For Chitrangda Singh, it was the serenity of Himachal Pradesh that gave her a sense of solace during the bleak times of the second wave of Coronavirus crisis. The actor spent most of the lockdown in her secure bubble with her family at her friend’s shut B&B in Tirthan Valley. Now, after a month of seclusion in the hills, she’s back with a renewed energy and new perspective towards life.

“We decided to go out of the city because of my parents. They’re at a certain age and have other health issues, too. We kept hearing all sorts of stuff, and things were getting pretty tough at that time. So, we decided to take my parents, brother and the kids to my friend’s place in Himachal. We spent a good one month there just to be safer,” shares Singh, who returned to Gurugram, Haryana, earlier this month as the cases started to decline.

Interestingly, more than the panic, it was the logistics and availability of the place that drove her decision of escaping to the hills. “Himachal didn’t stop tourism as long as all the paperwork was in place, and Covid tests were done. While we were there, we had no other place to go, so we stayed in our bubble,” she adds.

For Singh, 44, what started as a “forced holiday”, gradually turned out to be the “best days of her life”. Away from the internet, she got to spend the days walking by the river, enjoying the breeze in her hair, fishing, cherry picking, and sometimes passing time “doing absolutely nothing”.

“It was the best thing that I could have done to myself. Just the whole idea of spending time with nature... the experience was completely different from anything that we do otherwise. It was calming,” she muses, adding, “It kind of roots you and makes you feel that being on a magazine cover isn’t everything, not to discount what I do for work. I love what I do. But this experience gives a certain perspective on things, which we often tend to miss out on.”

At a time when the news channels and social media was flooded with negative stories, taking a break proved to be good for her mental health as well.

“I’m not saying that I was going through any real stress as compared to what others were facing, but just the fear and cluelessness due to the crisis also takes a mental toll, and affects you,” says the actor, awaiting the release of her film, Bob Biswas.

On a parting note, Singh expresses delight about things getting better and opening up, but warns people not to “start celebrating early, and drop caution”.