An old man in our neighborhood died today. He was hospitalized with chest pain three days ago, underwent angioplasty, but passed away in the ICU. His wife had died during the COVID wave, and he had been living alone since then. His only son lives in Australia and couldn’t come to see his father. Now, I’m not saying that the son is uncaring or abandoned his parents. I don’t know him. Maybe he is really a nice man. The elderly couple used to visit him every year and spend a few months with him. But maybe once you build a life outside, you can’t really come back. Life, distance, responsibilities, things become complicated. The son hadn’t come to India in nearly 10 years. He couldn’t come for his mother’s last rites due to COVID travel restrictions, and I don’t even know if he’ll be able to come now or will have to arrange his father’s last rites from there itself. This has stayed with me all day. To think of an old man spending his final years largely alone, losing his partner, and then leaving this world without his son by his side. Even as an unrelated observer, the whole thing feels unbearably sad.