‘How are you, son?’ Woman calls up dead son from outside hosp

‘How are you, son?’ Woman calls up dead son from outside hosp

Yogesh Chawda & Parth Shastri TNN

Ahmedabad:  20.04.2021

Poonam Solanki, in her late sixties, stood outside the 1,200-bed Covid hospital at Civil Hospital here recently. A phone in hand, she was on a video call with her son Mahendra, 30.

“How are you son? Do they give you good food? I’m praying for your fast recovery from corona,” she told her son on the other side of the call. She hung up after asking him to get well and return home soon. The call lasted for over five minutes.

For any passerby, Poonam could have been one of the hundreds of people talking to their relatives fighting Covid-19 infection inside hospital wards — the only difference was that Poonam’s son had succumbed to the virus six months ago.

Poonam’s relative told TOI that Mahendra died on September 24 at the Civil Hospital and what Poonam sees on her screen is the last recording of the video call with him.

“He ran a milk parlour in Narol. He was hospitalized here for about 5-6 days before he succumbed to the infection. He was very close to his mother. She is aware that her son is no more but there are days when, overcome with grief, she slips into denial and comes to the Civil Hospital in a bid to connect with him. As she is mostly alright, we get her to the hospital and to the same spot where she last chatted with Mahendra.

“This gives her a sense of calm. We know it is not healthy but we don’t have a better way to help her handle her grief,” said a relative.

With Covid-19 unleashing an unprecedented tragedy in the state, there are many people across Gujarat who are left grappling with the sudden loss of their near and dear one