In times of Covid-19 pandemic, a Father's Day like no other

Our Correspondent

Kohima, June 20 (EMN): This year, Father's Day celebration will be a little different due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 Eastern Mirror spoke to some individuals about how they will be celebrating this day that honours fatherhood.

"My father is the air that I breathe," says Menuosenuo, whose father passed away three years ago. Unfortunately, Menuosenuo, who is currently out of station, won't be able to visit the spot where her father is buried in Kohima this year.

"If I were in Kohima, I would visit my dad with gifts and clean his grave," she said. "He was the energy that kept me moving; I feel suffocated without him.

" She recalled how her father told her that she had become "a very good cook" when she offered him food which she had prepared during Christmas and New Year, before he passed away.

On Father's Day, she said, she wants to cheer her younger sister and tell her to be "happy that we had a strong dad".

Yiman Konyak, a returnee who is currently undergoing his mandatory confinement at a facility quarantine in Mon district, recalled the passing away of his father when he was still young.

"I lost my dad when I was twelve and it was hard for me to live without my father ever since he left us," he said.

"He had done everything, which is unforgettable. He gave us everything; love, financial and physical support," Konyak shared. Pfucukhau Swuro shared that she had already bought a gift for her husband Sesato Swuro, on the occasion of Father's Day.

However, she informed that her husband, who serves as a stateroom steward and chaplain at the US-based Norwegian Cruise Line Corporate Centre Drive, is currently somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ever since Swuro got married five years ago, she has celebrated Father's Day with her husband only once, owing to the 'compelling situation of her husband,' whose service is required on the ship for eight months a year.

Swuro, who has lost both her parents, shared how she fondly remembers her father with whom she was closely attached to.

She said that she is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her husband who will be reaching Goa, on July 4 via a Norwegian cruise.

The couple would be meeting at Kohima once he completes all government-mandatory formalities.

Shemucholu Kiho, a personnel from the 15th NAP (IR) Mahila Battalion, and a mother of two, shared how the elder child, a six-year-old, asked why the father won't be coming home on Father's Day.

She responded that their father is on duty and that he would be unable to come home. However, Kiho shared that she had consoled her children by assuring that they would "have a small party" in their father's name.

She informed that her husband Samuel, is a police personnel posted at DEF Tuensang. She acknowledged that most of the police personnel are posted in places afar, and are not able to spend time with their families.

A woman, who wished not to be named, also shared a similar account, about how her husband, a doctor would not be able to make it home on Father's Day, as he is currently attending to Covid-19 patients at a designated hospital.

"Most of us would be celebrating Father's Day in some small ways but for them (doctors), they would not make it because of this pandemic pressure," she shared.

With all kinds of restrictions on social and religious gatherings due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, many children are celebrating Father's Day indoors.

Elizabeth Sandham said she would be baking some cakes at home for her father Oken Jeet Sandham, a senior journalist in Nagaland.

 Loucii and her siblings will be presenting a gift each to their daddy on the occasion.

As for Apino Khieya and Akhono Kiso, they have been busy making goodies and cakes at home to be gifted on Sunday, to spread more love on the occasion.