I always wondered whether Kashmiris were exaggerating when they would claim there was not a person among them who did not know someone whose friend or relative had been killed or injured in the 30 years of conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. Their claims popped out of my memory as the gigantic tide of Covid-19 lashed India, for rarely did a day pass, over the last month, without I hearing of friends or acquaintances who had contracted the virus and recovered – or died.

I had always thought India’s mammoth population of 121.05 crore (2011 Census) would insulate many of us from traumatic occurrences having a national spread. I checked the Covid dashboard on May 18. Dead: 2,78,719. These deaths account for 0.023 per cent of India’s 2011 population. This means 23 persons out of every one lakh people died due to Covid-19. Perhaps we do not experience the sorrow and terror shrouded in statistics until someone whom we know becomes part of it.