The pandemic hit my country at a very odd time. It was the middle of my last semester and I was in the middle of doing my thesis. Thesis is always the best chance to prove your academic worth. When sadly, my bachelor's thesis was endangered in the middle of the corona outbreak. Did this influence my end result? How was I affected? How did I overcome? Did I even overcome!

During peak lockdown, I was in the middle of collecting data for my research. I was in panic when they announced “nobody can get out of their homes.” The first though that came to my mind was, how would I interview my respondents before the deadline. The second thought was, Will I even survive dying from corona to submit my paper! There were obstacles.

The first obstacle was to collect data. As a qualitative researcher, you need to be with your respondents. You need to observe the tiniest details, the smallest expressions. But I might not be able to collect data for my thesis the way I wanted to. I wanted to work with focus groups, because engaging in deep conversations expose certain dynamics of a topic. But with the new restrictions that are put in place by the governments all over the world, it was now forbidden to be with people, to meet up. So, I had to change my data collection method from focus group discussions and participant observations to in-depth interviews on the zoom calls. It came with hardships too. For example, it was tough for me to analyse body language, which is important for follow-up questioning. But that’s what I had to do. And that’s what I did.

The second problem arose when I wasn’t able to connect with my supervisor every day. Yes, I know, in the world of a global village, communication is not something we can complain. I am not complaining. But, I felt reluctant to communicate. I felt “what ifs” to communicate. What if I submitted my task too late? What if my work isn’t good enough? What if I misunderstood the instructions? Questions that I kept asking my head, not to procrastinate or avoid my work; but to satisfy the inner introvert in me who didn’t want to talk. Sadly, I couldn’t overcome this problem, and I had several events of miscommunication with my supervisor. But fortunately, she was a nice human being and a good supervisor. That helped.

Another problem I shouldn’t be complaining about was the lack of reading scopes. Growing up watching nerds in movies, I dreamt about sitting in a library with a one time coffee cup beside the books I was skimming through. I was never a library person, but that was a vague dream. Nonetheless, lockdown didn’t let me do that. Libraries were closed, nobody were selling coffee and people were too scared to care about their dreams. So I had to work from home which decreased my efficiency at a very increased level. I wasn’t enjoying the lazy me. But I had to.

Now. Did this really affect my result? I think, yes.

I couldn’t put my heart out to my thesis. I couldn’t prioritize my thesis as it deserved to be. There was lack of data. And there were so much scope of improvement. Although my CGPA didn’t get affected literally as my defence was strong and I got my expected letter grade, I would forever regret not being able to satisfy the urge to use the best opportunity of proving my worth.