shalmali says thank you next to 2020 and welcomes 2021 the year 2020 has been about music knitting water colours cooking composting selfdiscovery and so much more for the artiste the talented multilingual vocalist who has given us chartbusters like pareshaan ishaqzaade daru desi cocktail lat lag gayee race 2 baby ko bass pasand hai sultan and so many more shares that this year has been about a lot of things some good and some not so throughout the last ten months shalmali has been a part of many virtual shows some for charity put up a series on her instagram released two original songs one english and one hindi for you during the lockdown she even shot a video for her english song regular during this time she tells us sounds like i did a lot this year i know but i just didnt feel happy inside a lot of times i worked out seven out of nine months but that didnt help feel good either some days i felt an overwhelming sense of aimlessness moving without cause some days i exhausted everything that could keep me entertained and distracted from what was going on inside my head i felt responsible for my people and i dont just mean my family but the people who depend on me for their livelihood i would tap into the minute of joy i felt when i finished a workout or a painting or cooking a meal and post a story on instagramwhile the year had begun on good note for shalmali by the last week of march 2020 things became unreal for her she shares 2020 march saw my troupe and i gearing up for a holi show that we were rehearsing for months preparing music choreography costumes lights and graphic design and then one morning we heard the show cant happen for public safety reasons digesting news like that is never easy especially when theres a collective energy so eager to put up a grand show but it wasnt over soon after we were in this indefinite lockdown nothing felt realfor a few months in the beginning of the pandemic and the lockdown shalmali felt like she was doing a lot better than the stories she was hearing of people and how they were dealing with this shift i took to cooking from knowing nothing in the kitchen to putting food on the table everyday baking actually understanding how to buy vegetables how much onions and tomatoes cost and im not embarrassed to say this because the truth is most people from my generation dont know either she sharesapart from this she picked up her forgotten hobby and also took to composting she tells us i picked up my fading hobby of knitting finished a home decor piece for my friends home a little toy for a friends son a baby dungaree a bunting for anusha mani and sangeet haldipurs home ive wanted to do watercolour lessons from this book