We, the people of India — quarantined.
We were still in the shock of the riots that had emerged in Delhi. The NRC-CAB-CAA were still bothering us and we began to see social media videos of cases and the harsh realities of China along with its heart-wrenching dilemma of those affected.
Italy has an increasing number of cases and deaths with each passing day and the simultaneous images of wildlife appearing at public places. People were confused to rejoice or be worried about those dead and under threat. That’s when Corona knocked India as well. Through the “foreign returns”.
Around 10 March; 15 days before the lockdown, news channels started bombarding people with the status of Corona positive people coming down from different countries. Some being quarantined while some were running away, hiding their travel history and spreading it to hundreds more. The videos comprised of both good quality quarantine centers as well as the pathetic ones, which were indeed not so good for human beings to stay in.
People were not bothered much, thinking “it’s a rich man’s disease”. They were asked to take care, avoid crowded places, use a mask and wash hands often. Out in the city, the buses were as overcrowded as they always were and so were the roads. Some people who could afford had started stocking up on ration already. They were connected to the world through the internet and had seen the fights over toilet paper and they did the same, stocked up sanitisers and groceries; they had money to do so.
The “rikshawalas” were seen using their handkerchiefs to cover their mouths while the white-collared workers were using fancy masks and rubbing their hands often with sanitisers.
It started one Sunday with the appeal of a curfew, only to realise later to be a drill for the lockdown. People beating their “thalis” and singing “go corona go” at the highest of their pitch, ideally expressing their gratitude to the front line workers. Some were also seen celebrating with dandiya and huge gatherings on roads.
It seems the messaging wasn’t clear enough. And “thali” was more important than thinking of ways to pull resources in arranging PPEs for the front line workers, spreading more awareness about the dos and don’ts along with regional lockdown in various states.
The fact is, we all are in home quarantine. We cannot leave our homes without a legitimate reason and gathering of more than four people is restricted. The fundamental rights are seized for the time being and because it’s for the larger good of the society we don’t mind (it makes us realise the pain of Kashmir, under lockdown for past 6 months).
And what about those who don’t have their home? No one thought about them. There is no provision at all for 0.77 million people in this country; the homeless, according to the 2011 census and more than 3 million migrant workers.
People are in one place thinking of how to spend time at home; they have ration stocked up, Netflix and amazon prime to entertain them, and if that’s not enough, the government is playing Ramayana, Mahabharat and taking care of their entertainment. People are bored at home and going out with excuses for milk, vegetables and ration. Buying such things is leisure now. And sometimes they are getting beaten up as well by police officials.
In all this process, again, it seems the messaging was not clear. Because people were in massive queues outside the grocery stores risking their lives already. Those who didn’t have money to stock up their homes or have a home at all are on the road, aching to go back home. But there were no buses, no food available, and some died, not of Corona but hunger.
It was said in the appeal at 8 pm from midnight, i.e. 4 hours from now, to stay wherever you are. There was no time to reach the safest place — home. Was it taken for granted that India being such a diverse country, all people are not from well-off families and are already in comfortable places?
When we talk about inclusive policies, do we remember these helpless migrant workers that comprise more than 14% (interstate migrants) of the Indian population? It’s only after news channels started showcasing men, women and children walking hundreds of kilometres to reach home, starving, beaten up by the police that the government woke up. If the messaging were clear, they wouldn’t have been on the road but at safe shelters with assured quality arrangements for the next 21 days.
Later on, when they were forced to stay at shelter homes, the poor quality of food and the inhumane treatment of service providers was a new concern. People were locked up like animals and officers were proudly making videos of themselves providing bananas to them through the gate, just like humans offer banana to the caged monkey inside the zoo.
Work from home was for the organised sector workers who worked from their laptops and phone. The large section of society contributes through their physical activities/skills. Expecting the capitalist mindsets to pay them for the work not done was not fair in a community where even when they work, they are not paid fairly in most cases. But the government, rather than providing direct incentives, had appealed the capitalists to pay the salaries.
The daily wage workers, migrants, suddenly lost their job. Given the fatality rate of the virus, to save the 2%, are we letting the 14% to die of hunger? Be on-road and feel helpless to stay at some random places and eat like a beggar for the next 21 days in quarantine? No one is against saving the 2% either, but could there be any other way?
