kolkata twelfth grader nafisa khondaker was seen at emall with her parents discussing laptop configuration with a seller she was keen on buying one that would help her seamlessly attend online classes at the same market it professional abhik ghosh bought a new smartphone to ensure his workfromhome needs were met without a glitchnafisa and abhik are among several students and young professionals who are driving gadget sales amid the pandemic when remote working electures and even virtual ptms are normswe dont know when schools will reopen there was a time when parents warned us against extensive gadget use now the pandemic has given us the licence to own the best in the market said nafisa a student of our lady queen of the missions school abhik admitted that a laptop and a mobile phone had become the most important things in his life over the past year along with reliable internet connectivity my phone wasnt properly working and i had to immediately buy a new one he addedwhile the covid lockdown took a toll on most businesses many shops at this chandni chowk mall made hay because gadgets kept the world going during the first wave the demand had plummeted but once wfh became the norm the sale of smartphones tablets and laptops picked up the demand is still rising said bhaskar bhattacharya manager bard roy infotech pvt ltdthere has also been a paradigm shift in consumer behaviour because of lifestyle changes with health and wellness practices gaining ground the demand for wearable electronics has gone up many people are buying smartwatches and fitness trackers that facilitate monitoring of oxygen saturation sleep cycle steps covered calorie consumption and heart rate among other things said suman paul roy an employee at bhajanlal commercial pvt ltdgaming peripherals are witnessing a huge demand too being confined indoors has prompted many to take extra interest in video games before covid we hosted instore gaming tournaments now we have expanded our presence online said amit dey an employee at republic of gamers an exclusive gaming store that opened in kolkata in 2016