Ensure All Is Not Lost

In May 2021, when Sulekha Sanyal, 37, a teacher at a private school in Delhi, lost her husband Arghya, 40, to the second wave of Covid, the pain was mind-numbing, but she couldn’t afford to be overtaken by grief. Not only was she the only emotional support for her nine-year-old daughter Aditri, she also found herself steeped in a financial crisis. During the first wave of Covid, both Arghya, who used to work in the tourism sector, and Sanyal saw pay-cuts and were struggling with their household budget and paying their EMIs, utility bills and their daughter’s school fees. After Arghya’s passing, she was left with a debt burden and a single-and-uncertain income. She was forced to borrow money to pay the hospital bills as their health cover fell short. “I am not a permanent faculty member, so, in a way, I was financially dependent on Arghya. The tuition fee for the...