Lockdown scenes in India
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| Painting by Jacob Lawrence |
The Covid 19 situation in India has not only exposed the faulty health system in the country, but also the condition of the labour force. The thousands of workers walking in the scorching heat are all invisible to the government. Not to mention, there are many social media posts, tweets blaming the workers for leaving their work place during lockdown, almost criminalizing them for being poor. It is easy to say these, especially when we have a roof over our head, and food on the table. And those sharing their "migrant stories" with the "metoomigrant" hashtag, mustn't forget to add the word 'privileged'. Or, they could just stop their free flow of ignorance in a time like this.
Remembering a few lines from Auden’s Refugee Blues written in 1939.
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
Those familiar with the poem will know that it is a poem on the plight of the Jews during the Second World War. Even though the context is different, the sense of homelessness, the distress, the helplessness are perhaps the same in the case of the migrant workers in India at the moment, walking miles to reach home, and many succumbing along the way.
We have the luxury of switching off the news channel. We can pretend that there "aren't any migrant worker on the road", because the government said so, way back on the 31st of March. It is the 18th of May today, they are still walking, starved. While we have the apathetic government, we also have a number of people lending a helping hand. Trying every which way possible to help the migrant workers reach home. One of my seniors, Smita di, wrote in a post recently, that it is time we save money. We should save to help those in need.
The virus doesn't discriminate. It doesn't, but dealing with it sure isn't the same for everyone. Class exists. The sad, but not surprising part is, our government is incapable of seeing beyond it. Our country at the moment is divided into the Vande Bharat Mission, and the migrant workers' mission to reach home, alive. Why isn't there a Vande Bharat Mission for these poor souls you ask?! Simple, the government has a class to maintain.
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
Those familiar with the poem will know that it is a poem on the plight of the Jews during the Second World War. Even though the context is different, the sense of homelessness, the distress, the helplessness are perhaps the same in the case of the migrant workers in India at the moment, walking miles to reach home, and many succumbing along the way.
We have the luxury of switching off the news channel. We can pretend that there "aren't any migrant worker on the road", because the government said so, way back on the 31st of March. It is the 18th of May today, they are still walking, starved. While we have the apathetic government, we also have a number of people lending a helping hand. Trying every which way possible to help the migrant workers reach home. One of my seniors, Smita di, wrote in a post recently, that it is time we save money. We should save to help those in need.
The virus doesn't discriminate. It doesn't, but dealing with it sure isn't the same for everyone. Class exists. The sad, but not surprising part is, our government is incapable of seeing beyond it. Our country at the moment is divided into the Vande Bharat Mission, and the migrant workers' mission to reach home, alive. Why isn't there a Vande Bharat Mission for these poor souls you ask?! Simple, the government has a class to maintain.
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On being part of a project on women's property rights and housing, I have gone to the China Mandir area in Kolkata for field work a couple of times. This area is close to Ruby Hospital. I met and interacted with the women there, who mostly work as domestic workers. They live in one room apartments which were built for them in 2007 by the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project.
On being part of a project on women's property rights and housing, I have gone to the China Mandir area in Kolkata for field work a couple of times. This area is close to Ruby Hospital. I met and interacted with the women there, who mostly work as domestic workers. They live in one room apartments which were built for them in 2007 by the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project.
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| Photo taken in February 2020. China Mandir |
Most of the families have more than seven or eight members, many of the families even have more than ten. I took permission from one of the women and clicked photos of her room. She has nine members in her family living together in one single room. Her family had to attach an iron slab in the middle of the room like a train berth (close to the ceiling fan), with a narrow staircase on the side, just to accommodate the nine family members (or more in other families). Even during this 'total lockdown' many of these women and men have to step out, because it is exhausting for them, both physically and mentally, to stay inside one room day in and day out. While out they might expose themselves. The World Health Organization has emphasized more on 'physical distancing' instead of 'social distancing'. Considering the population density in such areas like China Mandir, it is not possible to practice physical distancing. I wonder how these women and their family members are managing. Whether it is a lockdown situation or not, it is unhealthy to say the least for these women and their families to live like this every single day. They have repeatedly requested the authorities for better living conditions but in vain.
I'm ashamed of my privilege.
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