Juhi Chakraborty (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 24, 2020)

While everyone is talking about how the elderly are most susceptible to contracting Coronavirus, and must be taken care of, Adnan Sami feels it’s equally important to talk about the mental and physical well-being of kids amid the crisis.

And that’s why the singer-composer says he’s being “extra careful and sensitive” in dealing with his three-year-old daughter, Medina, who, like many other kids, is at home for the past two months, and often gets irritable. “We don’t really talk about children, especially young ones. They watch videos and see kids playing outside and wonder why they can’t,” says Sami, adding that each time Medina says she wants to go out, “we immediately distract her”.

The 46-year-old says that even amid the lockdown, he and his wife, Roya, are ensuring Medina doesn’t feel deprived. They even celebrated her third birthday recently with a Frozen (animated film series) theme — from the cake to the decorations.

“Ye jo hai yeh guzar jayegi, and will become a memory. I’m trying to give Medina as much of a normal existence as humanly possible. I don’t want her to live in fear and paranoia,” he says.

Besides his daughter, ask Sami about what has been keeping him busy during the lockdown and he says he’s utilising this time “composing and writing” as he’s finally getting the kind of peace required for the creative process. However, he admits that initially he panicked a bit. “We thought, ‘Kya ye qayamat toh nahi?’ I slowly started attending to things that were pending in my personal life,” he adds.