Final journey takes a detour in corona times

In the BCE (not Before Christ Era but Before Corona Era), life was a journey full of crests and troughs and twists and turns that knew no bounds. But in AD (not Anno Domini but After Deadly corona), it seems the Covid-19 pandemic is posing more challenges to life as well as to death.

The mantra of social distancing is no doubt saving numerous lives but has also created multi-layered grief in the event of lthe oss of someone near and dear. If God forbid the cause of death is Covid, the next journey of the funeral to procuring death certificates and then to settling insurance claims is undoubtedly an arduous one.

On the other hand, even though it is a natural death Covid-19 is still looked upon with suspicion by one and all. Our family recently faced this dilemma when we lost someone dear to a brain stroke. The first question in each mind was: “Was it was a corona positive case?” As a precautionary measure, even the hospital authorities suggested we take the mortal remains straight to the the electric crematorium and not home.

In these times of lockdown, finding even four people to shoulder the coffin was a challenge. It was a funeral without any mourners lacking friends and family, all of them were denied the opportunity of even bidding a final goodbye to their loved one.

What we’re seeing at the moment is a generalised sense of grief across the world – not just for those we’ve loved and lost, but for our own ability to get on with our lives. This veneer of grief is massively compounded when families lose someone they love. It’s grief upon grief. If you are unable to attend their funeral, it’s yet another layer of grief.

We fear life, we fear closeness, we fear sneeze, we fear cough and now we even fear someone our very own who has just left this world.

Though we entered a new millennium (the so-called Google era) two decades ago, we had never dreamt distantly that a day will arrive when we will be attending a cremation virtually. Some of the mourners who could not join the online cremation suggested a virtual prayer meet. We gathered for the condolence meeting but missed the personal Indian touch of a hug to the bereaved family. It seemed like a custom that was once upon a time.

An invisible virus had made us transit from the real to the virtual world. With the data connection failing many times and the recital of the Gayatri Mantra in the absence of any pandit, we prayed for the departed soul. Thanks to technology, we were at least able to connect in these tough times.

But the next question was about the ashes. Will it be technology to our rescue again or will we sprinkle the ashes in the soil so that we can pay back to the environment even after death and hope not to pollute our rivers that are brimming clean in this Covid period.

While we pray that the departed soul rests in peace, we also look forward to the day when hugs will be a reality again.

WE FEAR LIFE, WE FEAR CLOSENESS, AND NOW WE EVEN FEAR A DEAR ONE WHO HAS JUST LEFT THIS WORLD