Ashu Mahajan Gets Back To His Family In New Jersey After Being Stuck In India

The family of Mr Ashu Mahajan was in the US when he had to rush to New Delhi in India to attend the last rites of his father. The man lost his father to the pandemic and was attending his last rites, owing to which he got stuck

Ashu Mahajan Gets Back To His Family In New Jersey After Being Stuck In India

. The nature of the situation was such that unsuspectingly, the son had to walk into a COVID ravaged Indian capital to realise the severity of the disease. There was no end to his mourning since after the last rites. He had to shut himself up in his room and had to request all family and friends in India, who wanted to express their grief and condolences, to contact him by phone.  The pain, however, did not end there. What came as a shock to him was that the next date of appointment with the US Consulate was given to him as February 2, 2022. This made the family nervous and Mr Mahajan was shell shocked at the notably long time that he would now have to spend in the Indian capital surrounded by Covid positive families. 

In an online interview to New Day that was aired on CNN, the man and his wife appeared to tell their story of how he could actually get back to his family in the US. The reporter Brianna Kelly started by condoling his father’s death and Ashu Mahajan recounted saying that when he reached India to take care of the last rites, things were not that bad as they seemed. But when they took the body to the cremation ground, he saw a line of ambulances standing in waiting, with dead bodies to be burnt. This opened his eyes to the bare fact of how dangerous the disease was. He immediately rushed back home after the rites and locked himself up, asking friends and family to stay in contact over the phone. He is still in isolation in the US in the home he has returned to. To this, the reporter commented that he was waiting for his 14-day isolation after travel and a negative report to come in before he can freely move in with his family. 

At this juncture, the reporter then moved to his wife and asked how she felt about the whole thing. Mrs Neha Mahajn reiterated the fact and said that it was a difficult time for the family and his coming back has left their 9-year-old younger daughter jumping in glee which she can’t stop even now. The only solution they found to cope with the isolation that the father was going through in the basement of the house was to meet him every morning and evening with the girls from the upper porch and chat across floors while the father sat in the basement. While this situation is tough for any family in mourning, it was interesting to know how he actually made his way back in spite of the date given to him being in early 2022. 

Mr Mahajan then revealed that it was Senator’s office in New Jersey that helped him get over this separation from the family. Mr Mahajan had asked for help from the Senator’s office and they got back in touch with him to help him with the process of getting an expedited appointment with the consulate and got his visa stamped and he could return back.  The situation in India being grim, he concluded the interview saying that when he went there, the pandemic had just started in India. By the time his father had to be cremated around April 24, when he passed away, the situation in Delhi was grim. But when he was ready to leave for the US after this visa interview, he saw a better situation since beds were available and oxygen was available to most of the patients in need.  Thus, it is a brighter situation now.