Bharat Chand
An old person I usually saw on the balcony of his house near Golfutar holding newspapers early in the morning last year during lockdown is not seen these days anymore. I still pass by the same house every morning and move my eyes towards the house whether he could be seen as I used to, but my effort at spotting him has gone futile. A dog which used to sit by the side of him no more barks too and I assume the person either could have been shifted to another area or bed-ridden for the illness he was suffering from.
Few people in life leave an indelible mark and remain in our memory for long time. The old man with morning newspaper spotted at balcony of his house was once seen near his house trying to jog similar to other in the morning and was hardly making a long stride and was painfully grappling with one leg to move ahead. I guess, the man might have been suffering either from arthritis or had some dislocation on his leg. Months of exchange of gazing with each other ultimately broke the silence in one fine morning. I thought I should initiate the talk as I am younger and it should be me and I mustered the courage with some fear of not getting attended. I said, ‘Namaste’ to him from the road when he was sitting with newspaper. He looked me and responded with saying Namaste. Then, neither had I other stuffs to share with nor was I prepared to ask something relating to his life and to continue our conversation, I said, ‘Aaramai hunuhuncha?’ And he said, ‘Aaaramai chhu.’ Since then whenever I used to see him holding newspaper in his hand, I used to greet him. One day he was seen buying newspaper in the stationary shop and I thought to steal his time to know more about him as we had not much exchanged about each other. I went near to him and greeted as usual and on this day, he seemed more enthusiastic to talk and asked where I lived. I said, “Special Chowk, Golfutar.” With usual exchange of communication, we even talked about our area of interest too. As he was a retiree from the government of Nepal and was spotted reading newspaper passionately, I asked whether he was studying any book he was fond of. He said he had an inclination towards books and was much interested on the area of administration and diplomacy but these days he could not read because of the arthritis problem on his leg which did not let him pay attention towards the books he was passionate about. “Na sakinchha garikhana, na sakincha marijana budeshkalaima” the song by Buddhi Bashyal exactly matched his situation he was passing through.
The second wave of coronavirus also caught me and my family and was struck with fear not because I was heavily attacked by the virus but because if the situation demanded to be landed at hospital, we would have the same situation that others had been facing as most of the hospitals were not admitting the patients and were bereft of facilities like medical stuffs including oxygen cylinders. We feared that if either of us needed to be hospitalized, there would be huge problem to find out the bed. We tried our best to keep contacting to our knowhow working in the medical sector and finally our Mama, working at one of the reputable hospitals in the valley consoled us that if bed was needed, it would be managed and suggested us to keep our moral high. The virus had severely attacked my better half as she was having a relentless cough followed by fever however, the hope we had was that we would be safer as we all had been vaccinated with first jab of Vero cell, let alone my nephew. Two weeks struggle to win over virus was easier than I had expected owing to the timely advice and suggestion of the doctor we were in contact with. The doctor advising us during our stay on isolation working in Pakistan was so much amiable with the queries we made and responded positively without feeling burden of it. The precious advice of the doctor and the intake of Gurjopani, Besar Pani and other stuffs like ginger and multiple vitamins helped to heal the illness exponentially. Me and my nephew were the first to be freed from virus within fourteen days while the rest of the family members contaminated with virus however, had to go a long stressful situation for more than one month. They finally quashed the virus and got victory over it within 35 days of infection.
After quashing the virus, I resumed my morning walk, applying health protocols prescribed by WHO and took the same path I ever used to take. The house of the old man where I would see him holding newspapers could not be spotted for a week, neither did I listen the barking of the dogs and people’s movement in the house. I thought the members of the house might have moved from here to another place. Quenching my thirst to know about his whereabouts, I went to the stationary shop where I had met him once buying newspapers and had a surreal exchange of communication that ranged from knowing each other to liking and disliking of our area of study. When I reached at the stationary shop, the person selling newspaper was quite busy with selling newspapers and other stationary items as many had come to buy what they were in need of. After gazing over the headlines of the newspaper, I asked about the old man and his whereabouts. The stationary man who also had seen us having a lengthy talk in front of his shop casually greeted and revealed the fact that the person I was asking about has recently passed away due to the coronavirus. According to him, he was hospitalized for the Covid-19 treatment and could not come back to normal condition as he kept losing the oxygen level every day and eventually passed away, leaving memories behind. The old person surrounded by two sons staying out of the country could not pay last tribute to father as the country they were residing had gone into lockdown. The image of the old person still haunts me and makes me emotional thinking about his face accompanied ever with a reading glass. Bidding farewell to the old man I have a good memory of, is quite difficult and want to tribute this poem by Anne Bronte in his passing:
Farewell to thee! but not farewell
To all my fondest thoughts of thee:
Within my heart they still shall dwell;
And they shall cheer and comfort me.
[Bharat Chand is an independent researcher with M.Phil. in English from Pokhara University.]