“We first thought it would be over in soon, we thought we just had to be patient, stay at home, stay safe. But living in the pandemic with four people in a small house in Noida, it got frustrating. The curfew ended but Covid didn’t. Eventually, my little brother started stepping out, nothing happened at first but then it did.

Suddenly the pandemic that was all over the news was inside our house. My younger brother was okay, they took him to a quarantine facility, Papa and I tested negative, mom didn’t. The doctor advised us to admit her in a private facility in Patna but on a teacher ’s salary that was impossible.

I decided to make it possible and applied for a personal loan from Tata Capital. It was a tense three weeks but mom pulled through, when I finally heard her voice on the call, I knew we would too.”

This is Rashmi’s story from Noida, a story of determination that helped her save her mother no matter what.