Covid Memories

JmttuuosulSoyh po1n7h, a2siror02e0daSo  · Shared with Your friends
One big news house has taken a policy decision to not keep throwing COVID numbers around. To hype up terror. And to catch eyeballs.
And to instead focus on positive steps. And on the cures that Ayurveda and Siddha are successfully achieving.
Then lives can go on. Lives of ordinary people. Who need to work and earn that day. To eat that day.
That is being responsible.
JufalytlS p1o3f, hni2s0olerhSsrl2et0do  · Shared with Public
This is a democracy. Before a lockdown is declared everyone has to have a say.
Those who can work from home, and have good food stocks at home.
And those who go hungry if they cannot work and earn that day.
One person, one vote. Nothing less.

Amitava BhattacharyaIn travel, app is a must, so if you dont have a smart phone, u better stay at home 

JtuntsSpconosef tg1o7rmd,le 2u0d2md0nr  · Shared with Public
It is lockdown from dayafter. 
While going for a walk in the evening I stepped into a supermarket to pick up a few non essentials. Biscuits and things. 
Many others were there with overfull baskets. It seemed to be stocking up day.
A thin greying man in a folded veshti, a bush shirt, and a towel over his hunched shoulders was in the line ahead of me. He had a small plastic bottle of pickles in his hand. He did not look around him, just straight. He did not fit in here, maybe he sensed that. Maybe his wife was unwell at home and he was worrying, and had come for a small bottle of pickles with her patyam food. Who knows.
The girl at the cash table told him 53/-. He counted out some coins and gave it to her. And left shuffling. A small greying man. Into the grey of the dusk outside.
My purchases of complete non essentials after that seemed a crime. But I finished the act. Paid the bill of 300/-.  And left with my full bag. In silence.
Some mental pictures are forever. This thin stooping man in a bright beautiful supermarket of beautiful people is one. This is the picture of my country.

Prakash Rvyou've been reading a lot of ruskin bond from the way it reads   
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Aparna KrishnanPrakash Rv .Yes, the vocabulary gets simpler and simpler as years pass !

JenuSttnnSepgo 26ngm,m S2soofr0i2ed0fd  · Shared with Public
Well meaning friends tell me not to step out. I ask them  about the vendors and the beggers, about how they will survive. They do not understand the question.
They also tell me that my parents should stop their maid. I ask them how the maids will survive if everyone stops them. They do not understand my question.
Fear dumbs us down. Makes us cruel. Self centred.
Some precautions are ok. Fear is not. Marketing fear is not.

Priya JainEven if we stop our maids, we must pay them.
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Aparna KrishnanNot enough. Because it sets/ strenghens a trend of stopping maids, and not everyone pays them.


lJtrrSufplnonfsooer 2d1g, 20ded2e0tgc  · Shared with Public
All of us anguishing over fatalities of COVID, and dreading that we be struck. And demanding lockdown.
Do we also consider with the same concern the vast poor who are left with no livlihoods ? Penniless and hungry, and doubly vulnerable. To COVID and to death by hunger.
Those of us don't act for these most vulnerable  fellow citizens. It is that indifference which will strike us down.
Destiny and Karma  work in complex ways. COVID is part of this narrative. 

Sai Ramani Garimellamy understanding - corona exposed the faultlines of our social fabric, and essentially the idea of privilege, and the false idea of merit. People asking for lock-down reimposed are essentially those that think they have merit and earned well and hence can afford another lockdown, living as they're on the comforts provided by amazon and such

Sanjay MaharishiI'm seeing everywhere that corona numbers are repeated ad nauseum, the fear factory is working well and everybody is telling everybody else to be careful. Nobody is suffering from any other illness it seems, nothing else matters just corona corona day in and day out.
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Aparna KrishnanSanjay Maharishi the utter obtuseness of the so called educated is on full display. Barely a handful are capable of looking into the numbers, compare with other diseases, ask questions that challenge the mainstream racket.
The other thing that is out there now is the insecurity of the rich. Sudden they are faced with an epidemic and they realise that their money cannot buy immunity. Finished - they will push everyone under the bus in their valiant attempt to save their own skin.
It's all very interesting, all that is thrown up in the open now.
Except that the collateral damage that the poor are facing is too tragic. And unnecessarily.



gJntSSucponane shco2rS5ned,s ue2r0i20  · Shared with Public
Locked down in Chennai. Village locked down there in Chittoor. Last few months many calls each day keeps us going.
Now Chennai took a step closer to the village.
The water heater gave up. Now every morning as soon as I get up, I light a wood fire outside for bath water for us all. Or my daughter does.  And places the big aluminium pot over it. And fills it with water. The wood fire dances. The water bubbles up.  Each of us gets plenty of hot water. That slightly smoke smelling water takes us to the village as nothing else can.
Then the bore failed today. No way to do anything in the lockdown. The handpump is back in use. I would have pumped 20 pots of water and carried it home. Again like in the village, I treat every drop of water with respect. No environmental  theory works like actually sweating for the water, as for anything else. In teaching us the value of it, in enabling us to use with care.
In the village also people are carrying water home from the tanker, and using it with the same care. The village bore has run dry. 
This is the care, born of experiential understanding of the value of things,  that can yet save us.



JenuSttnnSepgo 26ngm,m S2soofr0i2ed0fd  · Shared with Public
I am using water like gold. Like we do in the village. 
I am having to carry pots of water, thats why. Our borewell has died and its lockdown time. No repair possible.
Three of us are managing cooking, baths, washing clothes and vessels in 5 pots of water. Comfortably. Didnt mop the house. Add a pot or two for that tomorrow.
Daughter, "If we have tap water, how much we waste." 
Yes. Despite being a fairly conscious family. In that we wash clothes in buckets and keep the water for flushing. Or plants. And things like that.
Still the ease of tap water beguiles.
Each of us needs to work, physically, for what we use.Only that can lead to responsible behavior. Thats the only truth. Only that will sustain truth. And the earth. And us.
Gandhiji called it bread labour. And demanded that each man and woman work each day physically for the food that they eat. And that every other activity they do over that be a contribution the common pool of humanity.
To work on desk jobs, earn disproportionate amount of money, and pretend we can buy anything for money. That is the lie that has torn apart the fabric of our soul. And the earth.


JmioougntSfepon 2u4s,i 20odr2ce0uudlSS  · Shared with Public
#FightTheFear
#Unlock
The maid has been coming to my parents home down the days. She goes to other homes as well. She wants to work. She is well. They are well.
It is not enough to pay off maids, and keep them away. It adds to the fear. Then everyone keeps maids away. And many don't pay.
The flower vending woman comes and gives them flowers. And collects her money. She needs to sell flowers. It is not enough to just give her money. There are other faces in the chain of the flower strings, starting from  the farmer who grows the flowers. All can be sustained only if the flower economy is sustsined.
The self appointed Nepali street watchman Bahadur comes and collects his salary, and extra two thousand for the lockdown time. As many people don't open the gates for him, especially in gated apartments. He is very happy, and  immediately sends that to Nepal by money order. Glad to be able to send his family something despite harsh times.
The wheels of the economy need to keep running. 
We owe it to one another.


Lockdown is teaching me the infinite value of things whose infinite value I had forgotten.

My one and only safety pin today. Made of steel. From iron mined by miners from the depths of the earth.

Which I used to buy casually from the footpath vendors, and use and lose.

Is today more precious than all the precious gems. Protected and cherished. 

And the memory of those who sold these simple invaluable treasures so humbly ...

... all infinitely precious like it should have been all along ...

AtSpSpornrtil r3lso0rit,e cnt20achce2d0e  · Shared with Public
As I mop the house these days, sometimes between one room and another I sit for a few minutes. Like now. It was not so a few years ago. Age catching up.
And then i wonder about maids. As they feel tired with passing years. Will their employers understand ? Yes, if the employers  also mop their houses regularly. Going down on their knees poking into dirty corners. Sometimes knees aching, sometimes just feeling like postponing mopping the next room to afternoon.
And then the understanding will come. It is experiential learning.
... many many reasons. Why each of us needs to do our chores, our cleaning, our washing ourselves. There is no other way to understanding. And to understand is to care, to understand is to grow.

Many of the poorest also have smart phones these days. As I watch these foodie pics online I wonder. What may go on in their minds  as their own lives are caught in a struggle for the next meal ...
We may never know, given our own privilege. Always insulated from hunger through god's grace. 
And yet it may be kind to mute our own celebrations.

#Privilege

Some of us are working from home, others are walking home (300km, of foot, hungry, in searing sun)

One country, many worlds.

Srinivas Alavilli
fArptrctSSoipocnl Ss15,or 2s0ho2dc0egde  · 
"They said they were getting tired of surviving on the kindness of strangers"
Bandra



“We are not beggars. We came to Hyderabad to work and earn money with self-respect. We feel ashamed in taking donations. I personally feel like committing suicide when donors came to distribute cooked rice and clicked a picture with my family,” said Bramhaji. 


Mallikarjun Polineni
AmdgphrntmsgileS 16, pg20heonssoreeidd20  · 
A group of 72 from bihar are currently residing at a bypass crossing  at kadapa outskirts in AP. Almost 30 of them are disabled with polio. We have sent some support for dry ration. They need help with wheel chairs / 3 wheelers for ease in mobility. If you are aware of any individuals/NGO's or any other groups who may be able to help with the wheel chairs / 3 wheelers it will be helpful. 
They travel every year from bihar arriving prior to start of ramzan month and survive by seeking alms from people.
Hard to imagine why would someone travel all the way from bihar to kadapa just to seek alms for a month. This is just one of those thousands of stories across the nation happening now that does not make any sense to us. 

