At a time when a lot of us are “stuck” in our homes as the Coronavirus pandemic grips the world, a Kolkata-born, Mumbai-based artist has highlighted the plight of migrants struggling to reach the safety of their homes. In an animated video, Debjyoti Saha brings forth the 'class difference' in the experience of the ensuing lockdown.
The migrant crisis has been one of the biggest fallouts of the sudden lockdown in view of the pandemic. The implementation of lockdown measures on March 25 threw the lives of nearly 40 million migrant workers into utter disarray. While a plethora of images and videos have revealed the hardships faced by migrants in their attempts to make long and arduous journeys home, it only scratches the surface of their helplessness and distress.
Saha’s video addresses how the concept of a 'home' is different for different people. For millions of migrants, a home is a distant place they want to reach, even without a penny in their pockets and a pair of slippers to protect their bleeding soles.
The video, part of the artist’s ‘Korona’ (a Bengali word that means ‘don’t do’) series, was created “to spread the message of acknowledging a person’s privilege and using it, in their own ways, to better the lives of the unfortunate”.
The clip draws attention to bits and pieces of two simultaneous realities — the miseries faced by migrants every day and the difficulties of the urban middle-class in adjusting to the “new normal” of being “stuck at home, working without fixed hours, and losing sanity over power cuts and bad internet connection”.
Taking note of the menacing reality of the migrants, the video stresses upon the contrast between the haves and have-nots.
“While we hoard more 'essentials' for our family and sip on our Dalgona, they share a roti among three. While we miss social gatherings with friends who are a video call away, they cry on the streets, unable to reach their loved ones. While we crib about running out of things to do in the comfort of our homes, they walk barefoot for miles and days to reach theirs. The list of differences is never-ending”
The 25-year-old artist says, "Even as the various problems of the migrants were highlighted, their urgency died away with new articles and features. But their miseries didn’t”.
However, he explains that the video wasn’t made with the intention of "criticising" birth privilege or overlooking the day-to-day troubles sustained by the urban middle-class while fending for their families.
“The video does not target any particular audience. It is about acknowledging the privilege we reek of, and about contributing in our own ways to aid people who are not equally fortunate,” he says, adding, “It’s a reminder that if after catering to your essential needs, there's a little room for you to do something for the underprivileged, kindly do so.”
Accompanied with Hans Zimmer’s background score for the 2017 Hollywood war-drama Dunkirk, the video also sheds light on the gruesome death of 16 migrant workers, who were crushed under a train in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district after they fell asleep on the railway tracks. The recollection of the incident has been cleverly juxtaposed with a man sleeping comfortably on his bed, within the safety of the four walls of his home.
Saha, who identifies himself as a comic, thinks that history is witnessing one of its worst migrant crises, and is smirking at the unravelling of the nation’s hypocrisy.
The artist pleads, “Do what you can to ease their load. Not a funny episode, right?”
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