Our Encounter with Omicron and the System

Keshav’s wrongful confinement in a mandatory institutional quarantine against the mandate of existing guidelines as far as I as a lawyer and my advocate understands and denial of Fortis to let him take a RTPCR test has been simply one of the biggest dark hours of my life. I for the first time realized what total helplessness feels like. I understood hopelessness in its full glory and got to know first-hand what happens to a system if is run by people who lack compassion, are apathetic and on top of that would do well with a bit of more integrity, intelligence and maturity. You feel trapped, dazed and actually disenfranchised. The feeling became much worse when we could not convince the court in the first hearing that the government should be asked to follow their own guidelines strictly. We had approached it as a last resort. I would have been happy if I thought we had been given a hearing and then denied what we were asking for. Anyway, that’s where we were, directionless and didn’t know what next. On the second hearing we got some respite and the court asked the hospital to do the RTPCR. We are feeling a bit relieved but still a little apprehensive after what we have been through and hoping for the best so that the new year brings much deserved freedom to my son. During the course of this ordeal, I found very few people in the system (who I had to interact with) who had a voice, a spine, some courage and also a pinch of integrity. To me though it was not a revelation but surely I didn’t expect the situation to be so bad. Voice, spine, courage and integrity together I knew would be rare but had no clue that it is almost near extinct. People want to save their own skin, can only look after their own interests and do their jobs in a clinical manner without any compunction, without having any regard to the fact that they are dealing with real people, like their own children and family are. It’s absolutely amazing to see how indifferent, insensitive, ruthless and drunk people can be on their authority without sparing a thought for a moment that everything is transitory including the power and authority they enjoy by virtue of the position they occupy. On the positive note, I found people amongst our friends and acquaintances who had the balls to stand with us, by us and who could find time from their busy schedules, in this hour of our ordeal. I salute them all and want to place our gratitude on record as without them, this journey would have been lonely and much more tough. Tops among them would be my advocate, Vikram Hegde. I hardly knew him, we worked together pro bono, on a matter, two years ago and kept in touch since then. A young, sharp and an articulate lawyer from National Law School Bangalore, who I bonded well with, when we met and continued to exchange news items, views and opinions on matters of mutual interest since then. When I didn’t know what next could I do to help my son, to get him justice, after having explored all possibilities which included meeting hospital authorities, bureaucrats and politicians and make them see reason, I thought of filing a writ petition in the High Court of Delhi. I don’t know why, the first name that cropped up in my mind was, Vikram. I know a lot of other lawyers and close friends who also I am sure could have helped but I chose to stick to Vikram for some reason which I also have no clue about. I called him and told him everything and without any hesitation and without losing a second this gentleman said he would help me and then in the next one hour we were sitting in his office. This was December 28th 2021 and Keshav had been inside the quarantine facility for five days. Vikram made sure the matter got listed after being admitted as urgent the very next day. I don’t have words to describe how respectful, sensitive and empathetic this gentleman is. He made us feel absolutely comfortable and gave us some hope at a time when nothing seemed to work. We discussed the pros and cons of approaching the High Court but decided that since the only downside is that we might not get the relief we are seeking. However, we thought that there is no harm in trying, as we stand a good chance to get some relief given the conviction we had about the merit of our case. Maybe we could make the court see our point and get Keshav out earlier than he normally would be in the messy circumstances that we were trapped in. Vikram had no reason to go out of his way, to do what he did. On top of everything he remained accessible to us all the time, open to everything we had to say, responded to every single message that we sent without any delay and was as committed and invested in the matter to get relief for my son as we were as parents. I could feel his sincerity. There was no personal gain for him in this matter, he didn’t owe anything to us but he became our biggest support system. Vikram please continue to be who you are and I bet you will go far. A lot of people have caliber and a lot of them are hard-working also but you on top of that have qualities that are hard to find and makes you stand out and the combination of all these attributes will take you to the top. Every day that Keshav was spending in that quarantine was like a slap on my face because I saw it as perpetuation of a wrong that was being done to him and as a mother, as a lawyer, I could not do anything. To me it was like incarceration and the court only could give the bail orders which it didn’t the first day of hearing. Our family, cousins, friends and colleagues from college, Oxford, work, my husband’s friends all tried but to no avail. Some of them rallied around us and called us almost every day and came up with probable solutions on their own and tried whatever they could. I never expected such an overwhelming support and so much concern and empathy. This goodwill kept us afloat while we were fighting a hopeless battle. Every dark cloud has a silver lining and ours was kind hearted, helpful people around us. After the court order today, which directed the hospital to do the RTPCR and asked the GOI and Government of Delhi to produce his G sequencing test, I can finally breathe and sleep easy.