‘I want all of us to pray’
Newfoundland and Labradorians from India worry for family, friends
Vishal Ambaliya lost an uncle last summer to COVID-19, and another uncle was close to death in the pandemic wave decimating India, but is now off the ventilator.
And there are friends whose lives have been devastated.
“To be frankly speaking, I stopped opening Facebook because every day I open
I see at least three known people die,” said the Paradise resident, who came to Newfoundland and Labrador three years ago with his family.
“People my age, colleagues when I used to work in India, they passed away. Children of my friends who passed away. Like I was talking to my wife over here, we are just waiting for when our parents’ turn comes. It’s like that — it’s that bad.”
Ambaliya’s classmate lost his 11-month-old child to the coronavirus.
In India, from Jan. 3, 2020, to Tuesday mid-afternoon, there have been 17,636,307 confirmed cases of COVID19, with 197,894 deaths, reported to the World Health Organization.
The grim statistics began spiking in late March after a steady slowdown last fall.
Ambaliya’s uncle, who died in August 2020, 71-year-old
Shantilal Ambaliya, had an oxygen level of 95 per cent when he was admitted to hospital.
More recently, because of the demand on hospital beds, another of his uncles, Ashok Varia, 56, initially had trouble getting into a facility until his oxygen level dropped to 78-79 per cent.
“Finally he got a chance to get admitted into the hospital,” said Ambaliya, whose family is from Ahmedabad, in western India close to Mumbai.
When cases were low in recent months, people went back to a more normalized life, as vigilance against the pandemic dropped, he said.
“Everybody my age, 35 …. they thought they had become immortal,” Ambaliya said, adding people need to be cautious while waiting out the immunity periods for vaccines.
Ambaliya’s mother was visiting her son in 2020, but returned home.
“I am in the safest place on Earth and I wish my family was also,” he said.
MAXIMUM OXYGEN
Prem Nijhawan’s aunt, 85-year-old Swarn Kanta, is fighting for her life in Lucknow, about 500 kilometres from New Delhi, and is on maximum oxygen.
Kanta’s brother, Nijhawan’s father, Bhajan, who lives in St. John’s, is worried.
“We’re praying and hoping she comes out of it, that she gets cured,” said Nijhawan, who runs the Taste of India catering company.
“It’s more awul than what you see on the media.”
Nijhawan has lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for about 25 years, but brought his parents to the province in 2000. They are constantly messaging with friends and family in India as they monitor the situation there.
His aunt had both her vaccine shots before contracting the coronavirus.
Nijhawan said that despite the fact she has four doctors in her immediate family, it was hard to get her admitted to a hospital due to the demand for beds.
Kanta is one of his closest aunts and she’s been to the province to visit. Whenever they return to India, they spend a few days with her.
Some other relatives, fortunately, have had mild symptoms and recovered from COVID-19.
Nijhawan has a request to everyone.
“Stay safe, adhere to local authorities, whatever the rules and laws are,” he said.
MANY WORRIES
Rubin Deol, president of the
Friends of India Association Newfoundland and Labrador, is from Punjab and moved to Canada in 2013.
He said while the situation is grim in India, it depends on where you are located.
His parents are in a rural area that has not been as hard hit in this wave.
“We’re not sure what will happen a month down the line,” Deol said.
“So far, they have been spared.”
He said for the community from India in Newfoundland and Labrador, there is a lot of concern and everyone is staying in close touch with family back home.
Deol said India was caught off guard, which is a lesson for everyone on the outside.
As an only child, he’s worried that if something does happen, he can’t get back to India to be there for his parents.
“That sense of being away, the distance, is what gives you stress,” Deol said. “There are many like me.” He said the one good thing is that people are helping each other.
But he also hopes that one day India will adopt a Canadian-style publicly funded health-care system.
STAYING POSTIIVE
Aneesh Sasikumar’s family is from Kerala state in India. His mother has gone to stay with relatives in a small town where they have land and grow food.
He speaks with her every day.
“With regard to family and friends, I’m just waiting. There is uncertainty so that’s how it is. I am not worrying too much about it just because that wouldn’t help. What I can do is call and keep in touch with people, talk to friends and family, that’s literally what I can do,” he said.
Sanchita Chakraborty of St. John’s said the positive things that are happening — mosques and temples being used as temporary hospitals and taxis filling the void of ambulances — are important for the mainstream media to report, as are the recoveries.
She noted countries like Canada and the U.S. are sending supplies and equipment.
“Help is on the way,” said the Bengali-indo Canadian, who grew up in Calcutta.
“Hang in there — within a month or so things will be under control, my heart says.”
Chakraborty said her parents are both fully vaccinated and live in a secure building, but there are many millions of others living hand to mouth and who don’t have the capacity for social isolation.
“It’s easy for us people who have maybe savings and people who come from that privileged side of the society. It’s easy to say for the elite people to stay isolated and watch movies and cook good food,” she said.
She also noted the enormity of the task of managing a pandemic in a country the size of India.
“I have extreme compassion for India at the moment, what is happening,” Chakraborty said.
“I am extremely worried for my family, for my relatives. I want all of us to pray and send positive vibes to that country.”
RECOVERY NEWS
Indu Singh Matta’s parents, who live Rajasthan, and inlaws, who live in Andhra Pradesh, went to a wedding in Punjab state and her motherin-law contracted COVID-19, and had a fever for five or six days.
“Now she is doing very good, recovering very fast. That is a very fortunate thing for us,” Matta said, adding the silver linings are the vaccination rates in India and that people seem to be listening now to the pandemic cautions.
“I am wishing the best for them. Definitely, we are worried so much.”