Interview with Sarbani Hazra
InterviewerInterviewed by
Peter Moran
Date2022 June 28
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 51 Minutes, 22 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Object number2022.20.17a-b
Description(a) Interview with Sarbani Hazra. Interviewed by Peter Moran on June 28, 2022 at Otis Library, 261 Main Street, Norwich. (b) Photograph of Sarbani Hazra collected by CHP staff at her interview. She was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Historical Society's Community History Project discussing her experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Sarbani Hazra was six months post-partem when Covid hit. Her brother, an infectious disease specialist, had warned her and others at a family gathering shortly before about the seriousness of the disease and to prepare. She described herself as baseline anxious and neurotic, but the pandemic affected her mental health in profound ways. She had two young children and her mother was staying with them when Covid hit, and they were together for months. She is grateful that they were okay financially, that her husband could work from home, and no one became seriously ill, but admitted to the exhaustion of it all. As 2020 moved into 2021, she began taking more time for herself and despite her dislike of the term self-care, spoke about how important it was that she has been in therapy and what it meant to take more time for herself. She found a new job. She wrote a play that had a virtual reading. She spoke about how important mental health care is and especially for many immigrant groups and communities of color. She also admits that when she got Covid, it changed her view of things. After taking so many precautions for so long, and then the family contracting Covid, made her more accepting that she can only do so much and has accepted this as a fact of life. Her daughter is a social person and flourishing at in person school and she can see the difference. Ultimately the experience of Covid is so wrapped up in her experience of being a mom with young children, of her life and identity being consumed by family and childcare but is also grateful that she had the chance to spend so much time with them at such a formative age.
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Historical Society’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the impact of Covid-19 on Connecticans, particularly on Black and Brown communities, funeral homes, and on nursing home and elder care populations.Sarbani Hazra was six months post-partem when Covid hit. Her brother, an infectious disease specialist, had warned her and others at a family gathering shortly before about the seriousness of the disease and to prepare. She described herself as baseline anxious and neurotic, but the pandemic affected her mental health in profound ways. She had two young children and her mother was staying with them when Covid hit, and they were together for months. She is grateful that they were okay financially, that her husband could work from home, and no one became seriously ill, but admitted to the exhaustion of it all. As 2020 moved into 2021, she began taking more time for herself and despite her dislike of the term self-care, spoke about how important it was that she has been in therapy and what it meant to take more time for herself. She found a new job. She wrote a play that had a virtual reading. She spoke about how important mental health care is and especially for many immigrant groups and communities of color. She also admits that when she got Covid, it changed her view of things. After taking so many precautions for so long, and then the family contracting Covid, made her more accepting that she can only do so much and has accepted this as a fact of life. Her daughter is a social person and flourishing at in person school and she can see the difference. Ultimately the experience of Covid is so wrapped up in her experience of being a mom with young children, of her life and identity being consumed by family and childcare but is also grateful that she had the chance to spend so much time with them at such a formative age.
Cataloging Note: This cataloging project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-249472-OMS-21.
Status
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