What is your prediction for today?

In March, my parents who stay at Nagpur got covid and were hospitalized. (Due to the lockdown at Nagpur, me or my siblings could not go there to take care of them). By God’s grace my uncle and his family who stay at Nagpur as always were a big pillar of support for them.

 After a 10-day hospitalization, which seemed like eternity for them, they returned home. The hospital stay in an isolation ward with heavy medication did not go well with my father. After returning home, he became very dull and depressed. My mother however slowly returned back to her normal routine. Questions like- Why us? What will happen if we get infected again? -kept hounding him.

We started chatting with them over video calls. My kids Naman-10 yrs and Stuti-8 yrs could sense the dullness in my father’s voice. They told me that we need to get Thatha (grandfather) out of his dull state. I was touched by their innocence. They knew that my father was an avid cricket enthusiast.  Every day they would call him and ask- “What is your prediction for today’s IPL match?” This question worked as an energy booster for him. Slowly after a week, he started watching the IPL matches just for their sake. Then every evening Naman and Stuti would ask him for the match prediction and they would also have a small talk about the previous day’s match. My father started looking forward to their calls. Within a week, I could find my father slowly returning back to his normal self. He sounded cheerful and happy. Stuti still calls him every day and asks, “What is your prediction for today?

As they say small actions can bring about happiness and cheer.