COVID-19 pandemic and its after-effects can be understood as the singular event characterising and shaping the humanity in the recent history of human kind. As a bio-medical, health and epidemiological issue, COVID 19 fallout was disastrous in terms of global death rates. It also resulted into a global economic crisis. Terminologies like safe distance, social and physical distance, home isolation and quarantine; and most importantly the ‘new’ normal among others emerged during this time which became the day-to-day affairs of everyone’s lives across the countries and around the globe. With the advent of COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent ‘Great Lockdown’, people were confined to their homes. ‘Work from Home’ became the norm of the day. 'Home' became the 'work station'. From the gender perspective, the distinction between the public and private 'spaces' became blur and thus the household activities entrusted to the women increased manifold which resulted in the less time for their personal recreational activities. This had a significant impact on their mental well-being. It is important to underline at this juncture that for women, both paid and non-paid labour / work activities increased. The paper argues that in terms of leisure, women could not find enough time for their recreational activities and adequate resting time. As the entire family was ‘locked’ within the four walls of home, respite to the exertion and exhaustion was very limited to the female members of the family. In is in such a broad canvass that the present paper is located. Issues like the changing nature of work, transformation of ‘home’ from a personal space to ‘public’ / work space, leisurely activities being restricted or getting few outlets adding to the mental ‘burden’ of women are some of the issues discussed in this paper.
