Currently, the environment is highly hostile even for the people staying inside their houses. So Hatke Story has brought this ‘Tales of Corona Survivors’ series to spread positivity and awareness among the crowd. We will be featuring social workers, corona patients, doctors, and their families in this series. Only to tell you what is going on the ground.
To add to this series, we got connected to Monika Arora. She resides in Chandigarh with her family. Monika is a social worker. For the last many years, she has been working for the betterment of Indian society. She tested positive for corona in August. So she had to isolate herself. Monika is the only lady in the house and had a kid to manage. No one came forward to help her in the dire situation.
One of the biggest challenges she faced was getting or cooking food for her and her family. That was the time she decided to work as a corona warrior by cooking and delivering food to corona patients and their families. During the peak of the pandemic, she was delivering some around 300 plates daily. Now, when things have subsided, she is cooking approximately 120 meals each day.
We wanted to know her journey and appreciate her efforts, so we connected with her to know more about her life and experience. So here is another covid story for you. Let’s hear it from her.
Monika Arora – My Story
I’m Monika Arora. I was born and brought up in Rajasthan. Since childhood, I was always attracted to Civil Services, and I aim to be a part of the profession. There were restrictions and responsibilities on my head as a woman, so joining as a Civil Servant remained an unfulfilled dream. After growing up, I realized that there are many other ways to serve society and civil services are only a part of it. So I began to work as a social worker.
The journey started at my college. Our college canteen’s cook was in bad shape economically. That’s why she wasn’t able to sponsor her daughter’s education. We collected money to fund it. Then I joined NSS and attempted to do little things.
Time passed, I got married and became a mother. My daughter was only one year old when I told my husband that I wanted to do something meaningful with my life. He is a very supportive man, so he agreed without any objections.
My journey as a social activist began, and I joined the Jago Nari Organization in Rajasthan. However, it turned out tricky as they wanted me to work for slum areas but keep the funds to themselves. You cannot work without funds. So obviously, it was impossible to continue further. Then I created my organization, Woman Power Society. I went to slums areas to provide education to poor children. I distributed sewing machines to promote women’s occupation and did other things to improve them. It took me a while to establish it as an NGO, but it was successful.
In Hanumangarh, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was raped brutally. We protested against it, and within 24 hours, the culprit was arrested. They wanted to hamper the justice process, but they couldn’t do it due to the pressure. Within 72 hours, he was punished with a lifetime prison sentence. The little girl was in an abnormal condition as the incident had destroyed her uterus. We took her responsibility and paid for medical expenses and other necessary things.
After a while, we relocated to Chandigarh as my husband set up his business in the city. However, I didn’t want to give up on my NGO. So I went on to register it on a national level. Working in Chandigarh was a different card game put together. While getting into it, I thought high societies were better than rural areas.
They are modern, educated, but I was wrong. High society can give tough competition to rural mentality, especially regarding cruelty, narrow mindset, and gender discrimination. I have seen well-educated families beating their daughters-in-law, asking for dowry, pressuring women to give birth to a boy child, restricting love and inter-caste marriages, supporting female foeticide, etc. All these things do exist in urban areas too. That’s where we need to work.
Then I began to work in Chandigarh and to promote the service. I connected with other social activists who had a similar mindset. Through social media, I got in touch with many other people who wanted to serve society. They joined the NGO, and we took the progress to the next level.
I started appreciating and awarding my team members through national-level awards to boost their morale because social activists aren’t hungry for money but admire respect and recognition. After seeing this, other people also volunteered who were never into social working. I got a bigger team, and through their help, we covered many states of North India.
What I can tell from my experience, people in our society are very harmful. For example, I have heard the meanest comments by them. Some people said, ‘She doesn’t have anything else to do. There is no other job.’ ‘She goes to slum areas daily. Who is managing her house?’ Many other things have been said, but I never prioritize them. I loved my work, and all these things never mattered to me.
After a while, my work took a different route as I decided to help transgender society. I went to meet these people personally to know more about their problems. Post the conversation; I realized we had never done anything for them. The leading society has always boycotted this section. To bring some change, we filed a PIL in Supreme Court that included demands and rights for transgender society. The case is still in court.
My journey as a covid warrior started when I got infected, and no one was ready to help. My sister used to live nearby. She went away when she came to know about it. So arranging food was a big challenge. As I told you before, I have a toddler in my house, and I couldn’t afford to infect other family members. I was the leading lady of the house who used to manage house affairs. So it was very challenging to get food in those days. My plight motivated me to work for other covid infected patients and families.
Apart from this reason, there was an incident that shook me to the core. It showed me an accurate picture of the current scenario. During the second wave, I received a call from my friend’s husband, and the conversation went like this. ‘Monika Ji, I’m covid positive, and that’s why I’m isolated at home. My wife was also positive a while ago. Now, she has suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalized, but I cannot check on her. Can you please visit the hospital to check on my wife? I’ve been following your work on social media, and I’d be grateful if you could help.’
I was shocked after hearing his request. I didn’t know my friend was corona positive.
‘Is there no one in your family or relatives who can visit the hospital?’ I asked. ‘No, there is no one in my family, relatives, and friends. Everyone has denied, and that’s why I called you.’ It melted my heart, so I agreed to visit her. The next moment, I got a call from the lady’s best friend who said, ‘Monika, don’t go to check on her. All of us have denied doing it. You have a daughter to look after. I don’t want you to suffer.’ Her statement was heartbreaking because they were best friends. That’s how you treat your best friend. I ignored her comment, and I went to the hospital.
Half an hour later, she lost her life. It was a horrifying point in my life because she was young, healthy, and energetic. If she can die then, anyone can die. She had a loving family, but there wasn’t a single person to look after her. That was a grave and eye-opening fact. I called her husband to tell him about her death.
Her husband said, ‘I cannot come to take her dead body. Can you perform her last rites?’ I replied, ‘How can I do it alone? Why don’t you send your son? He should do it.’ What he said shocked me more.
‘Sorry, what if he gets covid? I cannot risk his life’ It infuriated me because I was risking my life for them. Then I firmly said, ‘What if I get infected? My life doesn’t matter? Anyways, I’ll cremate her body, but please send someone.’ Then the lady’s brother agreed to attend her funeral. Five hours later, he arrived as he lived in Delhi. We cremated her body together. At that moment, I realized that Coronavirus hasn’t only killed humanity and ethics but relationships too. The pandemic couldn’t have done more damage to us. From this point, I decided to work as a covid warrior.
I helped arrange cabs for covid patients, rations, medicines, oxygen, hospital beds, food, and money. However, my sole focus was on providing food to covid patients and their families. So they don’t go out and infect others. Luckily, my husband supported me in doing everything. Every morning I’d cook, and he’d get me vegetables. We’d pack and deliver food together. So he was always on my side.
Earlier, in May, we were delivering 300 plates per day. However, in June, the number went down, but it’s substantial now. May was horrific for all of us. You know what, sometimes people are not even thankful. There are exceptions, but they do behave rudely. Though I never consider their mean remarks. I only focus on my work. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I see happiness and relief on their faces. Once a couple came to meet me after reading my story in the newspaper. It touched my heart. So I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.
In the end, I want to say if you are willing to help, then please look around and support people who need it. Please stay careful, follow suggested guidelines, and help others as much as you can. Stop people from spreading the virus to others. That’s my message for you.
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