It was March 15. Bollywood director-producer Satish Kaushik experienced relentless muscle pain and headache. All he wanted to do was lie down, hoping the pain would go away. “When the film industry began to bounce back late last year, I was back at work. I remember having a bad cough once back then. But it wasn’t anything serious. This time, however, my throat felt different, strange even. I was almost sure I had contracted the virus,” Kaushik tells mid-day. On March 17, an RT-PCR test confirmed he was positive, along with three other staff members. His wife, Shashi, tested negative. But a day later, their eight-year-old daughter Vanshika’s reports confirmed that she too had caught the infection. 

Father and daughter went into isolation in the same room of their Versova home. “She [Vanshika] was excited. She said we will watch movies and chat all day. She didn’t have any symptoms, so I was relieved. But my condition worsened by March 19. I was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital,” he tells us.