102-year-old ‘writer grandma’ vaccinated tests positive for COVID-19 and recovers

MUMBAI: Author Susheela Pathak, who holds the record of being the oldest living author in India, returned home on April 22 after battling COVID-19 for over two weeks in a Thane-based hospital. The 102-year-old had taken her first dose of Covaxin on March 23. She tested positive before her second dose.

Pathak lives in Juhu with her grandson Dr Sujit Bopardikar, his wife Dr Vijaya Pathak, and their two children Tej and Tarini. Dr Bopardikar said, “We believe my grandmother caught the virus from one of the people we hired as house help and the person was also working at another COVID patient’s house. The house help was asymptotic.”

Pathak started developing fever around April 1. The family stopped the services of all house help and Dr Bopardikar isolated himself and Pathak in a room and became her caretaker.

“We didn’t want to send her to a hospital because we know the ground reality. Doctors are overworked in hospitals; my grandmother would not have gotten the treatment necessary for a 102-year-old. We thought there was a good chance she wouldn’t survive because of her age. I took care of her but by April 6, she had stopped eating and we panicked,” Dr Bopardikar said.

Pathak was taken to Horizon Prime Hospital in Thane. “My friend Dr. Rishikesh Vaidya, who owns the hospital, got her admitted to the ICU. She was getting difficult to handle but the doctors were patient and looked after her very well,” Dr Bopardikar said. “We had lost all hope at one point but she is quite the fighter,” said Dr. Vijaya. “She is a little weak but her cognitive skills and appetite are back to normal.” Dr Bopardikar, too, tested positive on the day he dropped Pathak at the hospital. “I wore a PPE suit and took her to the hospital. After returning, I isolated for 15 days,” Dr Bopardikar said. He has fully recovered.

Pathak is currently living with Dr Bopardikar’s brother in Andheri. “The family visits Andheri every evening to meet her,” Dr Bopardikar said.

Susheela Pathak’s last book on Indian recipes was published when she was 96 years old. She loves her vegetarian Maharashtrian cuisine but is adventurous. She has a balanced diet with strict meal timings and quantities, along with a disciplined sleeping routine. She also makes time for reading, puja, TV and storytelling. Her diet is composed of milk, rice, dal, ghee, curd, coffee, fruits and Indian desserts like pooranpoli, shrikhand, gulab jamun, and Rasgulla.