Tryst with Covid-19!

Covid is becoming the part of everyday vocabulary as it has struck again, and this time unfortunately very strongly. Here, I shall be trying to share my experiences as Covid positive patient. When Covid came last year around this time, among countless others I too was scared, and the fact is that my fear was at another level. For around four and half months I could not dare to move out of my home. During this time a thought came to my mind that sitting home is basically a privilege which everyone can’t have. Then a group of my friends in my own village , many of whom happen to be teachers started doing some humble work in and around our village. Was this sufficient enough, no it was not. Should we have done more, yes, we could have. Did we do it, no we did not. When the number of Covid patients started getting down around September 2020, I, like many others thought that Covid is gone and that is where my complacency started. My complacency reached another level when I saw hundreds of people visiting different gardens, following no SOPs. I too started believing the theories like Covid is just another flue, lets us not take it seriously. It doesn’t impact the young much, so on and so forth. It is when I became a victim of this deadly virus. The experiences were not less than a shock for me because on day one my entire body was in complete pain. In my utter shock I immediately started informing all my colleagues and friends who had come in contact with me during last couple of days. When I’m writing this piece my second test has also come positive and the pain is going nowhere, although it is not as painful as it was on day first.

                                Covid which many of us, including me, had started taken non-seriously has virtually roasted me.  Apart from bodily pain, the most difficult thing I personally felt about Covid is that the necessary isolation can break you emotionally too. All of a sudden one is alone in the fight. This, I could find most difficult when no one is around you; even your nears and dears leave.

   

                I will be doing disservice if I will not mention the contribution of medical faculty. The moment my test came positive I started receiving calls from district Covid centre Bandipore and the person, probably a doctor, was very gentle and caring. I thought I’m talking to some old friend. Believe me it was reassuring for me. The district Covid centre by the help of CHC Hajin dropped pulse oximeter at my home. This, I only wanted to tell because my brother who is currently in Delhi who too was Covid positive just one week before told me that irrespective of lot of media hype that the Delhi government is doing this or that, no one from any government facility called him during his entire Covid positive period, and it takes minimum four days wait to get yourself tested that too in a private lab costing around 1200.

                We shouldn’t be complacent at all. The virus is here, it is not going anywhere. During my days as Covid positive the one and only thing which was disturbing me was that I should not infect my elderly parents during my home isolation. Because I was thinking if it could make me cry it is difficult for my parents to survive.

                It is important that all of us should try their best to avoid getting contact with this virus, believe me it is deadly painful. There is absolutely no need to put you and your family to trouble. If it has not struck you till now, that doesn’t mean it will never. It will knock you the moment you will lower your guard. So please keep your guard and let us help each other in these difficult times in whatever way we can.

Manzoor Ahmad Parey (Assistant Professor, Government Degree College Bandipora Kashmir), is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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