“The helplessness one feels is really hard to describe… because while we are trained to help people, we are not trained to take on this much suffering.” As India struggles to contain a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a young Indian-American doctor returned to his roots and is doing his bit to alleviate the crisis. Dr. Harman Singh Boparai who specializes in anesthesiology and critical care, was working as a frontline worker in New York since the first wave of the pandemic there in March 2020. When the news took a turn for the worst in April this year, Dr Harman came back to his hometown of Amritsar, where he's been treating COVID-19 patients since. Here, Dr. Harman shares from Amritsar how he made the decision to return, his experience of being at the frontlines of the pandemic in New York and Punjab, and how solidarity with those who are suffering most makes a difference.