Srikanth Ragothaman
why cant the lockdown done in incremental fashion (assess condition everyweek and extend if needed). this would have prevented all to move and stay at same location. now it is becoming evident that community spread is not happening at end of week it would be smart enough to relax district by district. this is totally insane and irresponsible move. decision taken without any rationale. without sufficient data in hand

My privilege has never stood out in such starkness as in these days ...
When a week has exhausted the life savings of people. Of most of the people of my land.

Via Samrat Roy Chowdhuri
 It is criminal to participate in acts of symbolism when our health workers are working in difficult conditions with minimal safety gear, when the poor of the country are living in dark without wages and food.
As Indians we need to be objective in our thoughts and actions during moments of crisis. Precisely why I am against any acts of symbolism. When there is a crisis, we should act, not divert attention or energy to stuffs like what many did the last two Sundays. These activities can wait til the crisis is over.  
Many asked what's the harm to participate that puts a smile on people's face. Well, you don't celebrate when you catch fire.

Manohar Kamath
The poor in India instead of being objective in action and thought have wasted so much time in symbolism - lighting lamps, visiting temples, wasting time in village celebrations etc... All these years if they had discarded these symbolic acts, they would have been far better.
Just to clarify, I did not participate in the Sunday event.
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Aparna Krishnan
Symbolism place a role, as culture does.
And yet the primary role of a government is governence. When it fails that, but engages in symbolism, it's pettiness. And a scam.
As in this post, in moments of crisis objectivity is needed, and action - sure along with symbolism if one wishes.

Sowmya Srinivasan
tStlcpSMuonanssiorchl 3f1r,fae 2u02h0id  · 
The shameful act of 'disinfecting' the naive and absolutely poor labourers is ghastly. This is very unbecoming of that local administration. Why don't the real culprits, those arriving at the airports be drenched in disinfectant liquid? They seem to be enjoying the comforts of home quarantine while these innocent and gullible daily labourers are still suffering, not even knowing what or who corona is?

Kiran Vissa
AetSpuprgfogitnl dc6ssc,oof 2020crdedd  · 
*I REFUSED to light a lamp at 9pm or switch off the lights in my home.* 
# I did this as my token protest. 
# I did this because I've been working with migrant workers, homeless & the poor in the last 10 days, and they cannot light a lamp today; many of them haven't even eaten today.
# On the day of Janata  Curfew, I did go out, clapped and banged plates to say Thanks to Health workers. I like symbolic gestures. But when I find that the PM is repeatedly indulging in personal PR actions to boost his image, while not performing his role as PM, (like making a phone call to a nurse in Pune when his govt is not doing what needs to be done for health workers), I refuse to be part of such a PR exercise.
# I did this because I have been working 8am to midnight every day for the last 10 days - not to address the CoVid crisis - but to clean up the mess created by PM Modi's thoughtless and cruel governance. If only he had done things with more thought, so much suffering for millions of people could have been avoided. And state govts could have been working on the epidemic instead of dealing with the epic crisis of migrant workers.
# I did this because PM Modi is doing the most callous things where the poor people of this country are concerned, and he is doing feel-good things which make the middle class and upper class of the country all warm and fuzzy that we are being led by a great leader.
# I did this because, despite repeated petitions and letters from across the country, *PM Modi refused to give 21 days wages to NREGS workers* who are the poorest and most affected people iin the villages - though the govt directed that all employers should pay wages to their workers even though they couldn't work during lockdown.
# I did this because, PM Modi said in the Supreme Court that there are 4.14 crore migrant workers in the country, and 3 out of 10 of them are likely to carry the Coronavirus - as a justification for their atrocious lack of preparation. Without any basis whatsoever, he is spreading falsehoods and creating atmosphere where the migrant workers are supposed to be panicking and spreading the virus - whereas it was a *GROSS GOVERNMENT FAILURE.* 
# I did this because if his govt knew that 4.14 crore migrant workers are in the country (that's 41.4 million, and including children and families, that may be 80 million living breathing humans we are talking about), WHY THE HELL didnt his govt think or do anything about them before STOPPING the trains and buses overnight?
# I did it because PM Modi is building a cult around his personality where people are being driven to give up their thinking faculties, and *follow the leader* and feel good about it. These are signature moves of fascist or dictatorial leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and others.
I refuse to be part of this cult-building and urge all my fellow citizens to be CITIZENS who question and show vigilance towards the actions of their government and not be led to believe that falling in line and saying Jai Ho to the Leader is Patriotism. 
It is the Opposite of Patriotism!

Some worrying about gaining weight in lockdown times, others about the next meal.

The difference between the two Indias has never stood out more starkly.

Hi folks, 
Today i had been to Poonjeri, ECR, on the way I saw a group of 14 migrant workers (from Odisha) walking along near Thiruvidanthai. I stopped the car and enquired them. They said they were all construction workers and they are on their way to work in a site near Thiruporur. Since there are lot of restrictions in vehicle movement they were forced to walk along from Central station to Thiruporur. I was shocked to hear that they had been walking since 2am in the morning without any food/water. I offered them ₹500 and some snacks, which they initially refused but later got it. 

So I kindly request you all to extend your support, whenever you see them on your way till everything is normal. 

"Two men were walking past my gate . One with a strolley , one with a backpack.

From Andhra Pradesh to Gaziabad . Didn't want water , didn't want food . The police had given them biscuits they said

Already nine days on the road .

Able-bodied , calm and collected .

I am 50km from Nagpur on the Chindwara , Madhya Pradesh road."

Shyamala Sanyal

There have been diseases that have wiped out the poor in far larger numbers. They died quietly, we stayed indifferent.

Now a disease that attacks us the privileged as well,  and man, how we have torn apart everything. 

And wrecked lives and livlihoods for the poor. Completely. In our desperate attemp to safeguard our own precious lives.

AiptorgtuiSl pchon2sorre,d 2ctmg0icn20

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A phone call from the village friends. Subbiah, maybe 55, who was working as a casual worker in Tirumala, "We are back in the village . Simply sitting. What can we do."

Very difficult thing to hear. Worse is to try to answer ... I have learnt to listen in silence. When I have no answer.

When daily wage people need to simply sit it means no food for the day. Same story, village after village. Next step is malnourishment. In some unluckier places, starvation.

What the government is giving, a one time help of a Kg of dal and 5kg of rice, means very little.

Fazal Ahmad

ticSuApprinifloin 7,sh 2ol0tda2dre0df

During the hearing of the PIL today Chief Justice of India  SA Bobde asked why wages are (currently) required for Migrant Workers when meals are being provided by the Govt. 

Can his salary be stopped forever? We will arrange for his meals.

And whether the Judiciary is merged with the Government?

Apgltfrcail oSe1pohnsgo7Sr,e tu202tudt0

It is worth asking - would the majority of 70% of India that is rural and 40% of urban India that lives in slums and settlements, choose a lockdown, if they were given a choice? That’s about 80% Indians in the "world's largest democracy” – would they choose to stop earning and restrict themselves to their own space where the idea of social distancing is a cruel joke? Especially if they knew how low the risks connected with this virus are? 

Speaking of which, do they even know that if infected by Coronavirus, there's an 80% chance that they wouldn't have any symptoms and a 90% chance that they won't need any treatment but will lose at worst 2-3 weeks in recovery? That they have a 99% chance of survival if they're below the age of 60 without serious pre-conditions? That among active cases worldwide, 96% consistently are in "mild condition"? Forget rural India and urban slums, do even so-called educated people in upper middle-class colonies know this? 

Speaking of which, how does The Times of India get away with saying ""Maharashtra Covid-19 mortality rate one of the highest in the world"? Is the Indian media so low IQ today that they don't realise that the numerator to calculate "infections" is completely dependent on testing, and that India is one of the lowest-testing countries in the world? How does the Health Ministry of India say "83% of India's coronavirus patients are below the age of 50" with a straight face (again purely about who got tested, while the age-profile of the death toll suggests a near-identical patient base as the rest of the world; i.e. overwhelmingly people over 65), then do nothing about the panic that manifests on news channel tickers and social media timelines? By simply removing the focus from “infections” (a meaningless measure when there is so little testing), and even more infantile measures like “recovered” (which is an ongoing process at all times), and single-mindedly focussing on only “serious cases”, would it not actually bring down panic in exponential proportions?

Speaking of which, it is also worth asking - would India have had the nerve to order a lockdown if China and some of Europe did not done it before them, providing precedent? Because the medical community knows very well that a lockdown only slows things down; it does not combat the virus (despite the highly dubious model by ICMR; ref. in Scroll link in comment). That is only meaningful if the intent is to ramp up testing or quarantine facilities or the like, none of which India has shown any signs of doing. However, the human and economic cost of a lockdown in India is greater than literally anywhere else on earth. Are our Academicians so incapable of going beyond preening for each other that they cannot even provide any meaningful perspective to the cost of a lockdown in terms of lives lost? The UK did one of those studies, which concluded that their lockdown would eventually result in 150,000 lives lost (ref. in first comment), without even accounting for "domestic violence, depression, even suicides accompanying the mass bankruptcies". Anyone with the appetite to estimate something similar for the "world's largest democracy"? Which also accounts for the communalising of the virus, legitimising of social stigma based on testing status and the refusal of authorities to allow medical staff to raise money for PPEs (Ref: HT link in comment)? All this when there is absolutely no concrete proof anywhere directly linking lockdowns and eventual death rate. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore - all accomplished the "flattening of the curve" without enforced lockdowns. Belgium adopted a strict lockdown much before Netherlands did, and yet Belgium has fared considerably worse. Sweden hasn't gone for a lockdown at all, and fared better than both. 

