Gurgaon: George Wilson (76) was jubilant. There was a spring in his stride when he walked out of Artemis hospital on Monday afternoon.
For a year, Wilson had been largely confined to home. The need for social distancing cut him off from his circle of friends, their hearty post-morning walk chats, and also church.
Williams, who was among the first to queue up for the
vaccine on Monday and received a Covaxin shot, said he felt this was a key that would reopen the doors to normalcy again, one where the old certainties of friends, camaraderie and Sunday church visits would return.
“Retired people like me need to socialise and be around friends, otherwise life becomes very dull. Last year was a washout. I missed meeting my bunch of friends at the club. I missed visiting church. I also had to give a skip to many social events and functions. This vaccine has come as a ray of hope. I’m expecting this Easter and Christmas to be much better than the last,” Wilson told TOI.
There were several
senior citizens like Wilson who queued up at vaccination centres on Monday, hoping to put a year of seclusion, separation and loneliness behind them.
The lockdown was especially challenging for Shefali Upadhyay (62).
She was in the city, but her husband got stranded in Pune. Their daughter lives abroad and could not visit. It was difficult but Shefali says the phase also taught her to live alone and accept the isolation.
“Initially, it was like jail. Husband stuck in Pune and daughter in Europe, the lockdown came as a shock for me. I cannot step out, had nobody around me for the companionship I longed for. There was no help to manage household chores either. But over time, it made me stronger. As relaxations came in, I started going for walks alone, went grocery shopping. In short, I learnt to be alone and enjoy my own company,” she laughed.
Ashok Kumar Sood sat pensively on a bench outside a vaccination centre. The 71-year-old Mumbai resident was not able to return home. He also had to give up his job. “I was working as a petroleum engineer. During the lockdown, I was asked to work as a consultant at a quarter of my pay. I refused. I couldn’t go back to my home in Mumbai. I don’t even know in what condition it would be now,” said Sood, whose daughter lives in Gurgaon and son in Dubai. Sood said he was hopeful of being able to travel soon.
A couple who were asked to come for vaccination on Tuesday at Narayana hospital said they cannot wait to visit a farmhouse their nephew has built in Kasauli. “The vaccination will allow us to reclaim the right to move freely and have the freedom to choose. It’s not that we longed to attend weddings and functions, but not having the freedom to choose was a very unpleasant experience. Throughout the year, I missed the warmth of touch. At times, you just want to hug your friend but Covid forbids people to do that,” said Renu Vahali (60).
Asha Rani (62) and her husband chose to stay indoors and avoid social gatherings. She said she was happy to get a vaccine. It was, at least, a start.
“We’ll take our time to return to normalcy. The good thing is we are safe now. That's a big psychological boost. We are not going to start socialising but we may take the liberty to move around a little more freely now. But this mask is here to stay,” she said.