Severely hit by coronavirus, when the world almost came to a standstill, a few vloggers from Odisha managed to adapt to the new normal and stay afloat
Arindam Ganguly, OP
At a time when the pandemic brought the world economy down to its knees, the vloggers’ community in Odisha not only negated its adverse impact, they managed to create livelihood opportunities for others.
A few of them tell Sunday POST how they adapted to the new normal and turned the tide in their favour.
Popular food and travel vlogger Rohit Srivastava, said, “Lockdown during the pandemic was tough for everyone and more so for content creators like us. I had no option to visit new places and entertain my audience.”
He tried to create content from his home on topics like cooking, storytelling, reviews and a few other genres which he didn’t venture into earlier.
“I made a few quarantine vlogs. I did daily vlogging during the first 21 days of the lockdown and shared interesting snippets of my life and it worked. That was a dark phase but I too was determined to fight back.”
However, now things look better and I have resumed touring. It feels good to be back at what you enjoy doing,” Srivastava said, adding, “I recently went on a trip to Balasore and it happened to be the first trip after things got better. Nowadays, I prefer driving to a new city instead of taking a train or a flight
Another food and travel vlogger, Just Vish, said food vlogging was severely hit due to pandemic as it was not safe to visit street food joints in crowded locations. “I mostly choose to visit one popular eatery soon after its opening. This ensures that the food is fresh, hot and free from contamination. Being early also ensures there are less people around. Besides, I stay away from places where the food server and cash counter guy is the same person.
“During the lockdown period I decided to experiment with making dishes I love. I created a new channel exclusively for this type of content titled JustVishEATS. I am happy that the concept was a success.”
Biker and travel vlogger Mr. Speed said, “Earlier whenever we used to travel we interacted with fans and the locals which was not possible during the lockdown. So, we had no option but to adapt to the new situation and rework on our survival strategies. Fortunately, our hard work paid off and we managed to survive the dark hours.”
Travel vlogger and film critic Kalkee Krushna said, “In last few years vlogging has occupied an enormous place in the media industry. People are not only consuming the vlogging content for fun and time pass, but also to gain knowledge. Social media platforms have created some place for all kinds of content creators. People started using their social media accounts to showcase their interest and talent, consequently cooking contents are much in demand. Most of the people learnt cooking from vlog videos. And more than any newspaper or TV channel, online vlogging platforms have given the audience more ground reports on COVID-19.”
Food and travel vlogger Asambhava Shubha, Founder of Zaikaana, a food and travel storytelling channel said, “COVID 19 has dragged us out of our comfort zone and reinvent. If we talk about vlogging or filming, it has opened up opportunities to make use of limited spaces in more creative ways.”
“I tend to travel minimal when I have to. So, the physical contact is less. Also, I try and give a gap of at least 20 days before travelling for a story to another location so the precautions are in place.” Shubha said.
There are many who started vlogging during the period of restrictions. Jayanta Rout and his wife started a vlogging channel Mr and Mrs JKR vlogs during the lockdown. Jayanta said, “We were not a daily vlogger, we usually shot when we travelled to any new place, but going out was impossible during the lockdown. So we came up with some funny content like vines and also some vlogs which can be shot inside the house. Yes, it was difficult as we were just starting our vlog at that time. We never focused on the number of views, but on things that can make people laugh. So even with a smaller number of viewers we were creating a weekly vlog during the lockdown.”
Even comedians took to vlogging during the lockdown to battle depressions. Humourist Satyabarta Mohapatra said, “Vlogging, for comedians, is relatively easier. It’s more like just showing the whole world your real self when you are off-stage. Famous comedians have a dedicated fanbase who want to know more about their lifestyle and what they do in leisure time. So I guess vlogs solved this purpose and helped us overcome depressions when we were idling.”