Speaking of which, Sweden remains the most progressive example in the world, for attempting herd immunity (in a much more planned way than the UK attempted for a while), with highly acceptable results. Fact is, if the summer heat does not have its say and cases rise after this highly untenable lockdown is lifted in India, that is likely to be the most practical lockdown exit option in India (even if it renders the previous lockdowns somewhat meaningless)- the younger citizens of a country where 92% are below the age of 60, would shield the community overall, while the older sections would need to be segregated to whatever extent possible. Of course there would still be casualties, but it would help a great deal to compare that with the scenario unfolding holistically, including the economic and human cost of the lockdown. 

Speaking of which, why is it that there is no data being made available to make comparisons between deaths in the first four months of the last five years and 2020, not just for perspective (whether percentage of extra deaths justifies the worldwide panic) but also to ensure if deaths from other causes tally with previous years' and a wrongful Covid attribution is not being made in death tallies? Voices from all around the world have raised this doubt repeatedly and yet there has been no attempt to address this. How could all our institutions fail us so comprehensively? Or is it that they've all been ruthlessly politicised, all around the world, only to be unexpectedly exposed at a time when political leadership is at its lowest ebb than ever before in human history? 

Speaking of which, it is surely not a coincidence that the global theme of lockdown matches the era of authoritarianism aggressively coming back in a world more polarised than ever before. With panic as the most obvious outcome, it is perhaps time to stop perpetuating meaningless cliches that glorify the "value of human life". If anything, human life is the most expendable thing today, which very consciously changes the paradigm. 

Speaking of which, as Yuval Noah Harari said recently, this pandemic is bringing out demons within us more than anything has in our lifetime. He also spoke of cooperation, not isolation, being the real antidote to epidemics, referring, of course, not to lockdowns but to sharing knowledge and resources across nations. But currently, we seem to be utterly unable to empathise even within our country, forget internationally. In this light, Harari's point about epidemics actually being evolution, through mutations and modifications, assumes even more ironic dimensions. 

Speaking of which, could a few weeks of enforced toxic-free air change the conversation around climate change in a somewhat positive direction? Could living in such an interconnected world, with such an acute awareness of death, make us empathise a little more with each other? It looks like we shouldn't hold our breath. 

(All references in first comment)

Conversations around lockdowns have become very limiting.

It is not about whether a lockdown is effective. Of course it slows down the rate of infection. Of course it is useful to buy the authorities some time, if they plan to do something constructive with it. Of course it may have considerable value in a scenario where there is a hope that rising summer temperatures will kill the virus (and there's still quite a lot to be said about that in the Indian context).

But it is also fairly indisputable that a lockdown does not flatten the curve, but widen it, which will most likely manifest when it is lifted. There is absolutely no conclusive evidence that shows lockdowns eventually help reduce the death rate over a period of time. The latest, among people pushing that agenda, is to hold Sweden up as an example of "messing it up", but only through selective information and absurdly misleading graphs. Fact also is, only Belgium and Netherlands have a higher proportion of urban population in Europe among countries of that size, and both have far higher casualties. Belgium enforced a strict lockdown early on, Netherlands after some time, and Sweden not at all. Since this is selective info too, let at least the death rates of these countries become comparable, before we attempt any conclusion.

But what is absolutely undeniable is that you cannot judge lockdowns on just Covid death rates. It is to be Covid PLUS lockdown deaths. All calculations have to be based on that. The economic disaster connected to lockdowns has to be extrapolated and converted to loss of lives, however tentatively, even if not immediate deaths but imminent. (As the UK did recently, with a paper produced by their cabinet subcommittee and came to the staggering figure of 150,000).

Without this exercise, and this projection, all conversation about lockdowns is incomplete and pointless. Especially in India (where 80% of the country is either rural or living in urban slums and settlements), where the "collateral damage" from lockdown is quite simply greater than anywhere else in the world, in terms of lives lost. It may also be useful to remember that the profile of lockdown deaths include many more younger people, breadwinners, and not mostly the old, as Covid casualties are. If this colossal loss and suffering was not a reality, there might have actually even been a valid case to keep an indefinite lockdown till a vaccine is found.

All those in the upper-middle classes and above in India who are in favour of the lockdown (and it continuing even beyond early-May) demonstrate a frightening insularity and disconnect with their own country. Or they simply don't care about the cost, which is even worse. (And, chillingly, don’t even feel the need to virtue-signal about it.)

Though, all of this was probably apparent even before the pandemic.

Kannan T

We will see a sudden reversal of middle class opinion on lock down soon after their companies are unable to pay their salaries or start downsizing.

Via @Bharat Ramu

Germ theory is one of the biggest western scams. Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and other indigenous medicine all deduce that the terrain imbalance cause disease. If there is no terrain imbalance, then Germs remain asymptomatic or cause an acute infection and disappear due to healthy immune system.

Manmant Singh Sethi

Ram Mohan

the ayush ministry is already giving immune boosting herbal concoctions. I don't know what these people are giving...

The brown sahibs with huge inferiority complex will only wait for a Western validated vaccine. I encourage them to keep their scientific temper going and not believe in our mumbo Jumbo. I tell them to only do what they believe while country cousins like us will be trying ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines as well while waiting for the vaccine...

That way they are happy if the kill themselves waiting for the gora to find their cure and I will rely on multiple systems to try and protect myself.. This because in my personal experience both ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines have worked wonders for me and have not had any side effects..

I would think the government is doing a similar think..

Ayush is advising ayurvedic remedies as well as the homeopathic ones.. But it remains an advisory only..

Just like punctures rely on their God to ensure that the virus doesn't infect them and continue to hug and pray, the brown sahibs or Macaulays clerks can Wait for the gora to save them..

We will take the vaccine when it comes but in the meanwhile we will try Other things as well..

Manmant Singh Sethi

Ram Mohan

Ram Mohan ji studies of that variety take 5-10 years. They are probably being undertaken. Basic immunity boosters knowledge is already known even to Western pharma. But they make no money selling you turmeric powder. The profit is in making a synthetic Curcumin ..

As regards yoga once again the religious lobbies in the West aided by pharma peddle canards because their anti depressants sales will plummet..

Manmant Singh Sethi

Aparna Krishnan

India has the cheapest drug prices ( medicines) in the world. Indian patent laws forbid patenting of molecules, only patenting of process is allowed. Indian pharmacists are able to make most salts with proprietary techniques.

India also has structure price control on stents and medical implants from the past 3 years..

Government hospitals are obligated to prescribe generic medicines.

In The government medical stores in hospitals invariably medicines and their generic variants are available at a fraction of the cost as low as one third of the branded ones..

MtfaSpy 2,o uegrnsd2nfontrc0e2od0g

“if we provide free transport, everyone will return home, creating problems both in the villages – triggering fear of pandemic and in cities, hampering revival of the economic activity, including construction work”

“strategy to discourage them from traveling home”. 

'everyone' 'them' = migrant (daily wage) workers

Above quotes are from "Senior Officials" in Government of Karnataka (see attached story in The Hindu

After helping 16,000 people get home in 598 buses, without asking them to pay for travel, the Government of Karnataka made a sudden policy change. Decided to charge passengers DOUBLE the normal bus ticket.

You read that right. DOUBLE the fare. 

Why DOUBLE? Because they calculated cost of full bus, both ways (return will be empty bus) and every passenger has to pay for that return trip and empty seats as well)

Today thousands of people thronged to Majestic, hoping to get home now that they are "allowed" to go back.  They were in for a rude shock when they realized it costs a bomb to get home.  Unknown to them, the Government had a brilliant strategy to keep them here.  (Even at this hour, hundreds are sleeping on the streets hoping to catch a bus in the morning.)

Vinay Sreenivasa
 and others showed up at Majestic, made everyone aware of this phenomenon, and within a few hours, the 'strategy' has been revised.  the charges went back to 'normal' charges, announced by a Minister.

You would think after all the hardship faced by honest hardworking citizens of Karnataka,  the Government will waive off the travel charges instead of devising 'strategies' to keep them here. But no.  We would rather buy jet fuel to  fly fighter planes showering petals all across country than pay for diesel costs of state run bus service.

Why would they want to keep them here?

The same page reveals the big secret "ensure that their return does not hamper economic activity"

I'm pretty sure no migrant worker that is sitting in Majestic is going to come back to Bengaluru any time soon, if at all.

But I also heard stories where people are taking loans, to pay for the travel with a promise to come back and work. Sounds like version 2020 of good old bonded labour.

ftSMpohayn o5so, ngr20gtcg2edflf0

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I see pictures of people needing rice, dal, oil.

And I see pictures of exotic foods, made in lockdown times, and shared.

Alternately in my feed. A snapshot of our times. One country. Two worlds.

These are times to share as far as courage goes. And also to mute our our own living, in solidarity. To reduce.

Sharing a picture of a simple meal. Our breakfast. Wholesome, tasty, simple.

Cooked rice. Spread to cool.
A little oil in a pan. Tadka of mustard, green chillies, curry leaves, groundnuts, channa dal, turmeric.
Grated amla/nellikaya.
All mixed, and salt added to taste.

Amla is an important daily item, improves health, well being and immunity. More do in these times.

dtuMSaydn p6,o n2n0fsorollaed2oS0

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Everything is exposed. All lies we tried to cover up in our day to day life are now shown up.

We all live on slave labour.

