Although experts believe that at a national level, the second wave of the coronavirus is waning, it has been wreaking havoc across the nation and has left the whole country in a dire situation. It has overwhelmed the healthcare system, leaving hospitals struggling to cope with the shortage of critical drugs and oxygen supply. The situation was so tense on the ground that people are not only struggling to find hospital beds, but also cremation spaces to bid goodbye to their loved ones.
But amidst all of the negativity, there were a lot of positive stories. In many instances, the youth of the country were taking the initiatives of providing oxygen cylinders and hospital beds to the people who were struggling to find them. There is also a rising force in India, one where every individual is stepping up to help the other, from people arranging oxygen cylinders to those in need, to social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook filled with voices of support.
It is said that humanity is the biggest religion and it was at full display at the cremation grounds of Bhopal where Danish Siddiqui and Saddam Qurashi were performing the last rites of Hindu COVID victims without worrying about their own lives. Despite fasting during the time of Ramadan, both of them were regularly visiting hospitals and ferrying dead bodies to the cremation ground. So far, they have cremated around 60 Hindu Covid victims whose families missed the funerals in the fear of getting infected. Some families couldn’t perform the last rites and rituals due to rules regarding Covid dead bodies and cremation ground.
As the global pandemic has brought a host of new experiences, including working from home, home-schooling and online socialising, it has also, unsurprisingly, increased the loneliness of all people. Panchkula is a town in the northern state of Haryana and there an elderly resident, Karan Puri was in for a pleasant surprise when the police came knocking at his door to wish him on his birthday. In a video that had been shared widely, Mr Puri can be seen striding towards the gate, saying, “I am Karan Puri, I live alone and I am a senior citizen.” But what happens next leaves him stumped. “Happy birthday to you!” As the police officers sing, Mr Puri doubles over in surprise, asking them how they know. He says his children are away and he starts to tear up. The police tell him there is no need to feel lonely because they are like his family too, before producing a birthday hat and a cake, which Mr Puri then cuts while the officers resume singing. Police say they saw a Facebook post by his children tagging them and asking if they could do something for his father’s birthday. Karan Puri has two sons, one settled in Australia and the other in Delhi who had requested Panchkula Police to surprise his father.
These stories of humanity, persistence and love convey us not to feed the virus of fear, but of love. To focus not on isolation, but on connections and relationships and not on differences, but on commonalities that unite us.
Visuals by: Rahul Haloi
Article by Pranjit Deka , The North-Eastern Chronicle
