Plight of Indian Migrant workers

Honestly, they didn’t cross my mind even once until I saw them on news channels, thousands of migrant workers, walking miles, barefoot to reach their homes as this virus spread across the cities snatching away their meagre source of income,
thus leaving them hungry and hopeless and most importantly, without any faith and expectations.

Even the fear of this deadly COVID -19 virus didn’t stop them,
maybe the fear of keeping their kids hungry was much stronger than the fear of death.

I lost my sleep for a few days and then got busy with my usual now normal life, where apart from some inconveniences, thankfully all is okay.

But then I saw a child smiling with tears in his eyes while taking food from a kind soul.

And then I saw a young mother, carrying two toddlers, in worn-out slippers and when she saw the camera of a reporter trying to capture her pain, she gave a bright smile.
As if telling us we are strong enough to deal with our pain but will you be able to forget and forgive yourself.
As if she wasn’t walking in my afternoon but in the moonlight of October.
My heart ached with pain, I barely could hold back my tears.
When did we grow so inhumane, how could we sleep peacefully when someone is crying even dying out of hunger.

How could we fail to see if things were going to get this bad for us, the normal privileged ones, what would happen to those who depend on their everyday wages to satiate their hunger?

How did we fail to notice?

These someones are the same people who keep working day in out,
to build our homes, buildings, complexes and societies.

These are the same people who tie up their infants on the waist and keep working, sometimes leaving them behind in scorching sun.

Yes, they need it but tell me honestly, don’t we equally need them?

Many of them have lost their lives in unfortunate accidents, which is very triggering for me to talk about.
And I know for many us, it’s so hard to even hear that

I know like normal people we do have our own issues, crisis, life and limitations.
This is a tragedy for all of us and we are allowed to crib and cringe on our lives.
But Can we please not forget this?

If we could bring our people back from other countries, we could certainly save these workers to be refugees in their own country.

We could have done better for them
if not much then maybe little,
but we could have definitely done better.

I know this hurts.
I have seen reporters and the people trying to help them break down in tears seeing their condition.

It breaks our heart, every time we see read or hear something about them but then our own life pull us.

And we sit there helplessly and hurting for seeing others suffer in silence is suffering in itself.

Image source :instagram handle – unknownartist_photography

Ankit Jain