TALES FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Fear, Fatigue & Loneliness
By Suhani Singh Senior Editor
For 11 months, I successfully avoided Covid-19. Then it came—with a bang. I had moved into my parents’ place for two weeks to care for my 64-year-old Covid-positive mother, a patient of hypertension. I tested negative thrice as she isolated and recovered. A week later, though, I tested positive. So began the process of first assuring her that she wasn’t to blame, for I had begun stepping out for office. Then came the ordeal of reaching out to those who I may have unknowingly transmitted the virus to. One contact had her 90-year-old father living with her; another a diabetic mother. As if my fever and body ache weren’t bad enough, the guilt added to my woes.
Having fed myself on a healthy diet of Covid-related articles for over a year, the fear was palpable, especially in the initial days. It didn’t help that I was quarantined alone in my one-bedroom apartment. People fled after leaving food outside the door. The only human being I saw for 18 days was the lab guy, Sainath, who visited to conduct the RT-PCR and blood tests. I am aware that it is a luxury to have space in a crowded city, but the loneliness made the recovery tedious. I didn’t have the energy to seek comfort in books or Netflix. Instead, I found it in breathing and stretching exercises. Once the dosage of medicines was
