New Delhi: 

She was turned away by three hospitals before she got a place in the fourth.

Her father Mohammad Sadiq, 86, now stares at two photographs on the wall – those of his wife Nuzhat and his daughter Nabila, who died within 10 days of each other. “I am a walking corpse,” says the former Jamia professor. “When my wife died I thought I have my daughter. Now all I have are memories.”

In hospital, Nabila was not told when her mother, also Covid positive, had died on May 7.

“We called every hospital in Delhi-NCR to get an oxygen bed. Her friends helped us get a bed at Fortis Hospital in Faridabad. However, her oxygen levels dropped to 32 per cent. After a CT scan, the doctor said her lungs were damaged,” said Nabila’s student Waqar, who was with the family throughout.

Nabila was a popular professor and was sought after by students of gender studies looking for mentors.

“It feels like we lost our mother. She helped so many people during the pandemic. We would talk to her and tell her that her parents were missing her, hoping she would feel better and recover. But on Saturday night she was put on a ventilator,” Waqar said.

While the number of Covid cases have come down after a peak earlier this month, India on Wednesday reached a grim record of 4,529 deaths in a day – the highest so far.

Her Twitter timeline tragically records her last few days, her worry over the Covid situation and her desperation after being infected.

April 23: “Too many deaths of knowns for one day.”

April 24: “Too young and known people dying due to lack of oxygen. Every day I wake up to a death news. Too much for the mental state. When will this end.”

April 26: “Pray the health improves by tomorrow. Thankfully fever has reduced much. Just this throat.”

May 1: “Pray for me and parents please. We sail through”

May 2: “At this rate no one will stay alive in Delhi atleast.”

May 4: “Any ICU bed leads? For myself.”

May 4: “Got it”

Professor Nabila Sadiq and her mother of Gender Studies at Jamia University, Delhi, both died within 10 days. On 3 May, he himself tweeted and requested for a bed in the hospital. He had got a bed with great difficulty but by then the infection had spread in his lung, he died on Monday late night after being in the hospital for 13 days.

Dr. Mohammad Sadiq, 86 years old, who has taught in JNU, has broken into the sorrow of wife and young daughter. When he came to meet them, he started showing the picture of his wife and daughter in the scattered house.

Both his daughter and wife are no longer in this world.

On 7 May, his wife Nuzhat died first and daughter two days ago. Dr. Mohammad Sadiq Ahmad says, “After the death of the wife, I thought that the daughter will cut off life with the help of Nabila and now she has only her memories.”