William Dalrymple has taken to social media to apologise for his post about leaving Delhi to avoid COVID. The historian had deleted his post after being called out for being insensitive.
"I need to apologise for a post yesterday about leaving Delhi to avoid COVID. It was intented to reassure worrried friends & family, but caused understandable anger for being tone deaf & reeking with privilege. I am very sorry for the upset that it has caused", Dalrymple tweeted.
Some time back, Dalrymple had taken to Instagram to share how he and his son Sam had left for Sri Lanka when India was hit by the deadly second wave of coronavirus. Calling his decision 'The Great Escape' Dalrymple wrote, "Olivia got out of Delhi a week ago on the last seat of the last flight before the Red List curtain fell. The next day COVID arrived at the farm, knocking down poor Biru and his wife, thankfully mildly. As casualties mounted and Facebook filled with funeral pyres, Sam and I looked at our options and decided it would definitely be prudent to get out while we could".
Dalrymple added that both he and Sam had contracted COVID in January and he had taken the first dose of the vaccine. However, he wrote, "the new Indian variant seemed to be no respecter of antibodies and social media was full of stories of people with both jabs in ICU. So, with the help of Sri Lankan friends, we took advantage of the Indian-Sri Lankan air bubble and fled to SL last night".
Dalrymple received a lot of flak for his post on social media. People criticised him for rubbing his privilege on the faces of those who are suffering. Delhi has been worst hit by the second wave, with people dying and hospitals facing acute shortage of medical oxygen, beds and medicines.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)