Shyamala Sanyal, Samrat Roy Chowdhuri and 41 others

16 Comments

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Paranthaman Sriramulu

Looks like for everything we need to complain.. We want jobs for them and if something is done for it and complain on that too. Most migrants were leaving because they did not have job or money to stay further.

I think everyone is slave in some way. Degree of slavery and perks for it varies...

Associations agreed to pay wages to workers for the entire period of lockdown, and ensure all essential facilities, including safety gear, at workplaces. The government will also appoint ministers to hold talks with migrants and convince them to stay back.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/.../karnataka-stops...

NEWINDIANEXPRESS.COM

Karnataka stops migrant labourers, assures them of jobs, wages

Aparna Krishnan
Paranthaman Sriramulu may God make you a migrant labourer. May you face the end of your day to day earnings and have nothing to feed your children. May you stand in endless queues to collect charity meals to feed your children. May you sleep hungry done nights. May you lose all self respect as you start living on charity. May you try to leave for your village and be blocked.
And finally when you can leave, be prevented, ad your labour is needed to sustain the city thst refused to sustain you.
And may you face the kind of platitudes that you are mouthing now.
And God give you the courage then to keep your hands off the collar of that speaker of platitudes.

It's not Corona. It's far deeper.

It's a sickness of the soul.

As we see ourselves, our lives, our lifestyles in stark outline. In unforgiving detail. In ugly detail.

Seen in the march of the migrant labourer who built our homes brick by brick.

Seen in the empty gaze of the roadside tailor. Who stitched all our clothes. And who could save nothing for this rainy day.

Seen in every missing Street vendor.

The mirror is all around us. The mirror reflection is ugly. And today we have nowhere to turn away to.

Our masks have been torn off.

There is no Other to blame now. It is Me. It is Us.

Our privilege built on uncomplaining underpaid undernourished bodies. Which offered us our food , shelter, clothing all too cheap. And vacations, and entertainment, and every other unnecessary pompom.

It has come to haunt us today.

Karma will take its due.

Claude Alvares

My sentiments, too, dear Aparna. But also the sentiments of many others. We should come out of this better human beings.

Aparna Krishnan
Claude Alvares we should. Re evaluate the real cost of every brick that builds this edifice.
I don't know if we will ... time will tell.
I think as much as there is heartache, there is also indifference. Sometimes I wonder if I'm living in a well with like-minded frogs. In an echo chamber so to say.
And wonder how is the larger mood is? Empathetic ? Facing guilt at being party to this development and privilege ?
Or largely just fearful for ones own life ?

Neetu Singh- Desai

So true... All those discounts are costing us our lives now...

Shyama Iyer

Maybe we will do better from here on. Resolve to bond, help, raise a voice, volunteer, donate, practice austerity, walk the extra mile, convince business owners to show compassion....And many more. That's the way.

In these times of our angst and anger at what the labourers, migrant and local, in our country are facing, some deeper questioning is in order.

And an examination of our own role, in why the labouring clas is where it stands.

After hard backbreaking work, the farmer, the potter, the tailor, the auto drivers, all have no reserves. It was never more obvious. This stark reality.

What they earns feeds them for that day. No more.

And by maintaining their wage rate there, by underpaying, the rest of us accumulate our riches.

Some of the accumulation we divert into charity. To quickly still that sleeping conscience, that sometimes inconsiderately wakens and troubles.

We need face this brutal fact. Otherwise all our anger and eloquent posts are just another sham. Another indulgence.

A thought.

If we seek to buy a two bedroom apartment, we look at the market rate. The building gets built, keys are handed over, and the overworked, underpaid labourers very politely disappear, to not disturb our joy. If we feel kind we may give them a box of sweets and a set of clothes as we send them off.

If another buider offers a similar apartment at thrice the price assuring us that each labourer will get a small one roomed home after the end of constructing our beautiful homes. Will we choose that ?

Same question with the food we eat, the sarees we wear. How far are we ready to go. To walk the talk.

Are we ready to very substantially reduce our lifestyles. Our earnings. Our assets. To ensure the justice we think we seek. Or not ?

In what way are we different from slave owners ?

Slaves got food, clothing shelter of a minimal kind, in exchange for their work. They saved nothing for a rainy day.

Our construction labourers, our maids, our pavement vendors, farmers, industrial labour, are in the same situation.

The slave owners built assets. We too do.

#MigrantLabour

Our current standard of living is built on slave labour. It's just showing up more blatantly now.

Are we ready to drastically reduce our lifestyles ? Eat more simply. Dress more simply. Travel more simply. Live more simply. Earn far less.

If not, let's honestly face that we need slaves, as we have always done.

Kejriwal seems to have said that 'old people' (bujurg log) above 50 are more vulnerable to Corona.

It has caused heartache, and not over Corona .

50 is technically grandparent age. 25 + 25. So one is old enough to accept being called bujurg without heartaches .

In the village I was grandmother by 40. To some older neighbour's grandchildren. It makes for smooth ageing. And greying !!

This whole problem with ageing is a problem of the times, wasteful at the least as the sands of time cannot be slowed

MtgSaSpSyoa ma10n,a 2scorii0ec2dcg0d
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Would we be happy if the migrant labour settled in their own villages with their families happily. In locally productive work ? 

In cities, there would be severe shortage of housemaids, cleaners, construction workers, labourers. Delivery boys,  restaurant staff. Sewage cleaners. Auto drivers. Car drivers. 

Are we happy to clean our own homes, streets. Eat simpler food.  Live a harder simpler life. Make do with a 'lower' standard of living. Pay far higher for all services 

This is the question we need to answer.  And demand government action on those terms, if the answer be a yes. That local livlihoods in villages be the priority today.

Simply shedding tears over their hardships don't count. Our tears are of little use to them. 

31 Comments

Usha Pandit
I think that should happen. It will slow down life in the cities as well.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Usha Pandit are we ready to mop.our homes, clean our clogged drains ? Travel by buses and cycles. Hardly eat out.
  The devil is in the details.
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- Usha Pandit
  Aparna Krishnan well, it need not be a 0-1, but surely it will have its benefits for all. We need to pay more for clogged drains. The way it happens when you go to live in the US or UK. If you have a good bus service why not? The problem is political corruption not bus travel.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Usha Pandit we pay more for clogged drains, but send them into our waste ? That quietens our conscience ?
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- Usha Pandit
  Aparna Krishnan what are you talking about? Don’t play these stupid ‘elitist without conscience city folk’ card on me. You know nothing about me to accuse me of insensitivity. Hello? When I say corruption is our problem, could you please point your accusing fingers there? Then we would not have manual drain cleaning in our city manholes, and our house drains ( I thought that’s what you meant) will need more money to be cleaned by the plumbers. So get off your high horse lady and chill a bit. Ok?
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Usha Pandit I said 'our conscience', not 'your conscience'.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  ... and plumbers don't clean drains. Conservancy workers do.
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Write a reply…
Prathik Sudha Murali
Yes. You are absolutely correct. Having said that, we should also think of their plight. India is no longer an agricultural economy. A small percentage of GDP, supporting a huge chunk of population will make their per capita even lesser, making them go into further poverty.
Also, these workers are coming from UP and Bihar mostly. No industry is there. City will find its way to retain it's comfort.
In addition to having very less industries and huge work force, labour laws are suspended in the state. The capitalist will rejoice for having obtained slaves.
These men and women will be forced into more poverty.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Prathik Sudha Murali
  Move production units to villages. Preferably sustainable production like handlooms, but otherwise even unsustainable like powerloom or small mills. Decentralisation.
  Everyone deserves to be able to work near their family.
  We do not need watchmen from Nepal to be staying far from home and hearth guarding our ill gotten spoils (before I get an indignant response, all excess assets are ill gotten, acquired by underpaying vast number of poor).
  Gandhi described it all long ago. It stayed buried. And yes, it will probably stay buried.
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Kunawl Bhatiea
Most people returning home would be there will the end of rains, now what kind of understanding and support would they get. The people need to understand they can build a better life in village. But its subjective, they believe city life is better. I think 50% will return by the end of rains
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Kunawl Bhatiea because there are no livlihoods there. Desperation.
  If we seek we can structure the economy to be decentralised.
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- Kunawl Bhatiea
  Aparna Krishnan a collective of individuals or NGOs with similar passion and state wise distribution of volunteers can help build this network that can help people realise villages potential. Goonj is a good example.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Till we make the state own it up, all we can do is some scattered work. Only the State can give it the scale that is needed.
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Paranthaman Sriramulu
As long as 70% of Indians are corrupt in someway, nothing will happen. All these misery are due to corruption. It is a cycle. Farmer son not interested in farming, joins govt service and does corruption affecting his own village...To open a small unit manufacturing areca leaf plates, still no power connection even after paying 1 lakh bribe.. Applicable to all fields.
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Malavika A Kamath
We in the city don’t deserve their sincerity and hard work.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Malavika A Kamath we don't.
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Anantha Sayanan
How I wish!!
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- Aparna Krishnan
  If most of us did, it could happen ...
  Not sure if most are willing to really give up te comforts that migrant underpaid labour guarentee
  I am beginning to think that the government's acts represent the said or unsaid aspirations of the majority of the privileged classes. Its not so random.
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Chitra Sharan
I found this is a good read and something to reflect upon now, more than ever.
All of us are angry with the apathy, insensitivity and rationalisation towards the current situation - particularly migrants' issue.
Is it possible to shift the focus from anger, bitterness and hatred towards whom we think are the perpetrators; to love, kindness and compassion for the suffering people?
In the late 1990s, environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill spent two years living in a redwood tree she named "Luna." Her goal was to save it from being cut down by a logging company. She succeeded both literally and mythically.
Later she told Benjamin Tong in the DVD "The Taoist and the Activist": "So often activism is based on what we are against, what we don't like, what we don't want. And yet we manifest what we focus on. And so we are manifesting yet ever more of what we don't want, what we don't like, what we want to change. And I realized I didn't climb the tree because I was angry at the corporations and the government; I climbed the tree because when I fell in love with the redwoods, I fell in love with the world. So it is my feeling of 'connection' that drives me, instead of my anger and feelings of being disconnected."
Posted in Extinction Rebellion Australia
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Chitra Sharan I find it useful to examine myself. How much of the acts of the Other, the State, that I hate, exist in myself also. In subtle hidden ways.
  And what all changes, structural and in the minds, are needed to change the system. In which we are all trapped. The Oppressor and the Oppressed.
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- Chitra Sharan
  The message is something and you are saying something else Aparna.
  The essence "I" get from that post in the context of the current scenario, is not to focus on hate for oneself or others, but to focus on kindness that is necessary so that the manifestation is that of love and kindness, since she believes that what we focus is what we will manifest.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Chitra Sharan yes I am saying something else.
  There is grief, rage. And these are essential responses today. In the face of the unforgivable mega tragedy unfolding. And these need to be channelised. By asking the right questions.
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Supriya Shah
The answer is certainly yes. I am ready to let go of the privileges I have enjoyed so far. They just came from birth when I couldn't make a choice, now I can and I do.
I would be very happy if they found a happier healthier life of dignity and respect in their village.
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Yogita
This is so true. India has the ability, more than so many more countries, to be self sustainable just by focussing on need-based lifestyles over consumerist ones. I think the approach needs to be, especially now, bottom up - not pander to middle and upper middle class requirements. I think our governance is waaaay too focussed on an economy that doesn't have the ability to sustain itself - an economy that is not focussed on survival and existence, but just for the sake of the economy in itself. This attitude has to change. This pandemic has been such a learning of that. We need to accept this learning and implement it to our governance.
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Will that thinking happen ? Hope so. Dont know.
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- Yogita
  Aparna Krishnan I don't know either. It's utterly disappointing to see how a democracy has given away almost-dictatorial powers to an elected leadership. I wonder what more people like us can do. Some of us are constantly trying to have this conversation with whoever we can, because at the end of the day, we as a collective have to change a mindset to ensure that we move our governments to implement those changes. But somehow nothing seems enough. No amount of conversation, anger, seems enough sometimes. But maybe it'll work out in the long run if we keep trying?
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- Aparna Krishnan
  Yogita The response to the unfolding tragedy of the migrants was the announcement of labour rights being scrapped. Unimaginable, but it's happened.
  The whole COVID seems hyped up for many other agendas. One us establishing a totalitarianism, citing health emergency. There are others. Time will be show.

