The poor, the rich: In a sick India, all are on their own
NEW DELHI (AP) - For the family of the retired 外交官, the terror struck as they tried 猛烈に to get him past the 入り口 doors of a 私的な hospital.
One family in a nation of 1.3 billion. One 事例／患者 of COVID-19 in a country 直面するing an unparalleled 殺到する, with more than 200,000 people 実験（する）ing 肯定的な every day.
But when the pandemic 爆発するd here in 早期に April, the Amrohis 設立する themselves struggling to keep one 親族 alive as the 医療の system 近づくd 崩壊（する） and the 政府 was left unprepared.
It´s the way now across India: Families scour cities for coronavirus 実験（する）s, 薬／医学, 救急車s, oxygen and hospital beds. When 非，不，無 of that 作品, some have to を取り引きする loved ones zippered into 団体／死体 捕らえる、獲得するs.
The desperation comes in waves. New Delhi was 攻撃する，衝突する at the start of April, with the worst coming 近づく the end of the month. The southern city of Bengaluru was 攻撃する，衝突する about two weeks later. The 殺到する is at its 頂点（に達する） now in many small towns, and just reaching others.
But when a pandemic wave 攻撃する，衝突するs, everyone is on their own. The poor. The rich. The 井戸／弁護士席-connected bureaucrats who 持つ／拘留する 巨大な sway here, and the people who clean the 下水管s. 豊富な businessmen fight for hospital beds, and powerful 政府 公式の／役人s send tweets begging for oxygen. Middle-class families scrounge 支持を得ようと努めるd for funeral pyres, and where there´s no 支持を得ようと努めるd, families have 捨てるd their 親族s´ 団体／死体s into the ギャング（団）s River. Hundreds of bloated 死体s have been 設立する.
A portrait of Padmavathi, who died of COVID-19, hangs on the 塀で囲む of her family hut made from bamboo and plastic sheeting in a slum in Bengaluru, India, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Padmavathi collected hair, taking it from women's 徹底的に捜すs and hairbrushes to later be used for wigs. She earned about $50 a month. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
The rich and 井戸／弁護士席-connected still have money and 接触するs to smooth the search for ICU beds and oxygen 戦車／タンクs. But rich and poor alike have been left gasping for breath outside 洪水ing hospitals.
"This has now become normal," said Abhimanyu Chakravorty, 34, whose 延長するd New Delhi family 始める，決める up a 一時しのぎの物，策 hospital for his father at home. "Everyone is running helter-skelter, doing whatever they can to save their loved ones."
In January, 総理大臣 Narendra Modi 宣言するd victory over COVID-19. In March, the health 大臣 （人命などを）奪う，主張するd the country was in the pandemic´s "endgame."
By then, 医療の 専門家s had been 警告 for weeks of an approaching viral wave. The 政府 ignored the 警告s, 許すing the 巨大な Kumbh Mela 宗教的な festival to go 今後, with millions of Hindu 充てるs 集会 shoulder-to-shoulder along the ギャング（団）s River. Hundreds of thousands also turned out for 明言する／公表する 選挙 決起大会／結集させるs.
The retired 外交官／大使, Ashok Amrohi, thought it was just a 冷淡な when he began coughing on April 21. After all, he and his wife had both been fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
A 医療の doctor before joining the 外交団, Ashok had traveled the world. He´d been 外交官／大使 to Algeria, Mozambique and Brunei, and had retired to Gurgaon, a city just outside the 資本／首都, and a life of ゴルフ and piano lessons. He was a 尊敬（する）・点d, 高度に educated member of the upper-middle class.
He was someone who, in normal times, could easily get a bed in the best hosp itals.
His fever soon disappeared. But his breathing became labored and his oxygen levels dropped. It appeared to be COVID-19. His wife, Yamini, reached out for help. A sister who lived nearby 設立する an oxygen cylinder.
They 扱う／治療するd Ashok at home, and Yamini was always with him. But his oxygen levels kept dropping.
The family tried to find a hospital bed in a city where there were almost no beds to be 設立する, calling his 医療の school classmates for help. One 結局 arranged a bed.
It was April 26. The 残虐な north Indian summer was coming on. 気温s that day reached nearly 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
His wife, Yamini, and their adult son Anupam put him into the family´s compact SUV. They arrived about 7:30 p.m. and parked in 前線 of the main doors, thinking Ashok would be 急ぐd inside.
They were wrong. Admission paperwork first had to be 完全にするd, and the staff was 押し寄せる／沼地d.
So they waited.
Anupam stood in line while Yamini stayed in the car with Ashok, who was breathing 瓶／封じ込めるd oxygen. She 爆破d the 空気／公表する-条件ing, trying to keep him 冷静な／正味の.
An hour passed. Two hours. Someone （機の）カム to swab Ashok for a coronavirus 実験（する）. It （機の）カム 支援する 肯定的な. His breathing had grown more difficult.
"I went thrice to the hospital 歓迎会 for help. I begged, pleaded and shouted at the 公式の／役人s," Yamini said. "But nobody budged."
At one point, their daughter called from London, where she lives with her family. With everyone on a ビデオ call, their four-year-old grandson asked to talk to Ashok.
