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Lockdown woes: Celebs worry about their parents who are away from them

Hindustan Times | ByRishabh Suri
May 21, 2020 08:36 PM IST

The health and well being of their aged parents are on top of the mind of celebrities, who are unable to meet them amid this crisis period

Streaming content online, chilling all day, working from home — keeping everything aside, there’s one thing most people have been grateful for in this lockdown. That’s spending some quality time with their family, especially parents. However, everything happened so fast before the first lockdown, some celebs didn’t even get a chance to go back to be with them. 

A DIFFERENT COUNTRY

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Actor Elli AvrRam, even if she wanted, would have found it difficult to reunite with her parents. “They are in Sweden and Sweden is the only country right now that’s not having a forced lockdown. They are making sure to stay protected and eat right things that boost up the immunity. I do worry but that’s something I always do for them since I’m far away. We speak everyday though and I’m grateful to technology,” tells us the 29-year-old.

FAR EVEN WHEN NEAR

Filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, has her mother close, yet so far. She says that though her mom lives near her house in Mumbai, they haven’t been able to meet ever since the lockdown started. 

“I am also human,” she says, “There are days when I am in a very bad mood, and I call up mom and say it all, I want to meet her. Even if I send a car for her to come to me, what is going to happen? She is above 60, her health is more important, and I stay in a huge colony, it won’t be right. My mother one day was like ‘I will take a rickshaw and come, you will have to sanitise your whole car to get me there’ (laughs) We are learning a lesson in who are the people we actually took for granted. I wrote a poem on this. We have to step back and analyse who are really important to us”

A DIFFERENT STATE

Some can’t even celebrate festivals with parents due to the situation. Saqib Saleem, holed up inside his Mumbai house with sister Huma Qureshi, rues he won’t be able to celebrate Eid with them this year as they are in Delhi.

“But the positive thing is now I am talking to them four-five times a day, which I wasn’t earlier. The pandemic has made people come closer and reach out to your people more,” he quips.

Adding that he couldn’t talk to them much earlier due to busy schedules, Saleem says, “I had the video calling option on my phone for years, but I started using it only now. Every day at 10 pm, there is a family con call, and that makes me happy. The love and togetherness is there, but nobody can of course help the situation. You can’t blame anybody, everyone is trying their best, as they are experiencing it for the first time.” 

Sonal Chauhan missed being with her parents by a few days. The actor says that she is stuck in Mumbai, while they are in the Capital. “The only way to handle it is by being positive and keeping them positive. That age group is more prone to catching the virus, as their immunity levels could be lower than us, I keep in touch with them 24/7. My dad was anxious initially, but now he is settled,” says Chauhan.

His family is Jammu, and he is alone in his Mumbai flat but actor Shaheer Sheikh is the one who is advising his parents what to do and not do during this crisis. “I give them strict instructions about how they have to do everything. Also, I have told them to keep in mind to not let anyone get into the house at all,” says the 36-year-old.

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