Indian diaspora reaches out amid a brutal second wave of Covid-19

While some, like Indian doctors in the US, are offering their services, others are amplifying SOS calls, organising donation drives and generating awareness

Last week, Sharat Mathur was able to go for a walk in a Chicago park without a mask for the first time since the pandemic began. Instead of a sense of freedom, his return to relative normalcy was tinted with anguish. “I have relatives sick with Covid back home,” he says. “The news is full of videos of Indians dying without oxygen, without access to medical help.”

His spouse, Gayatri D Mathur, founded Soondra Foundation some years ago, which provides healthcare access through direct cash grants to the working poor in India during medical emergencies. “What we’re seeing in India