Now, everything depends on us | Sunil Rajbhar | Unbiased Narratives
Not so dear COVID-19,
Bro! Why are you irritating us? Live amongst yourself and do not bother us.
The world seems to have stopped. When the first lockdown was announced last year, I was happy to get one week’s holiday from my regular classes. When this lockdown kept on getting extended, I realized that going to college was far better. At least it was one of the reasons to go outside. Plus, anything new feels good only for a short period.
During the initial days, I never went out of my house. I did not have any plans and I even stopped going for the workshops in our NGO ‘Dharavi Diary’. Few friends of mine made a group and we started playing ‘PUGB’ online.
One day, Nawneet Sir called me and updated me on the works of our NGO in those early COVID-19 days. Our group was distributing Ration kits to the needy people in our Dharavi community. I was playing games in my house but, after I started going outside, I was helping people. It was the right thing to do.
People in this area know me now. If anyone needs help, they call me and ask for it. I feel good that people know me as a person who will help. I was not much of a talker earlier. Gradually, I have learned to talk to people I don’t even know. My communication skills have developed and it is going to help me in future in getting a job.
But, there are times when few people want to hoard rations. And, some poor people end up without getting any grocery items. I find it weird that some people are just thinking about themselves. But, these tough times are also forcing people to just think about meeting their ends.
My father was COVID-19 positive last month. Within 1 month, we spent more than Rs. 2 lakhs on his medications and hospital bills. Now, vaccines are available in Private Hospitals for Rs. 250 and it is free in Government Hospitals. I think there is no problem with getting vaccinated and everyone should get it done. If we can avoid COVID-19 through vaccines, it can be done in Rs. 250. That is better than paying Rs. 2 lakhs.
I don’t think COVID-19 will go. It is going to stay with us. We will have to take medicines. It has been a long journey. Howsoever, our world and lives were before, it was good. We have lost lots of people. There are times when I lose faith in the doctors. There was a time when we used to address doctors as a form of God. But, 1 negative case or 1 negative story defames the entire profession.
At this moment, everything depends on us. We need to be careful and vigilant.
(Sunil lives in Dharavi, Mumbai with his parents, 2 brothers, and 1 sister. He loves working with electrical devices. As part of the design workshop with ‘Dharavi Diary’, he created a model of a car using scrap materials. To pursue this interest of his, he is pursuing an electrician course from ITI.)
P.S. Sunil’s original narrative is in Hindi. He is not very comfortable communicating in English. Below is the screenshot of his narrative in Hindi.
Dharavi Diary (Gyanoday Foundation) is a wonderful team of young change-makers who have been on the ground collecting the data of most vulnerable groups in dire need and distributing the essential kits to these families in need. To know more about them, visit: https://www.dharavidiary.org
