I am guilty … God has punished me for my decisions,” Radha Gobindo Pramanik, 71, sighed as he looked around the big hall in his house where preparations were on for a religious ritual.
“Corona has taken away the people I loved the most. I am alone in this world,” he said with tears in his eyes.
Just 45 days ago, Pramanik had a happy family. His wife Mita was a chirpy and much-loved woman. They had a daughter Navanita, who lived in Ghaziabad with her husband.
The elderly couple was planning to bring Navanita, who was seven months pregnant, from Ghaziabad to Lucknow. They wanted their daughter’s first delivery to take place in Lucknow. They had spoken to a doctor and shortlisted the city’s top nursing home where the delivery would take place.
“Mita was very happy because our daughter was going to have her first child after nine years of marriage. She had so many plans. Right from the doctor to the cook she had made all arrangements,” Pramanik said.
On April 2, a day before the couple went to Ghaziabad to bring their daughter to Lucknow, they hosted a party at their home.
“A few days before the proposed party, my wife had a fever and a cough. I took her to the doctor who gave her medicine. Her fever came down. We thought it to be a seasonal viral fever.
Some of my friends suggested that we should get a Covid test done. But I refused because I did not see any Covid-like symptoms and her fever came down within a day,” Pramanik said.
On April 2, over 50 people came to their house. Mita greeted everyone and actively took part in the celebrations.
“The next day, we left for Ghaziabad. My daughter was very happy to see us. The mother and daughter talked the whole night where Mita explained the arrangements she had made in Lucknow for her delivery,” he said.
The next day, Mita’s fever returned. She was again taken to the doctor who gave her medicines. But her condition deteriorated and on April 6 she died of the infection.
“As Mita always wanted Navanita’s first baby to be born in Lucknow, I brought my daughter and son-in-law to Lucknow. I was confident that I would manage because Mita had made all the arrangements. My daughter also wanted to stay with me,” he said.