As the pandemic dust settles and India works its way out of the ravages wrought by the virus, there will be much to think about and recapitulate. Studies will be done and articles written about the many casualties; there will be forecasts of what is to come and an assessment of what could have been done better. But in the midst of these crucial exercises, history must not forget the individual – the individual who rose above and beyond their situation to reach out to those in distress, the individual who was confined for weeks to their room as the virus bore into them, the child upended by a new and solitary world and that person who was suddenly and cruelly thrust into a life without their loved ones because the virus had taken them away. Covid Tales will tell their stories. It will give voice to those who saw their lives unravel and found ways to deal with it. It will serve as a record of the heroism, generosity and humanity that people displayed during these desperate times. Because Covid Tales is about hope. It is about that indomitable human spirit that binds us together as a community.
We have conceptualized five categories that we believe deserve immediate attention:
Stories abound of people who rose above their limited means or sacrificed their health and time to help Covid19 patients and their families. The individual who used up their savings to help patients in dire need, the auto driver who allowed his vehicle to be used to transport people to hospital for free, the person who worked in a community kitchen to feed dispossessed workers, the police constable who helped families refill oxygen cylinders, the delivery boy who just did what he had to do even it meant he was putting himself at risk, the journalist with the unenviable task of reporting from hospitals and crematoriums, the health worker, at the frontline of it all, caring for patients, comforting hapless family members, finding no time to eat or even rest - all selfless individuals who helped strangers, friends, neighbours, only out of their own sense of community. Covid Tales brings all of them under one large umbrella to create a sense of how people, cutting across class, caste, religion, and all the other differences that keep us apart, came together, at no one’s bidding, to help those in desperate need.
The isolation room is a unique term in our modern world that will forever remind us of what we went through when Covid19 ripped through our lives. What happens to a person who suddenly finds themselves isolated – cut off, helpless, physically and mentally drained and completely dependent on the kindness of family, community or sometimes even strangers. These are first-person accounts of those who experienced the loneliness of isolation – what went through their minds as they faced their vulnerabilities, the coping mechanisms they devised in their solitude and what the bigger picture of their lives means to them now.
The first lockdown ever in our modern history was in 2020. Those of us who could, took refuge in their kitchens. Food became a common thread that bonded us. Our kitchens became our safe board for expressing our joys, sorrows, frustrations and it also drove home many things – that while we could be frugal, we could celebrate simple meals cooked with love. We shared recipes discovered a new love for home-cooked food and we sat together at the dinner table and found joy in those moments of togetherness. Many people had all their close family members under one roof, sharing a meal for the first time in many years? Did the food taste different? Was the kitchen suddenly a nicer place to be in? Or did it mean more work, more mouths to feed, more demands to address? Was it therapeutic to cook and eat and rediscover old recipes? Did time take a whole new meaning? These, too, are first-person accounts with pictures, narratives and recipes.
Research indicates that children are the most vulnerable in these almost war-like times. There are 472 million children in India under the age of 18 years, representing 39 per cent of the total population. Forced to stay indoors, unable to go out to play and meet friends, it should come as no surprise that the impact of the coronavirus has had a detrimental impact on their mental health. We say children are resilient but we know so little of what goes on in their minds. Covid Tales provides a platform for children to speak freely about what they went through – how they coped with a world that suddenly went silent, a world where they were forbidden from playing or jousting with friends, where the only interaction they had with their mates was through a camera. How did parents deal with having to care for their children all day long? How deep did they have to dig into their reservoir of creativity to keep them engaged? We will hear their voices too on Covid Tales
The devastation wreaked by the coronavirus has been so widespread that we all know of someone who has passed on because of it. Those less fortunate have experienced the loss of their loved ones; some have had their families wiped out without even a last goodbye. There will soon come a time for remembrance when a quiet grief takes over. If it’s time for you to open up your cupboard of memories, share them with us on Covid Tales. Send us pictures, stories, poems, love letters – anything that you want to share about the time you spent with your loved one. As we grieve as a nation, help us find strength in each other too, for as someone said, “The courage it takes to share your story might be the very thing someone else needs to open their heart to hope.”
We all have had to deal with grief, intense fear, anxiety, insecurity, loneliness, if not the illness itself as Covid19 raged through the country. Job losses, school closures, lack of social interaction, isolation, the death of a loved one - no one has been left unscathed by the virus. And the repercussions of the illness on mental health are only just beginning to unfold.
Experts Speak is a space on CovidTales that will deal with issues of mental health in the aftermath of the virus. We will have specialists address some of the most pressing issues on the subject and guide us on how we can deal with the trauma that we and members of our family may be going through. Some of our specialists will even be available to answer some of your queries.
Covid Tales has been conceptualized and founded by Hoihnu Hauzel, a journalist with decades of experience with some of India’s leading newspapers. Hoihnu, herself a survivor of Covid19, found her life turned upside down even as she and her husband battled the disease during the first wave. Among other things, they had to devise ways to keep their young son engaged as he found himself locked in at home, unable to go out and play or interact with his classmates from school. Technology took over their lives, but the vacuum that the lack of human interaction created, was, for Hoihnu, her biggest challenge. While she wrote copiously in isolation, she wondered what others were going through. What were their challenges? Who helped them cope? What went through their minds? She encountered doctors, nurses, attendants, patients and good Samaritans who sacrificed their normal lives without a second thought and just ploughed through to reach out to the desperately helpless. These were people that needed to be written about. Their voices needed to be heard. Hoihnu decided that she would tap into her expertise as a journalist, of gathering stories, listening to people, making them come alive for an audience. She decided to set up Covid Tales.
Sunil Raman, a former journalist with BBC World Service started his media career in 1990 with The Economic Times and worked across mediums and languages before he quit full time journalism in 2010 to start a new chapter in his life as a political risk assessment expert advising foreign clients on investment decisions in India. Raman now works in the field of development sector.
Abhimanyu is the Secretary-General of Smile Asia – a global alliance of charities with activities across 20 countries. Based in Singapore, he has over 23 years of experience in media, fundraising and general management. In the last 13 years, he had been involved in international programme implementation and fundraising coordination across multiple countries. He also dabbles in growth-stage funding of technology solution companies from around the world.
Sourish is a journalist with 35 years of experience behind him. He has held senior editorial positions in Mail Today (Executive Editor), Hindustan Times (Editor, HT City) and The Indian Express (National Features Editor), and been responsible for launching supplements in the Food, Travel, Arts, Education, Automobile and Real Estate. In 2012, he decided to become a freelance editor, writer and blogger and very soon gathered a large following for his articles and social media posts on food and beverages and travel, and for his hospitality webinars and curation of events (he is at present the curator of conferences and awards at the India International Hospitality Expo 2021). At The Indian Express, he was a commentator on healthcare and medical research -- areas that he is still deeply concerned with. He recently co-organised the Delhi launch of the EAT-Lancet Commission Report on Food, Planet and Health. His interest in food and its impact on health and climate change led him to co-found the Tasting India Symposium, a global advocacy forum, in March 2016.
Shalini has a decade and half years of experience in Corporate Human Resources including Learning & Development and Talent Management. An alumna of Lady Shriram College for Women (LSR), Shalini holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Delhi and a PGDM in Human Resources from IMT, Ghaziabad. Shalini is NET (National Eligibility Test) qualified and was nominated twice (2005 and 2006) by the Ministry of Education, Government of India towards the Commonwealth Scholarship PhD programme in Psychology, United Kingdom. Shalini is the mother to two daughters and loves to explore nature through her travels. She is a keen observer of the ever-evolving human personality through books and her interactions with fellow humans.
