After two years with COVID-19, Kolkata reflects on losses and lessons

Pandemic has made residents of city look at life anew

Exactly two years ago — March 22, 2020 — a city that is perpetually in the celebratory mode plunged into an unprecedented silence. From planes flying overhead to hawkers calling out on the street, all familiar sources of noise suddenly stood subtracted that morning in Kolkata.

On the brighter side, this uneasy silence, brought upon by a precautionary lockdown announced by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was meant to last only till the end of that month. It was expected that by then, the only two cases of COVID-19 reported in Kolkata would have been dealt with and the city would be free of the deadly infection.

Little did one imagine — not even the city where imagination plays a key role in its cultural landscape. Two years on — while the planes are flying as normal and the hawkers are back, calling out with more desperation — Kolkata stood as scarred by the pandemic as any other metropolis in India. During these 24 months, West Bengal saw over 20 lakh people getting infected by COVID-19 and over 21,000 dying because of it, with Kolkata accounting for the bulk of these official figures.

Today, the city is reflecting on the losses and the lessons.

“Never in my life was I so busy as during the span of the pandemic. There came an unprecedented phase when I had to attend to above 50 in-patients in a day’s time, including the ones doing poorly in the ICU,” said Dr. Saborni Paul, who served as a resident at the Belle Vue Clinic during the first wave.

“The pandemic taught me to look at my job — with its share of stresses and strains — anew. Most remarkable was the geometric progression in the death count I stood witness to. It left me shaken, but somehow not shattered. The pleas of the patients as they unwillingly approached the final phase of their lives will remain etched on my mind for a long time to come. The pandemic taught me how precious time is while we are still alive,” said Dr. Paul, who was on duty in that hospital when legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away there due to COVID-19.

Deaths — not just of icons — and the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan altered the way Kolkata felt and looked. Not many could see the fallen trees at iconic locations, such as the Maidan, because almost everybody was home, either working or suddenly out of work.