Prahlad bid his last goodbye to his infant daughter Pari, just 150 days after she was born. Testing positive for Covid, she spent the last six days on a ventilator battling for her life.
Her inconsolable father told NDTV, "She was under treatment at the GTB Hospital... She must have been in so much pain but could not express it to us. The virus was so infectious and dangerous, it damaged her lungs completely".
The family did everything they could to save her. Her uncle even donated blood. "She was low on blood, so I donated my own. She needed A-positive," he told NDTV.
In Delhi's Old Seemapuri area, politician and social worker Jitender Singh Shunty has been helping families perform the last rites of their loved ones amid this pandemic.
He and his team at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal have carried out over 2,000 cremations during the second wave of Covid in Delhi. But Pari's funeral has been the toughest yet. "Humanity is dying, not humans," Mr Shunty told NDTV.
"The cremation of this child made us all cry," he said. "The fact that this virus is attacking the young is very dangerous, but what is more dangerous is not getting the right treatment. The girl was truly an angel," he added.
The family is inconsolable. Their 3-year-old son keeps asking for a video call with his sister. But photos on her father's cellphone are perhaps the only memory left of Pari.
Experts and doctors have repeatedly emphasized that the younger people are at a greater risk in the second wave of coronavirus that is leaving a trail of deaths in the country. The third wave, many have said, will be lethal for children.
Cardiac surgeon and chief of Narayana Health, Dr Devi Shetty, told NDTV, "There is a possibility that the third wave virus will predominantly target the children, mainly because adults are either infected or immunised".
The passing of Pari is a stark reminder of this warning.
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