“Now I am become Death”

THE immortal line from the Bhagavad Gita goes on to be translated as “Now I become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.

- Dilip Bobb

We are seeing this now as Covid-19 and its many mutations and variants sweep across the globe, bringing death and relentless destruction. Nowhere is this destroyer of worlds more visible and devastating than in India, where we collectively face a health crisis of unbelievable proportions. Not in living memory have we seen such widespread misery and helplessness. I have experienced this firsthand when a close friend of over four decades, passed away last week. The tragedy was compounded by the fact that when he was infected by Covid-19 and his oxygen levels started to plummet, we, his many friends, and relatives, were unable to help in getting him admitted to hospital in Gurgaon, where he lived, and died, or in Delhi, the country’s capital! Not a single hospital bed was available anywhere in the National Capital Region. I spoke to a senior doctor at a well-known private hospital and he told me that no one could get in because the Emergency entrance was blocked by angry, unruly crowds desperate to get relatives admitted. It has become a law and order problem, not just a health issue he said wearily, confessing that he had been on his feet for 14 hours at a stretch without even a bathroom break.

Funerals are where we honor the dead and to be denied that is perhaps the biggest heartbreak of all. I was not able, or permitted, to bid him goodbye, to pay tribute to our enduring relationship.