“Our town and megacities began to extrude their working-class citizens like so much unwanted accrual.”

Arundhati Roy, The pandemic is a portal.

The pandemic was a lesson for everyone. The enforced lockdown on countries worldwide brought to light a myriad of stories. While some were hopeful, others were tales which were devastatingly sad. In India – while there were stories of stunning, clear skies; instances of Nature healing itself – while people with financial stability used their time at home to reacquaint themselves with hobbies they had long forgotten or spend time with family, re-establishing bonds which today’s age of technology seems to weaken so easily; tried learning new skills and familiarized themselves with shifting their mode of work to an online platform – that was not the case for everyone. If you ask the people from my country – many would probably say they remember the stories of the millions of migrant workers who found themselves without work and without a place of refuge within the first few weeks of lockdown in India. Several might say they had been a part of it.

With steep economic inequalities in the country; people from smaller towns and villages often migrate to cities to look for work. Away from their families for months – they would return during the holidays or a few other times a year – bearing with them funds to help sustain their households. These were the people the lockdown left stranded – in the middle of metropolitan cities, far away from their homes with barely any public transport available to help them undertake the journey back home. Arundhati Roy, in her article – ‘The pandemic is a portal’ has vividly narrated the effects the lockdown had on the country; illustrating the events which led to the sudden call for lockdown in a country having a population of more than a billion.

Subject to hunger, thirst, exposed to the elements, and still walking – they also had to deal with issues such as State borders being closed and thus having no way to head on to their homes. Had to deal with the repercussions which come along with breaking the curfew. Many died on their way home. Even while the stories of the migrant workers flooded television screens; stories of hospitals being overwhelmed by the number of patients and being forced to turn people away started making headlines, rising death tolls and severe lack of medical equipments scared the population of the country – there were other stories too. Tales of people seeing whales near Bombay High, return of river dolphins to the Hoogly River in Kolkata and spotting dolphins in coastal areas. As Arundhati Roy puts it so eloquently – the pandemic was a chance for us to re – evaluate our societal and economic machinery. There were lessons to be learnt – not to be forgotten. To let things, turn back completely to the way they were – would be to not acknowledge the despair the pandemic put people through; so instead maybe we could try to start with small changes and then aim higher.

“…we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

Arundhati Roy, The pandemic is a portal.