S.P. Ramachandran did not quite relish the thought that he would have to continue staying all alone in a room except when medical personnel and support staff would attend to him. What COVID-19 could do to him did not grip him as intensely as the fear of loneliness.
“Having been placed in a separate room with no one to see and talk to, I was frustrated. The hospital took utmost care of me, making my stay extremely comfortable, but the thought of having to spend the days without anyone's company was disturbing,” says Ramachandran, who is 86 years old.
Knowing how much he loved to be around people, friends and relatives knew exactly how hard it was for him. At his apartment complex in Vadapalani, Ramachandran is known as ‘photo maama’ for his passion for photography, and also his efficiency in it.
Thanks to this skill and his amiable nature, he would invariably get invited to a birthday party any neighbour at the complex would be organising for their child.
Ramachandran was famous for striking up a conversation with strangers. After every evening walk in the neighbourhood, his circle of acquaintances would get wider.
“ Tatha loves to socialise and he would engage even with random persons,” says his grandson Rohith Kannan, a house surgeon.
From the word go, it was obvious Ramachandran would not be able to adjust to a private-room arrangement.
“In my frustration, I told a nurse ‘I think I will die’ and what I had said had been discussed. As the oldest among the COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital, there was already enough attention coming my way. Now, there was more attention. The next day the doctor who came to check on me opened the topic. The doctor chuckled and asked me my birth star and declared that I would live for 100 years,” Ramachandran laughs recalling how the doctor tried to cheer him up.
Within the next couple of hours, Ramachandran was shifted to a three-sharing room.
“My oxygen level that was fluctuating had stabilised by then,” says Ramachandran.
The fact that one of the two was his grandson's classmate, Reshma, brought a cheer in him.
For the next five days that Reshma's stay at the hospital lasted, Ramachandran found somebody with a patient ear. Two days after Reshma was discharged, Ramachandran also left the hospital, having recovered from COVID-19.
“But I was asked to be in home quarantine, and so I locked myself up in my room. This time, I did it voluntarily to avoid the risk of my wife and grandson getting infected,” he says.
Of course, he still found company, this time in books and classical music. The octogenarian says he has returned to following his usual routine, but with greater cautiousness.
Every morning, he walks inside the house for at least 30 minutes. Wearing a mask and a pair of gloves, he walks within the apartment compound in the evening for at least an hour.
Ramachandran says, “My apartment complex has no lift, so I have always been used to climbing the 72 stairs multiple times. I think all this keeps me fit and healthy, along with my will power, has helped me fight the virus.”