Anantha Sayanan is with Komakkambedu Himakiran and 35 others.

tasrSMpautay 1onus3or,d c2etd02gl0g

*Pl read fully, u can help for sure*
So, went to the Kolkata highway on the northern outskirts of Chennai and followed the walking migrants till Tada (AP Border)..I had the ever-ready volunteer Ariwarasan Ai joining me..(i called him 630am and he was ready to join me in 15 mins!!).. we set off to the Kolkatta road..

we saw 100s of them walking..its a sad scene..
some of them with kids, youngsters and ladies, all of them walking…
Each holding a sack full of stuff on head..and walking in this sun..to note that, one sack is all their asset is another sad story..
Most of them are walking bcos they don’t have work or food or money here..
they all had come here to work in various places (mostly restaurants or as daily labour) and since March they have all been struggling..some of them were helped by their employers for short periods after which they also left them.. Not a single one was angry or said anything in accusatory tone..
“last I ate was yday morning and previous to that was one day before..”
“we will walk all the way home.. yes, I know its more than 1000 kms what else to do?”
“I have no job or money or food.. what to do? And staying here means starving and paying rent”
“yes I have to walk with the kid and wife..no other way”
“no trains, no word from govt.. no food too.. what to do”
“even if they leave trains now, we can get tickets only after a month..so no other go but to walk”

its such a pathetic scene..and to see so many of our fellow citizens walking  is such a sad sight..and to know that they have no other option and no money left.. I saw one man limping but catching up pace with rest every now and then  and continuing..
So this is what we did..we took lotsa bread, fruits, biscuits and distributed to them..and we were very happy to see some locals had kept water bottles on the road side in a dabba for the walking migrants to pick up..
As we were distributing also we saw some locals come and distribute food packets..
That is Real India! Rural india!!
So what we can all do is :
1/ Pl try and contribute as much as u can asap. , its just that a few of us volunteers got together and are trying to help these poor people..so cash or biscuits or fruits or breads is best.
2/ If u want to transfer, pl do so to ‘Sevai karangal’ with whom we work closely. I fully vouch for them and their founder S Thilak Raj a close friend n co-traveller. PM me to get their details.
3/ when I told this to Prasanna Gandhi on the way, he immediately felt so touched and jumped in.. even b4 I cud reach Chennai he had talked to few people and organised for 1000 loaves of  bread and water bottles. U can do something like that. He is already on the way to Gumidipondi / Kolkata road.
4/ Prasanna was suggesting something else too: he said some 10 of us shud go in 10 vehicles and pick up as many in our vehicles and dropm them some 10-15 kms away or in AP border.
5/ when I was told the AP police in the TN-AP border are not allowing. People like KK have assured to take it up to some higher officials and ensure no harassment and even help – like water and drops in tractors for groups of ppl. (that has been done in some parts of AP by the govt oficials!), U can pitch in here too.
6/ if u cant reach us, u can reach the walking migrants directly.. go to the redhills area (on kolkatta/Tada road) there will be hundreds walking in groups.
7/ I also saw some youngsters cycling..i also spotted a young man carrying a pump too! but still..
8/ we shall note down some of the numbers and keep a tab..just to know about their progress. A team that left Chennai on april 22nd reached  Vizag on 2nd May.. yes all of them! We were mutually so happy:-)
9/ I shall share a route of theirs soon..with all towns enroute.. if u can pass it to ur friends and ask them to help with water, food or what ever, it will be great.. we all owe that much to these beautiful people..
10/ PLEASE pitch in and asap for the help is needed NOW..
-Ananthoo 9444166779



Via Ramalingam Venkatesh
I went to Kolkata high way yday with chapathis, bananas,water and Slippers in a tata ace. All the people who were walking took what they needed. Not even a single banana more. i felt so ashamed.


Never forget this image. The boy, and his dog are setting out on their long walk to Ongole.
The boy will not abandon the dog. Though we, our society, has abandoned him.
Will the dog survive ? Will the boy survive ? ... We  are anyway dead, our souls are dead. 

The sheer hopelessness in the voices I hear.

Pradip, a young boy from Jharkhand.

Months of hunger, a final bid for escape, then capture, and locked into government shelters.

His voice was lifeless. And my voice, in trying give him hope was so false and fake even to my own ears.

"I and another boy were on cycles. We were caught at the border. The others on foot went further. But they were captured in Vijaywada.. Everyone is in Centres."

"Did they tell you when you will be put in a train."

"No."

I had nothing to say.

I made another entry in the excel sheet. Lifelessly.

This country will pay for this. We will all pay for this. Karma will take its due. It should. It better.

MtlSSponaSsyto r1iih7u,hem 202dfomS0

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Slaves would work for very little. Almost for just survival.

Slaves when they escaped would be stopped at borders, captured and brought back. It was illegal for them to go. They could try for passes. 

They would be beaten if considered needed.

They would be taught to be grateful for food.

They sustained society. The slave owners would sometimes get them small gifts, and feel nice about themselves.

Get the picture ?

Maymi thdniSp2f0, o2htns0or20Ssesdot
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If I could tell you the stories I hear.
The sheer youth of the 'migrants' I'm talking with.

This boy set out walking to Jharkhand from Chennai. He was captured, and is in a camp. He can't step out as they get  'lathi charged'. Food is limited in quantity and quality.

He's been there for a week, and has no idea when they will be sent onwards.

He wanted to do a video call. He showed me the cramped room where they are packed like sardines. Social distancing is for the lords and ladies of this land. Not for the commn people.

What can I say to him. I can transfer some money Thats all.

Ashamed of myself, my country. As never before.

(via Pratil Sudha Murali)

"Hello Ubahuddin sahab?" 

"Etaa key" - answered a kid in bengali in such a sweet voice. His/her father grabbed the phone. 

"where are you all ? You were 24 people walking to Bengal?" 

"Sir!" Shouted Ubahuddeen. "Mera Baccha phone uthaaya sir" "My kid picked the call" - He could not be more excited. " I am with my kid sir. At home. Somehow we have arrived home. Thank you so much" (I never helped him, he thanked me anyway four times). 

They walked upto Andhra border. They were able to secure cycles there. Each costed 5,000. They rode on cycles. Then changed to trucks, paying an abundant sum of money (out of their earnings and cillage support). 

Odisha Police helped them cross the state. They fed them food and water. Bengal police confiscated their cycles and siad only they can get into the bus and not their cycles. They let go of their last posession. 

They have reached. A 1800 kilometer Journey to Malda in Bengal for 9 days. But they have reached.

A small group of 5 people could not afford cycles, they stayed back. Their story I shall write seperately. 

"Khuda aapke bhalai karein" He said "May Allah protect you. On the other call "Baba Vishvanath hai sir said Yadav from Banaras. - Lots to learn, lots to repent. Namaste or Khuda Hafiz didn't matter, it was their human nature was bare in from of me.

