COVID Memories

"Madam, ye log mujhe andar aane nahin de rahein hain...."The woman's voice sounds frantic on the phone

"Why?" I ask.

"Bol rahein hain: aap aspatal mein kaam karte ho, isliye andar nahin aa sakte. Corona faila doge!"

"Bol rahein hain, baahar hi rahon...," her voice first rises in desperation and then trails off in abject resignation..."Roz aise karte hain, Madam...roz, roz...!"

I'm appalled. 

What the hell, I tell myself and feel the sharp spark of anger form at the pit of my stomach and shoot right up to my head. "What the bloody hell........!"

I tell her, "Security vaale se baat karao.....!"

The guard agrees to talk to me since I hold some clout in our RWA.

"Namaste Madam."

 I ask him what the problem is.

The woman is a nurse in the local district hospital and resides in our colony. The RWA of our colony has committed itself to protecting its residents from "Corona" and apart from drowning the entire colony in 5% sodium hypochlorite ( that's bleach), it has decreed that all residents working in hospitals must either take voluntary leave or live elsewhere. In pursuance of this policy, the security guards at the gate of our RWA has refused this woman entry.

I know he is only following orders but I'm fuming. I bark at him, " Aane do unko!"

The man knows me and acquiesces, after a brief war of words. He hands the phone back to the woman.

I tell her, "He will let you in now. Don't worry."

The woman says thank you and then bursts into tears. Through the phone, I can hear the soft sound of her tears and her incoherent words ring in my ears..."Roz aisa karte hain Madam, roz, roz...kya kya kehte hain...mujhe apne ghar mein aane nahin dete Madam... mujhe ghar aane nahin dete...."

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The Persian poet-saints from many hundreds of years back assured us:

"īn nīz bogzarad" or "this too shall pass"..

And so COVID will also one day pass and we will relegate it's memory to the very back of our consciousness as a big bad dream. But certain things about this disease, these times will never really go away and will continue to haunt us for many many years to come. For some it could be the pictures of migrant workers dying on railway tracks as they try to return home during the lockdown, for others it could be the wry humour of the tales of people stooping to fisticuffs over toilet paper rolls, for many it could be the poignant video of the COVID stricken old woman bidding her last goodbye to her family over video chat....

And for me it will be the sound of that nurse sobbing on the phone, "Madam, ye log mujhe apne ghar nahin aane dete...."

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