A civic boss arranging for the cremation of the first Covid victim of his area.
The final moments of an old Covid patient, watched from close quarters by her niece and grand-niece.
Lockdown making things worse for a victim of domestic violence.
Several moving stories of grief, hope, generosity, and gratitude, all against the backdrop of the pandemic, were shared during a virtual session on Thursday.
The grand finale of a digital storytelling project, “Imagine Another World”, saw participants from across the country, and outside, come together on the Zoom platform to share their stories.
The project, a collaboration between StoryCenter, a digital storytelling campaign, and the US consulate in Kolkata and the US embassy in Delhi, has resulted in an archive of short stories — some written and some in the form of short videos.
The title is inspired by an article by author and activist Arundhati Roy, published in the spring of 2020.
At the virtual session on Thursday, some of the stories were read out by the authors and some videos were shown.
One of the videos was based on a story by Dhaval Jain, the municipal commissioner of Howrah, who is also the narrator. It was about the cremation of the first Covid victim in his area.
“The city experienced its first Covid death…. It fell on me to arrange for the cremation. So little was known about the virus that time, fear was everywhere. We found a crematorium slightly away from habitation. I visited homes of scared crematorium staff. They were unwilling to work. I sat with them and their families and said: ‘We cannot just turn our backs to people’. You have to make them feel proud to contribute.
“We had to pick up the dead body in the night. We asked the family members to come and see their loved one, from a distance. The family said no…. Around 2.30am, my phone rang. At the other end, someone was crying. She was related to the person just cremated. ‘God bless your team’ she said,” said Jain.
Ain Contractor, a 29-year-old architect, joined the session from the Netherlands to read out her story, centred on the last moments of her Phuppi (mother’s aunt), who was affected by the virus. Phuppi had given a name to Covid-19 — aasmaan beemari (sky disease).
“Phuppi passed away early this morning, after a long night of laborious gulping for air like a fish out of water. Mamma held her hand firmly, a guide through the invisible passage opening before her. Between sips of water, closely watching Mamma’s lips, Phuppi repeated after her the prayer of surrender to the Divine….
“Luckily, we did not need to wear masks around her, since my parents and I were also infected with the aasmaan beemari.… As a team we fought against fear and isolation to go about the daunting task of making peace with Death, a guest in our home. All night, we sat praying quietly around Phuppi, in awe of its presence. Afterward, a calm had come over the house,” read Contractor.
An official of the US consulate in Kolkata said consulate staff in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi nominated storytellers, who gathered in small groups during the fall of 2020 for a series of two-part, online workshops.
“The resulting stories, created by representatives from the health, education, government, journalism, civil society, and arts sectors, provide a window into how people in India are struggling, coping, adapting, and acting with compassion. They document poignant instances of grief, hope, generosity, and gratitude, serving as an example of a creative community of people committed to mitigating the impacts of Covid-19,” says a note on the project on the StoryCenter website.