Nothing more tragic than losing parents to Covid at young age

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 1

Speak to anyone and you only get to hear stories of loss and despair. People have lost their loved ones to this global catastrophe and are going through a lot. In all this melee, children are the worst affected, as they are losing their parents at such young age.

One such family from Chhokra village in Jalandhar is coping with the loss of their beloved family member due to Covid. Baljeet Kaur, a housewife, succumbed to the virus and left behind a 12-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter. Kaur was their strength and the family’s backbone. Jaspal Singh, Kaur’s husband, who works in an agriculture workshop and repairs machines, said life is not the same anymore, especially for his 12-year-old son Navjot Singh, who comes under the ‘intellectual disability’ category, after his mother’s death. Singh said his son doesn’t have major problems, but still is ‘slow’ compared to others.

“Ever since his mother died, he keeps remembering her. He was also dependent on her for studies and other works. His mother used to sit with him during online classes because he would face difficulty while understanding online,” he said, adding that both shared a special bond. Now, his elder daughter does the job. She sits with him and teaches and guides him in his studies.

Jaspal said after his wife’s death, he realised that a mother’s void can never be filled. He said Baljeet died 17 days after she was admitted to a hospital in Ludhiana. “Her health deteriorated and doctors couldn’t save her life,” he said, adding that people must take care of themselves because those who lose their family members understand the pain deeply.

In another heart-wrenching incident from Ladra village, two children — aged 7 and 3 — lost their father to Covid. As per the information, the father had some trouble finding a job amid the pandemic and this was troubling him. He died in the month of March.