Commuters walk along a railway platform after stepping out from a suburban local train in Kolkata on Nov 1, 2021 as train services resumed normalcy after plying with restrictions imposed earlier to curb the spread of COVID-19.
(DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP)
It was Durga Puja season, the period when people in India’s eastern West Bengal state — and particularly those living in its capital city Kolkata — celebrate their biggest festival. This is the time when offices are closed and people take it easy.
I, too, went easy and I lowered my guard (or to be more precise, the facemask)… and paid the price!
On Oct 15, I went out with my family to attend a community program in my neighborhood and came back with mild body ache. I took a paracetamol 650 mg drug and was confident that I would be alright. But, instead of becoming alright, I started developing symptoms of flu the following day.
I was seized with a mix of fear, anxiety and apprehension. I let my neighbors know about our test reports. I wanted to ensure that they keep a distance from us until we become “negative”
I ran temperature, which was never very high — for 2-3 days. But the thought of catching the dreaded SARS-Cov-2 virus was distant from my mind because I had had two jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Nonetheless, I decided to undergo an RT-PCR test along with my 61-year-old wife, a retired high school teacher who had shown no symptoms until then.
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The idea was to remove whatever doubts we had in mind.
After the tests, the reports were emailed to us the same evening, and our worst fears came true.
Both of us were “positive”.
I must confess that I was nervous, not for myself, but for Kakali, my wife, whose health conditions are generally erratic and the body immunity perennially poor.
Kakali chastised me — always the fall guy — for bringing the virus home.
I failed to defend… as always!
I was seized with a mix of fear, anxiety and apprehension. I let my neighbors know about our test reports. I wanted to ensure that they keep a distance from us until we become “negative”. I informed my relatives and friends as well.
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Soon we began to be flooded with calls, emails and get-well-soon messages from colleagues, friends and acquaintances. Initially, constant questions about how “you got it” and “how you are feeling” were discomforting. But as days passed it felt good to be cared for.
Experts from the local COVID-19 cell of the government’s health department would make regular calls to enquire about our health. They sounded very caring and compassionate. They would list out the dos and don’ts such as checking our pulse oxymeter reading, eating well, drinking enough fluids and doing some breathing as well as light physical exercises.
Some of our medic friends pitched in. So did the owner of a local medicine shop, by delivering medicines at our doorstep.
Our daughter Nandana and son-in-law Atmadeep served food and other essentials, taking breaks from their work-from-home, while others would call and offer help.
We got ourselves “self-isolated” but never did we feel we were alone. I thank each of them for their concern and services.
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Staying at home can be nice for some time, but it can also be boring and, at times, depressing. We tried keeping ourselves positive and cheerful by distracting ourselves from negative emotions through music, reading, watching sports or entertainment channels on the telly.
Doctors advised us to eat a lot of protein stuff and drink plenty of fluids. My daughter and son-in-law would keep a tab on us to make sure we did.
We also did some simple, free-hand exercises to keep ourselves fit. We would do breathing exercises for a few minutes. I would try and think of something calm and serene, and slow down my mind.
Now, I am in a slow mode, not taking anything too lightly or too seriously. That is the wisdom I have acquired in the past one month.
The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.