When a langur lived and died in quarantine

Written by Peeyush Sekhsaria | New Delhi |

Published: June 15, 2020 9:52:57 am

What must it be like to die in a place away from one’s loved ones, I had wondered, with a heavy heart. I think of it again, as we spend our days in isolation. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)Given the ongoing crisis over COVID-19, “quarantine” has become a household term, taking over our thoughts and actions, becoming our life itself. Confined at home, I turn the word over and over in my mind and it takes me back to an event two decades ago, when I had first encountered the word — a memory of loss but of having, at least, tried.
I was, at that time, a young architect, working alone, building a house on a hillside for a scientist’s family, about 30 km from Pune. It was quite the adventure, staying as a paying guest, biking it almost every day to the site and back. Along my route, I had to negotiate Katraj Ghat, which included a small ghat section, followed by a tunnel hewn out of sheer rock. Coming out of the tunnel onto the other side made one fe
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