When patients are asked for their last wish, they want to die at home, preferably in the hospital. When we were asked for social-physical distancing, every individual had a right to choose where they wanted to spend their 21 days, and we can’t deny that no one was sure if its only for 21 days or will keep increasing.
And it did increase, from 21 to 42 days, and it continues.
Yes, the government has announced monetary support in the Jan Dhan accounts. Do all needy have their accounts? Is the money enough to survive at a time when the rates of vegetables and essentials are already going up? And what about the period till one receives the money? How will they buy things? Or is it assumed that people have their savings?
Given the system we have in place, the “super-efficient” one, do we have enough time to scrutinise and identify those in need and provide them accordingly? Experts in economics are suggesting to give cash in hand to people, keep the cash flow, provide temporary ration cards to everyone who asks for it. It seems the government doesn’t trust them enough.
In the name of sacrifice for the country, people still waited for the lockdown to ease or some proper arrangements to be done from the government. But alas! The 21 days were not enough to plan for the government to extend the lockdown for 21 more days, followed by 14 more days without an actual plan for all the migrant workers.
— Anant Bhan (@AnantBhan) May 2, 2020
What they did in between was a Diya ceremony and armed forces showering petals and banging musical instruments just outside the hospital (disturbing the silence zone to be precise). Media showed us how this encouraged the health workers, but they forgot to talk about the shortage of PPE kits for the same health workers.
It was so natural that people waiting in shelter homes came out to go back to their respective villages as soon as possible. 42 days they waited with patience, and still, there were no arrangements, and even after 42 days, i.e. on 3 May, whatever solutions came up were not for the poor because how would they be able to pay the fare for their return? And we must note that these people had already exhausted their savings to survive through the 42 days lockdown?
As per PMs appeal, very few paid the wages to labourers. Many times it was the labourer who understood the pain of their employer. The ambiguous system of railway bookings and confusion of who will pay the bills? Some states were cancelling the planned trains because industrialist wanted the labour back.
In all this uncertainty, the frustrated worker started their journey back home with whatever possible medium of commute, some barefoot, some bought cycles, sold their jewellery to purchase rail tickets of cost equivalent or more than flight tickets, every possible means.
There are places where essential commodities manufacturers are working, and there are also cases where the industry which may not come under crucial commodities is also running smoothly. The rich can manage things with their money and the poor keep getting poorer and poorer. A day will come when we will be so used to, conditioned to such lifestyle, people being asked for their purpose of being out and a pass being the proof or permission to be out. Started in the name of quarantine continued forever.
The videos of thousands of people with the kids on the road, the way they are treated, washed by bleach. All of this is inhuman. We are managing our fellow humans like street dogs, wherever seen, thrown stones at (like the police are beating them up), feeling of mercy and by making them feel that we pity them by providing food with the way its distributed. We have failed humanity.
The number of cases will keep increasing the need for ventilators, masks, PPE, the frustration of patients, doctors, police, bored middle-class at home. Stories will keep coming of what we have and are doing for the poor. Eventually, all of it will settle down with a bad memory in every single individual who saw metro cities with hope, the hope of better living, livelihood and fulfilling their dreams; who migrated to this city to be humiliated in times of Corona.
People had a willingness to migrate to cities, primarily for better livelihood opportunities, which in turn may help them acquire a suitable life somehow or save money and go back with dignity to villages. However, The biggest question is, will it remain the same despite knowing how they were treated? They cribbed that decentralisation of opportunities is not working because people always have the attraction of big cities. After such humiliating treatment, I wonder if that remains.
By the way, now they say it’s human nature that they want to go home. No, it’s not human nature but the helplessness they were made to feel.
With this all, a thought comes to mind; have people forgotten about NRC/CAA? Kashmir? Are they not comprehending how the government is arresting their targets under UAPA? Have we become insensitive to all of it, along with our labour brothers and sisters? Where are all the protesters? Helping on their own the migrant workers and people in need? Maybe. But isn’t it also important to keep the flames burning? For all that is going wrong with each passing day.
I hope the flame remains burning, and we witness all the injustice not to swallow but fight back when the time comes.