"I love you, Poppy," he said.
Ashok pulled off his oxygen mask: "Hello. Poppy loves you too."
Three hours.
Four hours.
Anupam returned 定期的に to the car to check on his father.
"It´s almost done," he would tell him each time. "Everything is going to be alright. Please stay with us!"
Five hours.
A little after midnight, Ashok grew agitated, pulling off the oxygen mask and gasp ing. His chest heaved. Then he went still.
"In a second he was no more," Yamini said. "He was dead in my 武器."
Yamini went to the 歓迎会 desk: "You are 殺害者s," she told them.
But the horror didn´t end with the 外交官／大使´s death.
Ashok´s 団体／死体, 調印（する）d in a plastic 捕らえる、獲得する, was taken by 救急車 the next morning to an outdoor 火葬 ground.
火葬s are 深く，強烈に important in Hinduism, a way to 解放する／自由な a person´s soul so it can be reborn どこかよそで. A priest 普通は 監督するs the 儀式s. Family and friends gather. The eldest son 伝統的に lights the funeral pyre.
But when the Amrohis got to the 火葬 ground, a long line of 救急車s was in 前線 of them. Beyond the gate, nine funeral pyres were 炎ing.
Finally, Anupam was called to light his father´s pyre.
普通は, families wait as the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすs 負かす／撃墜する, 支払う／賃金ing their 尊敬（する）・点s and waiting for the ashes. But 巨大な 解雇する／砲火／射撃s 燃やすd around the Amrohi family. The heat was 鎮圧するing. Ashes filled the 空気／公表する.
"I have never seen a scene like that," said Yamini. "We couldn´t stand it."
They returned to their car, waited until they were told the 団体／死体 had been 火葬するd, and drove away.
Anupam returned the next morning to collect his father´s ashes.
Gangaiah, left, son of Padmavathi who died of COVID-19, stands at the 入り口 of their fa mily hut with his wife and children in a slum in Bengaluru, India, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Padmavathi collected hair, taking it from women's 徹底的に捜すs and hairbrushes to later be used for wigs. She earned about $50 a month. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Gangaiah, son of Padmavathi who died of COVID-19, 持つ／拘留するs his two-year-old daughter Priya outside their family hut in a slum in Bengaluru, India, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Padmavathi collected hair, taking it from women's 徹底的に捜すs and hairbrushes to later be used for wigs. She earned about $50 a month. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
In this undated photo 供給するd by Amrohi family, Yamin i Amrohi, 権利, 提起する／ポーズをとるs with her grandson and late husband Ashok Amrohi, who died of COVID-19, at a restaurant in London. Ashok, a 医療の doctor before joining the 外交団, had traveled the world. He'd been 外交官／大使 to Algeria, Mozambique and Brunei, and had retired to Gurgaon, a city just outside the 資本／首都, and a life of ゴルフ and piano lessons. (Amrohi family 経由で AP)
In this photo 解放（する）d by Chakravorty family, Prabir Chakravorty, 73, a COVID-19 生存者, sits in the garden area of his home in New Delhi, India on May 17, 2021. Chakravorty, the family patriarch and widower, a construction (n)役員／(a)執行力のある was 扱う／治療するd at home for the coronavirus. (Chakravorty family 経由で AP)
Abhimanyu Chakravorty, son of 73-year-old Prabir Chakravorty, a C OVID-19 生存者, takes his dog for a stroll outside his home in New Delhi, India on May 17, 2021. Prabir Chakravorty, the family patriarch and widower, a construction (n)役員／(a)執行力のある was 扱う／治療するd at home for the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Aniruddha Ghosal)
In this undated photo 供給するd by Amrohi family, Yamini Amrohi, 前線 権利, 提起する／ポーズをとるs with her children and late husband Ashok Amrohi, 前線 left, who died of COVID-19, in Maputo, Mozambique. Ashok, a 医療の doctor before joining the 外交団, had traveled the world. He'd been 外交官／大使 to Algeria, Mozambique and Brunei, and had retired to Gurgaon, a city just outside the 資本／首都, and a life of ゴルフ and piano lessons. (Amrohi family 経由で AP)
Gangaiah, son of Padmavathi who died of COVID-19, gives sanitizer to his 年上の daughter Shanti as two-year-old Priya looks on inside their family hut which is made from bamboo and plastic sheeting at a slum in Bengaluru, India, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Padmavathi collected hair, taking it from women's 徹底的に捜すs and hairbrushes to later be used for wigs. She earned about $50 a month. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
In this photo 供給するd by Chakravorty family, family members of Prabir Chakravorty, 73, a COVID-19 生存者, 提起する／ポーズをとる for a photograph at their home in New Delhi, India, Monday, May 17, 2021. Chakravorty, the family patriarch and widower, a construction (n)役員／(a)執行力のある was 扱う／治療するd at home for the coronavirus. (Chakravorty family 経由で AP)
Five-year-old Shanthi, left, granddaughter of Padmavathi who died of COVID-19, collects potable water at a public tap 近づく her family hut at a slum in Bengaluru, India, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Padmavathi collected hair, taking it from women's 徹底的に捜すs and hairbrushes to later be used for wigs. She earned about $50 a month. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