Daughter. "If we were in Saudi Arabia. And the government there declared that we could not cross the borders for an uncertain length of time. Even if they promised us food and shelter ... We would all set walking across the deserts. Across the countries. Risking everything. To reach the soil of our land ..." Get the picture ? Sandeep, Arjun, Sarvan. .. each locked in some shelter today now. Chennai. Guntur ... Uncertian of when they will be allowed to go. If they can go. Sleepless nights. Hopeless nights. Dark nights.

These are the kinds of stories we are all writing up. Feeling defeated at many levels. 

"JH1505002 Jharkhand group of 26 reached walking till  Guntur. They were caught there yesterday. They sound very desperate. 'Please send us home' is the refrain. 

They have been told that trains to Jharkhand will not be there, they will be sent to Bihar. 'How will we reach from Bihar?'

They were given food last night. Nothing since morning. Said there are no hotels there, just small shops."

Volunteers are now alerted to reach them food. The volunteer network is working overtime. Seasoned activists are on it. The government is inept or very  focussed on creating obstacles to return of the labour.

And yet it's the tip of the iceberg we have pretended does not exist, as we sail on the seas in our luxury yatchs.

Till that is faced, nothing will change.

MH1505001 Sheik Akhtar was the detail I had. I would call daily. The phone was always out if coverage area. Today finally it rang, and I introduced myself, and asked where he was. A cheerful voice on the other side informed me, "Hum ghar hain. Bibi bachche ke paas !" (I am home, with my wife and children.) He had reached home today it seems, Hyderabad. Walking and hitchhiking from Chennai. His happy voice was all that I needed to hear. Details did not matter any more. I asked him to stay in touch in future too, if needed. Namaste, I said. Khuda Hafiz, he replied.

Somehow, in the last many weeks, i never took too much care over social distancing. Except where it mattered to others. I think it was because I knew the social distancing that was actually available to the peoples of this land. And was done with the double standards of my land. Walk into any slum to understand. This is the picture a 'migrant labourer' of 17 sent to me this morning from the camp he is locked into. For the crime of setting out to walk to his home in Jharkhand from Chennai when he was left with no way to sustain himself in Chennai. "We will all die of Corona here", he said.

They have been kept here for over a week. Waiting hopelessly for a train.

Please note the social distancing possible.

Maymi thdniSp2f0, o2htns0or20Ssesdot  · Shared with Public
The messages we live for these days.
19 youngsters on their way home to Jharkhand.
This boy whom we have been in touch with for a week now, who has been thrown in and out of relief centres,  looks 18 years. A 'migrant worker' who constructs our homes for us.

And tomorrow is another day

uMtmgrrSSaypo ansosre23,Sr 2ud0s2o0  · Shared with Public
The stories we are dealing with ...
Name: Bhaniya and Jitender
Phone:
From : Tumkur, Karnataka
To: Chattisgarh
Current location: Kurnool
Issues
- A friend had put 2000 in their account yesterday as they were broke. The police took their ATM.to 'help' them. Pocketed 1000/-, gave them 1000/-
- They are at Kurnool bus stand. Police is beating them up. 
- Police is demanding 1500 per person to send them by bus to Chattisgarh
Background
A friend met them in Bangalore. 
They were walking from Tumkur. She gave them 2000/-
They reached Kurnool with the money she gave.
Update. An hour later.
"This was an hour ago.  There was lathi charge at Kurnool. Baniya and Jitendra  were taken aside by a truck driver who said he would give them a ride to Jagdalpur. He also gave them a meal. When I spoke to Baniya, they were already out of Kurnool, in Kuntur. Let's hope they make it home"
 
Muayt Smeo2r4opouo,nhe u2so0r2dedf0g  · Shared with Public
These are those we call 'migrant labourer'. Look.
Do we need these young boys to labour to build a glittering urban India.
Can't we do with less glitter. And work on creating good stable livlihoods in their own homes in Jharkhand.
For just some phone support from us, this is the kind of response and affection that is returned, multiplied manifold.

Muayt Smeo2r4opouo,nhe u2so0r2dedf0g  · Shared with Public
Twenty five years ago I was in Narmada, part of the struggle against displacement of the tribals by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. With the Narmada Bachao Andolan. From there I moved on to my village in Andhra, and settled there.
Today's poignant crisis of migrant labour is not seperate from that struggle of long ago.
Many who would have otherwise led dignified lives in their villages were driven out, displaced by dams and mines and deforestation. Down the decades. Into our cities as cheap labour.
The price of our modern development has been very very high.

Muayt Smeo2r4opouo,nhe u2so0r2dedf0g  · Shared with Public
Sanjay sent a good afternoon message. I knew he just wanted to talk. So I called him. 
He's only 19 years. Desperately wants to go home. Makri, Gharwa Dt, Jharkhand. He does not want to return. But he may have to. To earn for the family.
Officially one of the 'migrant labour' who build our glittering cities for us.

Muayt Smeo2r4opouo,nhe u2so0r2dedf0g  · Shared with Public
Sanjay sent a good afternoon message. I knew he just wanted to talk. So I called him. 
He's only 19 years. Desperately wants to go home. Makri, Gharwa Dt, Jharkhand. He does not want to return. But he may have to. To earn for the family.
Officially one of the 'migrant labour' who build our glittering cities for us.

htSupuooMaSmSnyst cr2o6,hm 202redS0  · Shared with Public
There is no end ...
A few missed calls. I called up, and a rough dialect I have learnt to recognise as the Jharkhand speak.
"Aap kaun hain ?"
"Sushil. The watchman gave me your number yesterday as we set out from our factory in Chennai."
"Where are you now ?"
"Just crossed Andhra border. We will sleep on the road now."
Then he comes to the point, " We have only 500/- rupees. Will you give us some money ? If we get a lorry it will cost money."
"How did you set out walking without money ?"
Silence. It spoke volumes. 
Helplessness. Desperation. Both bestow courage. 
"How old are you ?"
"Bayees, Ganesh bhi bayees", 22, Ganesh is also 22.
Two boys, barely out of their teens. Have come to.Chennai to labour, earn. Locked out. Desperate. Walking back home with nothing ...

MtSalyg ce2p7,oonms ore20Si2gdfgss0  · Shared with Public
Birabal and company heading home in their train. Lunch was served.  Birabal waiting to see his one month old son. They are happy. 
Sushil and Ganesh in a lorry heading to Jharkhand. A friend transferred the money to their account this morning and enabled this. They are both 22 year olds who came to Chennai 2 months ago to earn as construction labourers. And got locked down. It was a difficult period, but they are going homeward.
Home going stories are happy stories 

htSupuooMaSmSnyst cr2o6,hm 202redS0  · Shared with Public
To see and engage with poverty and struggle is so emotionally draining. 
How it would be to live in that space ... is something that imagination fails before ...

htSupuooMaSmSnyst cr2o6,hm 202redS0

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Yesterday again  Sheik Akhtar called me. 

He had walked from Chennai to Hyderabad, and had called to inform me of his safe arrival. 'Khuda Hafiz', he said. I had closed his case on my laptop. Four days ago.

Yesterday again he calls me up. "At the AP border a boy Yunus was walking alone, he needed to go to MP. I took him with me. In Hyderabad I put him on a lorry to his place. Now midway the lorry is harassing him. Asking for 1500/- for the transport. I have told him to talk to you. Please see."

I asked him to tell Yunus to call me.

I asked him if his own journey had been ok, how much it had cost. He told me that a lorry driver gave him a ride after the border. 

I asked him if he driver took money. He said no, that the driver had got him food on the way too, and brought him down safely."

Sheik Akhtar had nothing to ask for himself. He was only recommending Yunus's case.

This is the simple reality, the unthinking give and take,  that keeps the country running, despite everything. 

Mnaty 2S8rp,ouhrhl hn2n0so2r0fddetds

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We are all acting happy that the migrant labour has reached home, after months of desperate longing, and suffering.

But deep down there is little happiness. They are mostly reaching home penniless. And will need to return to their labour sites in a month or two. And if they find work they will think themselves lucky.

This is a society where some are greviously poor and need to slave for others who are well off. Thats how the machine runs.



Mnaty 2S8rp,ouhrhl hn2n0so2r0fddetds  · Shared with Public
Sushil and Ganesh have reached home. "Ab tension nahin", they called and told me.
We don't talk much. They don't understand my Hindi. I don't follow their dialect too well. But communication needs just a few shared words.
Two twenty two year olds called up from the AP border saying a watchman in Tambaram had given my number. And cane to the point asking if I would give money, that they could take a lorry to Vishakhapatnam, and then to Jharkhand.
Otherwise they would go in whatever way 500/- would enable them to.
One trusts these days. The stakes are too high. In this heat it's life or death. He gave an account number. I transferred.
They used to call me up once or twice a day. In two days they informed me they were home.
Two brave young men.

Mnaty 2S8rp,ouhrhl hn2n0so2r0fddetds

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As we connect up with the 'migrant labourers', the sheer youthfulness pulls at the heart.

These kids have set our far from home, to labour, build the glittering cities, and send some sustenance home.

They are bewildered. Penniless. Just wanting to go home ...

This boy, not yet 19 from a village in Bihar ... Biru Kumar, DOB 20-8-2001




Mnaty 2S8rp,ouhrhl hn2n0so2r0fddetds  · Shared with Public
Morning phone calls from Jharkhand from the boys who have reached a few days back. 
'Good Morning' phonecalls, just to connect. Asking for nothing. Just grateful for the small hand holding from us as they returned. Just friendly kids.
Dilawar is 20. This is his DP.
These boys had come out to earn, they returned empty handed.
And I deal with an overpowering sense of helplessness, sadness. At reality.




