On the Home Front
As a reporter, I have always preferred being out in the field, interacting with people over sitting in office. When Mumbai was a Covid-19 hot spot between April and July 2020, I frequently visited some of the city’s worst-affected areas, like Dharavi, as well as the civic hospitals to cover the pandemic. Over the past few months, I had travelled to Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region (a new hot spot),
Goa and Gujarat for work. Throughout my travels, I had managed to stay safe. On April 5, however, I developed high fever. Dry cough followed a day later. On April 8, an RT-PCR test confirmed that I, along with my wife, had Covid. We promptly moved to the hall area of our onebedroom apartment and confined our daughters— Raavee, 16, and Sharayu, 10, to the bedroom. I had, thankfully, sent my septuagenarian father to my uncle’s place in Jalgaon at the start of the pandemic last year. Now, stuck at home, I cannot ride my sports bicycle or my Activa scooter. Mornings, with no newspaper delivery, have become dull. My source of information and interaction has been limited to TV news and mobile messages. I have started reading Manohar Parrikar: Brilliant Mind, Simple Life by Nitin Gokhale. So, while my wife and I recover, Raavee is literally running the house—right from serving us warm water at regular intervals to taking our tiffin boxes in, washing dishes and taking care of her naughty but sensitive younger sister. Raavee is managing all this, along with her own class 12 studies, as well as Sharayu’s studies. Watching my elder daughter over the past few days has only strengthened my belief that daughters are the most precious things in our life. Another silver lining in the dark Covid clouds is the affection and concern that my wife and I have received from family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. I had initially tried to keep my illness quiet, but word spread and offers for help started pouring in. Their kindness has given me strength and I firmly believe that I will return to the field soon— with more enthusiasm and energy than ever.