Page 16 - Seniorstoday February 2022 Issue

Essay
Dead by Covid
Death has a right to its own valour, dignity and self-respect,
writes Vickram Sethi
My niece, all of 35, lost her husband to
the Covid-19 pandemic last year. He was
two years her senior and they had been
in love right from college. They also have
a daughter aged nine and his death was a
traumatic experience.
Once he was detected with Covid they took
him to the hospital. For two days, he was on
the stretcher lying in the corridor. Finally
a bed was allotted to him. Five days later,
he succumbed to the disease. It took eight
hours for the family to find a hearse. There
was a queue of almost 70 ambulances and
tempos waiting to carry the dead into the
crematorium. The hearse driver estimated
that this queue would take anywhere
between 12 to 14 hours before their turn.
He reasoned that waiting in the queue for
24 hours would mean a loss of business
and started demanding three times more
money. The poor wife and her sister seated
in the hearse, cried, pleaded and finally
agreed to pay the higher sum to get body
into the crematorium.
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For a moment, sit and imagine the trauma
of the widow. And for people like her who
have had similar or worse experiences
in carrying out the rituals of their dearly
departed during the pandemic.
The pandemic has changed every aspect
of our lives. For those who have lost loved
ones, their lives have been shattered. The
above-mentioned couple has a nine-year-
old daughter. How does one explain to the
little girl the empty seat on a dining table?
We often talk about building roads, dams,
irrigation systems, Chandrayan etc. etc.;
but we don’t have a comprehensive policy
that responds to the diverse and changing
needs of different communities in India?
As citizens we are truly left in the dark, to
deal with the endless formalities of death.
Everyone does not have the luxury of being
given their space to grieve the loss of their
beloved, and are left to face the burden
of bureaucratic traumas to add to their
trauma.
Death is phenomenon like no other. It