TALES FROM THE OTHER SIDE

COVID SURVIVORS FROM WITHIN INDIA TODAY’S WORKFORCE ON FIGHTING THE VIRUS, WHAT GOT THEM THROUGH IT AND THE REALISATIONS THE DISEASE BROUGHT WITH IT

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 onebedroom 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 reduced, I could binge on Korean crime dramas (50 hours of Stranger and Signal). But as my fatigue subsided, my anxiety grew. Part of it came from the awareness that the virus is mutating. I dread what this sneaky little pest has done to my body which is still trying to return to its pre-Covid form. I want to be able to walk my pet dog Aisha without feeling fatigued. I want to resume feeding the stray doggos and my Kathak classes. I want to step out without having to worry about being re-infected, which is hard given the number of BMC notices that hang outside nearly every building in my neighbourhood. I want to have a brain which is creative enough to come up with passwords not related to the pandemic. It feels strange to be part of a global statistic, to be labelled a ‘survivor’. My stint with jaundice more than a decade ago was worse, but with Covid, my struggle has been emotional. I hear from a friend whose mother is on a ventilator; another hoping his cancersurvivor mother is spared the worst; another nursing a sick husband as she begins to show symptoms herself. Covid may have left my body but it still lurks heavily in my mind.