Are you aware the pandemic is over?

Do you know the corona virus can't make us sick anymore let alone kill us?

Well, I wasn't.

The country has opened up almost completely and if the traffic on the roads and the people in restaurants and public places are anything to go by it seems like everything is back to normal.

With the lockdowns gone, so is the virus, the masks and the social distancing norms.

And while I agree panicking about is also not good, dismissing it after months of freaking about it is something I don't quite get.

The virus came calling on our family's door just 2 weeks ago taking away with it a special soul, leaving behind it, a trail of grief, misery and regret.

Maybe that's why I don't comprehend what is happening around me.

It has taken me weeks to post my thoughts about what happened. I resisted doing it, something in me holding me back.

But I also know how important it is for the world to take the pandemic seriously and now that most of us for some reason or the other have stopped bothering about this deadly disease, I was compelled to share it today.

Death came calling on our family door two weeks ago. The light raps at first were not loud enough to awaken us from our slumber. But then the knock came again, sharp, thunderous - thumps - that jarred us all out of our sleep.

As we blinked groggily, bewildered and lost, death quietly sneaked in, snatching away a special soul, leaving behind it, a trail of grief, misery and regret.

By the time everyone opened their eyes and realised what was happening it had already done its job. And however senseless it all seemed it was a reality we couldn't hide from.

The virus had finally found us and there was nothing we could do about it.

It didn't choose a target who could fight and survive against it but an easy target, someone who didn't have the strength to put up a fight, plagued as he was with other ailments.

Nothing made sense till it did. Death in the disguise of the coronavirus had made its entry and consumed not one life but the life of all connected to that special soul.

Born with Down Syndrome, the special soul, my husband's nephew, had lived his 22 years in a home full of love and affection.

He saw life through those mystical eyes only a special few can with his parents and his elder brother holding his hand every second of every day since the day he was born.

He was different from most, 22 years old in body but a little boy of 5 at heart, living in a world of his own. He grew up not wanting much except love and attention from his family and a ride every month in the auto rickshaw to the toy shop to buy his favourite toy truck.

He had found joy in small things for he knew nothing about greed, money, ambition, envy, competition regret, guilt.

All he wished for was your time, love and a toy truck.

His specs are still on the bed where he last put them. He won't be able to see, his mother wailed. He wanted to wear the kurta pyjama I had bought him for his brother's wedding and I didn't let him, she howled.

We should have done more, the doctors should have saved him, why didn't we take care of him better, why did the virus make him its target?

Questions that will remain unanswered that only serve the purpose of tormenting those who didn't lose hope till the very end.

He is just memories and regrets now for the ones he left behind. Once the fact that he is never coming back sinks in finally, it is the parents whose worst nightmare has come true will have to live with their grief.

Something in them died with him the day they lost him forever.

The only way to honour his memory would be to imbibe his simplicity and ordinary wants.

Please take care and stay safe!