Payal Rajput loses a loved one to COVID-19

Payal Rajput is heartbroken! She is coping with the death of her boyfriend Saurabh Dhingra’s mother, who succumbed to COVID-19 a few days ago.
Speaking about the death, the distraught actress told us that she is trying to find the strength to come to the terms with it.

“It’s shocking and shattering. Our families are totally dejected; this was something we hadn’t expected. It all happened too soon,” says an emotional Payal about the passing of Saurabh’s mom.

Giving us more details on how it happened, she says that Anita, whom she lovingly called ‘aunty’, had complained of fever around 1 May. “Anita aunty stays in Delhi. But Saurabh and I were in Hyderabad when she called and told us about her fever. But she had assumed she was feeling feverish because she was sleeping in an air-conditioned room for the last few days,” shares Payal.

However, in the subsequent days, Anita’s temperature went up to 1030F. Saurabh’s elder brother took care of her in Delhi. Then one day, she complained of breathlessness. Her oxygen levels were dropping too.

Even before Payal and Saurabh decided to fly to Delhi, they began trying to find a bed there. They are well networked in Hyderabad, not Delhi. “The number of calls we made were countless. We tracked social media, spread the word in our friends’ circle and outsiders, and activated all our contacts,” reveals the actress.

Payal Rajput and Anita

They could find no beds in Delhi, and Anita had to be admitted in a hospital in Sonipat only around 8 May. For the first few days, Anita was doing well and even seemed confident of making it. Apparently, she was also inquiring about when Payal and Saurabh would get married. But after two days, she again started complaining about breathlessness.

“We started to panic and coordinated with doctors over the phone, but the efforts to save her went in vain. She succumbed to the contagion,” rues Payal. Feeling guilty, she is blaming herself for not having treated Anita earlier when she complained of the fever initially.

“I’m kicking myself now; we should have admitted her to the hospital on the day she got fever, but we never expected that things will take such a dramatic turn.  The hospital and doctors too weren’t the best ones; perhaps a better treatment could have saved her life,” laments Payal.

The sounds of grieving silence

Even as the actress mourns Anita’s passing, Saurabh, she says, is inconsolable. “I am worried about his health too; the last couple of weeks have been very traumatic. He’s taken on a lot of stress and though he’s tried his best to help his mum, unfortunately, things did not happen as we wished for it to,” Payal states.

But there is something that Payal is unable to forget — Anita’s last words. “‘Please take care of Saurabh’, she had said. And those words are still echoing in my mind,” says the 28-year-old actress, who’s known Saurabh since school days.

“We were friends since school and both of us have been serious about each other for the last few years. Ours is a big joint family, and both our families were close and happy about our relationship. Now, my only regret is that Anita aunty did not see us married.”

Speaking of the atmosphere at home, she tells us that there’s pin-drop silence now. “Believe me, this silence is so scary,” she says. Encapsulating the entire incident, however, Payal advises people to get tested immediately if they have any symptoms.