MeltusaySponnais 29snorru,ae 2otd020  · Shared with Public
He says 'I LOVE MY INDIA' on his WhatsApp profile. See. I don't understand at all.
He's not yet 20. Finished his 12th and set out searching for livlihood. Thats the lot of a village boy in Bihar.   
He's seen many troubles in this brief life. 
He tells me now that his parents are weeping. They are asking him to just return. He just wants to go back. His contractor tortures him he says. Hasn't paid for two months in order to make sure he doesn't go. He's near breaking point.





These stories  make me  wonder at our naivety. At our deafness and wanton blindness. To the stories and lives that form the framework of out glittering lives in glittering cities. That build our privilege.



MeltusaySponnais 29snorru,ae 2otd020  · Shared with Public
Pradip, a 20 year old boy has reached his village. He sends voice messages. I'm 'Mummyji' to him. I'm so many different things to so many people that  I've lost track.
This is his beautiful village in Jharkhand, which he just sent me. 
From this heaven, to a cramped room in a construction site in Chennai. Where 10 boys are packed into a room.
Is the real fall from paradise.
Why could we not build a country where there would be simple local livlihoods for one and all. And simple lives and lifestyles for us all.






Mtay S3spoea0sgc, e2gnsd0ario2treo0d  · Shared with Public
Dhananjay Paswan, Dt Samastipur, Bihar. And his friends, Biru, Rabi and Shivanath.
I have known them only for two days. I will probably never talk to them again. They have one phone between the four of them. Which keeps getting switched off.
But I will never forget them.
Young boys, not yet twenty. Penniless and desperate in the lockdown. Very grateful for my phonecall, and our  coordination to help them find trains. And yet making no move to take the money I kept trying to transfer to them. None of them have bank accounts. I asked them to find a shopkeeper who would take the money on his phone and give it to them. But they wouldn't try.
Today as they had no money for an auto, they walked down to the coordination centre, and reached at 3pm, instead of 1 pm. Fortunately they did not miss the train.
I was trying to find out in the help group if someone could reach money to them. At least 4000-5000 for the four of them.
A friend went over to give them money. They took only 500/- each for further expenses. Totally 2000/-. They refused to take any more.
This refusal to take more is something I encounter time and again. And which beings home very sharply many truths  which  we tend to forget. 
Our own emphasis on money, and its essential low significance in the larger scheme of things.  
And our immediate response to offer some money as panacea to situations that need far far more from us.
So much is needed of us. Introspection.  Change of our lives. Our lifestyle.  Building relationships. Working together. In commitment and faith. For the rest of life.
Nothing less will do.







MtauyoS nipro30en, ssomr20u2d0cedlf  · Shared with Public
Dhananjay, Biru, Rabi and Sivaraj. 
Four more 'migrant labourer's heading home to Bihar, Dt Samastipur, Village Yamdipur. By today's train.
What hits each time is the incredible youthfulness of each of them. The innocence, the trauma they have gone through.
These boys were so hesitant to take any help. They were unable to understand that anyone could really want to help without something behind it. I could not really crack that. Though in 2 days I would have made some 15 calls to them.
They have no bank account numbers, no way we could transfer money to them. Tbey were asked to be in the Centre by 1pm. But as they had no money they walked for hours and reached at 3. Luckily they made it. 





MotayrSp 31S,ouc n2ns02olgctrca0tedS  · Shared with Public
Raja, DOB 1/1/2002 + 3
Four young men, the youngest only 18. Called up to ask, "Hum mazdoor hain, kuch samaj nahin aa raha hai.  Kuch madad kijiye. Kahan se train milegi Bihar ki."
They introduced themselves as mazdoor, labourers. I felt like sinking before that term of self introduction. But we need to work, do what little we can now. When everything is loaded against them, and those of us who are trying to help.
I don't want my country to 'develop', to have 'malls' and 'flyovers' which are built by these 18 year olds. 
Happy to stay that that simple level of life which is possible without this level of exploitation. That I am seeing all around me these days.
Three simple meals a day. Two sets of new clothes a year. For all. Will bestow happiness to all ..
Revisit Development !





MotayrSp 31S,ouc n2ns02olgctrca0tedS  · Shared with Public
Desperate calls in the morning. From some youth from Bihar. Please send us in a train today.
They think I am the Railway Minister. I wish I was.



JunehtSdaeapon S2, u2s02iloesredld0d  · Shared with Public
On board to Bihar 
Rahul, Raja, Santosh Paswan, Guddu Kumar, Aravind Kumar and the rest of the team of 10. Back homewards to eagerly waiting children and wives and old parents.
They were desperate to leave. We could not get any clear information from Government sources. Everything was in confusion. We finally just said that if they came to the station we could try. 
The Bihar boys raised 9000/- among the ten of them  to book a vehicle for coming to the station. On a hope, on a dream.
There our pillar Ariwarasan Ai took on. And they are now on board.
In utter chaos on the State front, the TN support team works out paths. Creating them out in wilderness.
In amazing coordination, with steady persistence, with untiring presence in the ground and behind excel sheets and on phone lines.  With empathy and compassion.
Take a bow guys  
Friends, the work in ongoing. 
 After they all reach homes, the next stage of work needs to begin.  Of trying to work out sustenance and sustainable livlihoods





tfJfunegtS p3cncon,hh eso2ur0e20sde  · Shared with Public
On board Bihar train 
Fudan Sahni, Nandu Sahni, Hira Kumar, Manjeet Paswan, Naresh Mahato, Vijay Sahni.
Morning they called, desperate and directionless. We had been referred to them by their friends who had left yesterday. 
TN team here swung into action. The fates were also kind.
A journey from AP, beyond the border. TADA. To Chennai Central. Part hitchhiking, part vehicle.
A day of endless calls up and down. Preparing Excel sheets with all their details, and corrections and inclusions. To try for train tickets somehow !
Ariwarasan Ai put them on the train in his inimitable style. Working his way with through the government and railway staff.
They WhatsApped these pics to me 
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tfJfunegtS p3cncon,hh eso2ur0e20sde  · Shared with Public
Vijay Sahani, 19 years.
Migrant labourer. TADA
Sirnia, Bihar
Never forget this face. 
This face is the foundation of modern development. Of modern cities. Of all glamorous urbanization. .
Do we want it ? Or are we willing to lead simpler lives, without frills. But without exploitation.
That is the one question that begs to be answered. That we cannot duck.
We are now dealing with this boy, and 5 others, desperate to return home, to Bihar. It's all rather wretched.





Jtune salScp4ho,i ndiuushmo2r02al0ed  · Shared with Public
He called me just now. To thank us for our help.
He's reached home. 
Sultanpur Pachkatia, Khanpur Pakari, Vaishali, Bidupur, Bihar 844115
I asked him, "Mummy, Papa khush hain ki ghar pahunch gaye ?". If his parents were happy to see him.
He said, "Papa nahin hain". He has no father.
He is 21. He has 3 younger brothers and a sister.
Sole breadwinner of his family. He would have returned empty handed after the lockdown.
He is the face of the "migrant labour" that builds Chennai and other glittering cities of this country.





JtuSnep SiSoon4,sorls 2ccd0gie2df0d  · Shared with Public
Last few days I have been completely tied down with some follow up work on the migrant crisis and many pending works for the PaalaGuttaPalle Team. Fabric to be ordered, orders to be processed. I wasn't able to step out last few days.
Yesterday when I got out for some essential shopping,  and passed  the temple street, and handed over some money to the blind begger, the old man in ochre robes and others there was a genuine "Where have you been all these days ... " From then all.
I remembered once again. That certain things just have to be done daily. Buying from the roadside flower sellers, giving to the people needing alms ... Nitya Karma. 
Amidst all other responsibilities we take on. There are the immediate neighborhood responsibilities on the streets we need to answer. There are people who live day to day. The sales and alms are essential.
These can only be done by us ourselves, on the street.



soJuednSdet hS8Spcrf, onls20o20rede  · Shared with Public
DoB 2004. Age 16
The age when our children are in schools.
He is 'migrant labourer', building Chennai. The youngest I have seen so far. From Madhubani, Bihar
I am not getting into details. I have no more strength to face these stories. That I am unable to do anything about. 
They want to go home. There is no work, no food. We will help them do so. That is all.

ftSurpJumnlognSsfle gorg13m, 20eSd2l0

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The Migrant Story. Working on this is like trying to find ones way blindfolded with ones hands tied behind us.

The government is utterly apathetic, uncooperative and non responsive.

