India

We are increasingly horrified by the growing disaster of the second Covid wave in India, where medical systems are being overwhelmed, oxygen is running out and there are 350,000 new cases a day.

It’s a long stretch to the two little girls, but there is a small connection. The taller child is my Auntie Grace, my mother’s older sister. The smaller one is my mum.

Auntie Grace spent decades working as a missionary in India. To me as a child she always seemed faintly exotic, because of that connection with a shadowy, oriental country. In my child's mind India was synonymous with Auntie Grace. To this day, any mention of India reminds me of her. Thank goodness she didn’t live to experience Covid.