Sad tales of parents dying and leaving children orphans

KARIMNAGAR: The second wave of Coronavirus is devastating many families and claiming the lives of their breadwinners. Deaths of two to three persons in same family are also being reported from several areas of erstwhile Karimnagar district, often leaving their children orphans.

Those in between the 35-45 age group are among the worst affected. In Peddapalli district, couple Kudikala Mallesh (38) and Srujana (33), residents of Adavi Srirampur village of Muttaram Mandal, died of Covid in a span of 12 hours.

The couple, survived by two sons, used to run a medical shop in Adavi Srirampur village. When both the husband and wife were diagnosed positive, they underwent treatment and remained in home isolation for a week. The struggle with the virus continued and they were later admitted to a private hospital at Karimnagar.

Before they decided to move into the hospital, they had left their two sons Charan (11) and Manideep (7) at the house of Mallesh’s parents in Begumpet of Ramgiri mandal in Peddapalli. “Taking loans from relatives and money lenders, Mallesh spent around Rs10 lakh for their treatment,” the relatives said.

Mallesh’s brother Sadi and Srujana’s brother Krishna, having learnt about the Ayurvedic medicine of Anandaiah, had even gone to the Andhra Pradesh border in an ambulance. With the help of their friends in Krishnapatnam, they managed to get the medicine.

However, when they were returning with the medicine, they heard that Mallesh has passed away in the hospital. They rushed to the hospital in Karimnagar to save at least the life of Srujana. But, within a span of 12 hours, she took her last breath, leaving the children orphans.

A similar incident took place in Vemulakurthi village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal of Jagtial district. Both the husband and wife died leaving their two children orphans.

One Satapuram Bhimaiah, a fisherman died of Covid five months ago. When Bhimaiah passed away, his wife Rajakala (32) was four months pregnant. After the death of Bhimaiah, she faced a lot of hardships to take care of their two sons -- Ganesh (13) and Manoj (7) -- working as a farm labourer from a rented house. On May 19, she started receiving labour pain and was admitted to a hospital.

But the strain she faced during the last five months led to the death of a growing fetus. Due to loss of excess blood, she went into an unconscious state. The doctors tried to administer her fresh blood. With an increase in the number of Corona patients, though, the blood of the same group was not available. This led to the death of Rajakala.

The two children who became orphans do not have any close relatives. Their grandparents had died long ago. The villagers conducted the final rites of Rajakala.

Having learnt about the tragic death of Bhimaiah and Rajakala, distant relative Saiamma came to help the orphaned children. An elderly woman, she was living alone in a rented space in Metpally mandal.

In Rajanna Sircilla district, auto driver Shaik Khaleem (40) and his wife Nikath Tabbassum (38), living in Vidhyanagar Colony at Sircilla town, died of Covid in a space of five days. They left their two daughters Amaan (15) and Rumaan (13) orphans.

Even their daughters have also contracted the deadly virus, and there was no one to help them out. Luckily for them, Sircilla MLA and minister KT Rama Rao came to the rescue of the girls and directed district collector Krishna Bhaskar to provide immediate treatment to them -- Amaan and Rumaan. He also assured them that he would take care of their education after their recovery and will extend other support to secure their future.

In yet another incident, both father and son in a family died within 15 days’ time. T Lakshminarayana (60), resident of Mallial mandal of Jagtial district, was running a beedi unit. He died after being infected with coronavirus.  

His son Madhu (36), a private college lecturer, was also tested positive but could not attend the final rites of his father since he was undergoing treatment in a hospital. After 15 days, Madhu too died.

Madhu is survived by his daughter of three years and wife who, the family said, is three months pregnant. The family is in deep pain over the death of two members of the family.