Chapter 7: chapter 7

Meanwhile, my six monthly PhD coursework classes ran virtually. This came as a relief to me because I had to travel a distance of 70 km weekly twice to reach the University. It was twice that I attended classes in person after which there was a complete lockdown. I was also privileged to attend online seminars and conferences of renowned professors and authors in English. It was a lifetime achievement. I acquired many certificates to treasure in future. My writing adventures resumed actively.I had to supervise my sons in getting them up early in the morning for their online schooling. They were reluctant to get up and charged me if they found me adamant. Sometimes, I had to switch on the class for them, they gave their attendance and slept peacefully with their cameras switched off. It was no use nudging and shouting my lungs out. They turned a deaf ear to all my advances. I guess the teachers must be knowing well what was happening behind the screens but what to do online classes became a necessity for the sake of social distancing. Children are notorious creatures, they will forget all rules once they mix up with their clan. I had to keep a vigilant check on the clock to serve them breakfast and lunch and work according to their school hours. I presided over them like a strict headmistress in terms of punctuality.I was busy preparing dinner at night. A loud shrill of the warning siren of a hospital ambulance drove everybody out of their houses. I hurried towards my balcony to cast a look at the passing ambulance. The red warning bell was ringing aloud radiating a sparkling red light twinkling at the noise. People thronged outside curiously to find out what had resulted again. I gaped, "They must have brought a covid patient." Some schools and colleges were made isolation centres for the covid patients. Whenever a case was reported, special wagons came to escort the patient to the respective centres and the sight of an ambulance was a dread in society. It indicated death and calamity, nothing else. The ambulance halted at the last house in our street. In the glowing street lights and darkness of the night, I could see a dead body covered entirely with a white sheet carried into the house in stature by two men. I was dumbstruck, unable to grasp what was happening. In the blink of an eye, the ambulance left silently without beeping.People crowded outside that house to offer their condolences. I was still ignorant of the truth. A middle-aged woman was returning sadly from the crowd. I enquired her immediately, " Aunty what happened? Who died in their family?"She retorted gloomily, " The younger daughter-in-law in their family died last night while giving birth to a baby girl. They say she suffered from severe  bleeding which didn't stop taking her life at last."The woman's young daughter who appeared as a tomboy in her appearance standing beside her remarked," They should have admitted her to a private hospital. They claim to be wealthy but deliberately kept the bereaved woman in the government hospital. "A mature-looking man staying adjacent to our house, whose wife was also pregnant with her second child couldn't resist commenting," No! This is not the case. There is no space in hospitals to accommodate pregnant ladies. The beds are generally full. Everywhere, there are rapid tests. It's risky to select a hospital where there are no covid patients. There is no use in blaming the family for any irresponsibility. The government is doing its best to save the patients. Life and death of a human being are in the hands of God." He ended philosophically.