one could avoid them from lightyears away. But sadly, that is never the case, Vir.
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However, being tone-deaf is clearly something one can expect from certain celebrities/public figures. Pooja Bedi, currently on a vacation in Goa, put up a video captioning it: ‘Life is not meant to be lived in Fear, suffocating masks & Concrete cages.’
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With the whole of Bollywood having descended on Maldives late last year and up until recently, we can also expect a lot of ‘throwback’ pictures.
Well, as long as one stays indoors, and even hones the cooking skills picked up last year while being under lockdown, and does those home workouts that make your lungs scream, we might get through summer of 2021 with a new set of virality, cringe or not.
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