And the people reach out to us as their last line of hope. We cannot even shatter that illusion 


ltSdJpugoanes nshhso1rmeef6, 20std20g  · Shared with Public
The thought of the next lockdown two days away in Chennai feels heavy, very heavy.
The people have just started picking up the threads of their lives, rudely torn apart by a sereis of lockdowns. 
The tea sellers carts are out. The cart vendors with plastic toys are also coming out. The roadside tailors are stitching small peices of cloth, trying to look busy and waiting for clients. The ironing stalls are open. The men and women who can only invest 50/- are buying some jasmine and weaving it together, sitting on the footpaths. 
No one helped them through hard days. They expected no help. Now that they are struggling to stand on their own feet, again they are being tripped down.
How many times can a person gather courage to raise himself again ? 
The tiny shop I go to to recharge my cell phone. "Our business is finished fully now. With whose permission are they declaring another lockout. Whom did they ask ? This is not America. We survive on daily earnings ... "
I can only stand in silence, shamed at the way my country is treating its most defenceless.
Friends, the next two days, reach out. Walk the roads. Give generously what your heart tells you to to whomever you can. What you think a family needs to live on for 2 weeks.
They will all be dealing with hunger through the next lockdown. The government has withdrawn the meagre support it was giving thro Amma Canteens.




mSJuntSpfoenc seoreoc1mc9dr, 2na020dm  · Shared with Public
It seems that in a gated apartment in the vicinity many of the residents have not paid their maids wages in lockdown times.
Some acts are beyond all understanding. Beyond the pale of forgiveness. By God or man.
31Shyamala Sanyal, Vigneshwaran RK and 29 others
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Murthy SudhakarThe same has happened in Brasil, which claims to have the latgest # of domestic workers in the world!!!
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Aparna KrishnanDegradation of values is global it seems.
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Murthy SudhakarIt is the same exploitative, me-first, me- only, capitalist system!!!
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Aparna KrishnanGlobally, sad.
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Srikanth RagothamanI also came across post saying they stopped all maids temporarily and purchase of dish washer is in full swing. And thinking to allow them only after vaccination.
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Aparna KrishnanThey have no conscience ? Or they have some understanding disability ?
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Srikanth RagothamanNot able to digest whats happening around
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Aparna KrishnanThey cannot see the poverty all around. Deaf and blind ? One cannot walk without tripping over poverty and sufferring in this land.
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Prabha KrishnanSrikanth Ragothaman yes we affluent types will bring in the disease into the country and then seek to regulate the ‘slum dwellers ‘. Sick society.
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Sridhar LakshmananMany Resident welfare associations have locked the gates so that some of the individuals don't violate the decree of banning maids, siggy and other delivery service .
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Aparna KrishnanSridhar Lakshmanan the deepest insecurities of the privileged is on full display these days.
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Gokila GopalsamyFull on display of foolish arrogance, they think of only maids to resident transfer not the other way round....where resident travels outside number of times...very convinient linear thought process...we have fought against the same in our community and now they allow maids..
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Aparna KrishnanGokila Gopalsamy so it's quite common ?
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Gokila GopalsamyAparna Krishnan seems to be..
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Aparna KrishnanGokila Gopalsamy what needs discussion us no longer the poverty of the poor, but the poverty of the rich 

mSJuntSpfoenc seoreoc1mc9dr, 2na020dm  · Shared with Public
Each person who goes on and on about Covid, fanning the fires of fear, drives in one more nail into the coffin of the poor. 
Destroying those who need the wheels of life to turn to sustain their daily income.
Call out the scam of fear.
Almost every day I've been out. Buying flowers from roadside vendors. Going to the bylanes to give something to the beggers, going to the roadside tailors to give them some  work. Feeding the strays, patting the particularly endearing one.
No, I don't sterilize the jasmine flowers. Revathi always cuts an extra length and asks me to wear it. I cannot possibly refuse. I wear it right there on the road.
I don't wash each item I bring I to the house.
I wear a mask with half enthusiasm. I think it's a subconscious response to reject this aura of fear which is finishing the poor. The fear of people to engage with street vendors will kill far more effectively than any virus can.
I am fine. My daughter accompanies me, she is fine. My husband had to travel a lot due to a family crisis, he is fine. My parents are fine, they are old.
Our friends have been in the streets for months thro the migrant crisis. They are fine.
It's a fever. Thats all. It's a contagious fever. Precautions are advisable. All fevers are a big pain, best to avoid them. TKe simple care.
It poses a risk mainly to those who are compromised in health due to other diseases.
The number game to strike terror seems to have been successful. I still don't get it. One counts dealths, one counts sick people. One doesn't do looking for positives . We never did it even for TB.
But people lap up numbers. And if you add the word Science, they become blinded followers.
Which is their choice ... except that the poor cannot bear this  hyped up narrative anymore.
Don't fan the fires. Yes stay safe. Take simple Ayurveda medicines to build immunity. We do that. 
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Pavithra RaghavanSo true...yes I have started going out too with my daughter. With mask which is more of a hindrance. All the street vendors are there with full carts. Very few takers. Every time I see this I feel sick in my stomach. How is this going to pan out for all these people? I am worried
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Aparna KrishnanEach person who dances the dance of fear is making sure that the street vendors have fewer and fewer buyers.
it is just another fever. The vaccine guys are planning a killing. Educated morons are dancing to their tunes. Losing their cool over gossipped fear about their diamond lives, than the vast poor out there.
If one is destined to meet ones Creator via this virus one will. Anyway sooner or later we are going to meet him. Thats all.
This is not deadlier than many other viruses we have all around.
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Pavithra RaghavanThe so called educated people are the problem now. They have lost the ability to think for themselves. I saw this petition on change. org asking for relief for middle class because the so called poor people are getting why not the tax paying citizens it seems. This signals the extent of the moral decay that has set in
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Aparna KrishnanSoulless morons.
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Aparna KrishnanMy circle is usually small, and usually in sync with own thinking.. But of late when I spoke to a wider circle i was aghast as the utter indifference to the state of the poor now, except for for empty phrases.
They actually give logic why the poor need not be supported by us thro these times.
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Pavithra RaghavanThe self has become too important, egos inflated. Too much hype about my this and my that. All of us are just a speck in this universe. Pandemics will come and go but life continues
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Alolika DuttaThis is peak ignorance. Please stay indoors. You are doing the poor more harm than good by going outdoors, not adopting precautions, being a possible carrier, and eventually, infecting them as well — them, who do not have the resources to seek treatment. Staying indoors might not appear as heroic as this post, but it is the most reasonable thing to do at the moment, when we make breakthroughs on a daily basis and at no point, have sufficient, certain information about the virus. There are multiple ways to support the poor, this is not one of those. Even if you do go out, dispose this machismo and be cautious.
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Aparna KrishnanThere is no machismo. I have no need to prove anything to anyone including myself.
Do a detailed study on the numbers. You will find the niumbers on my wall, and you can also google if you want. And figure out why you are more concerned about this, than about others. There are vested interests fanning this.
Secondly, this a democracy, not a elitocracy. Let the daily wagers, the migranst be asked if they want a lcokdown. I have spoken to any number of them. Each man/woman, one vote. And then lets act.
Ive had eough of the death dance unleashed on the poor.
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Kavita Ralhan IndoriaI really appreciate the work that you do and admire you immensely, but I'm sorry here I feel you are wrong. You must pay a visit to the covid hospitals to see the scene there. It's not hyped, people are dying and it's not just the comorbid ones. We have to be safe and take precautions. I do understand what you are trying to say, but suggesting that this is a mild fever or a disease that affects only the medically compromised is not true
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Aparna Krishnan4 months into this, we dont see dead bodies stacked up everywhere as they had predicted, Most recover. Anyway the details is in the data. Please sift through it.
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Kavitha Nistala GollapudiAparna Garu I agree totally that the most sufferers here are those living in daily wages without any possible decent from local state governments and centre! You and I probably have not gone through this but as a close witness to many of my friends and relatives suffer this - it’s not an ordinary flu for sure. One thing I’ve heard from many doctors back home are the numbers not correct as many go unreported which probably is the case everywhere. Those who are unfortunate scumb to it and those who recover have! Unfortunately, we are in such a situation that the only way we can help those daily wagers are by rations, supplies, and medical needs!
Wearing masks yes might be silly but at times it is needed - it will not cure but yes might help prevent the spread.
India went into lockdown at the very very early stages without planning an economic package for the millions who are daily wagers or monthly wagers. There would be many small businesses losing their business to this owing to absolute no support from the govt. The government should have planned better in terms of economic packages and support to the millions. There is clearly no transparency on where the PM funds have gone to ! It’s a big big mess than we can imagine.
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Kavitha Nistala GollapudiLockdown without a proper support is useless as it’s a fight between hunger, existence, life vs illness. Either way the answer we know.
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Aparna KrishnanKavitha Nistala Gollapudi it's very contagious, and care is in order. But this unprecedented response to it as if it's the deadliest of diseases is invalid, in India at least.
There's more to this rhan meets the eye.
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Nandhini HogYour views are respected but i still prefer to follow Gov't orders
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Aparna KrishnanOf course the orders need to be followed. But the fear has to be fought.
The effects of the fear are far more devastating than any virus can be.
That is the nature of fear.
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Nandhini HogAparna Krishnan absolutely when in fear our sympathetic nervous system works more and hence the normal functioning is compromised
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Aparna KrishnanNandhini Hog my concern was more on how we trample over others when we succumb to fear !
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SteuSppotgemlcbhssloeorns 5or, dhs202l0nflnred  · Shared with Public
I get phone calls these days from the migrant labourers we have worked with. From Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa. I  dont feel like taking the calls, I dont feel  like facing their pain again. And yet I take the call as they may need to ask something important.
It is always, "Are things clear in Chennai ? Can we come ? Are buses running ?"
Yesterday I told Santoh Paswan "Wait a little more till trains start running normally."
"We will die here if I wait any longer. Three months without pay in Chennai. Two months here. We have nothing to eat ... I need to come and work." He has a small child. Hes a young man with a family to support. His child's photo is his DP.
What could I say. I will transfer some amount for the moment. Which will last for a bit. I asked him to call me once before he sets out so that I can tell  him the latest situation.
These are the lives on which foundation the growth of my country rests. 
I am not proud of my country.

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Wednesday, 31 March 2021

Covid Memories

Srinivas Alavilli

Mallikarjun Polineni

Sowmya Srinivasan

Kiran Vissa

Fazal Ahmad

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Anantha Sayanan is with Komakkambedu Himakiran and 35 others.

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