Samyukta Lakshmi recalls the chaotic first weeks of India’s covid-19 lockdown, and the boy who led the line to exercise from Bangalore
The Covid-19 lockdown in India announced on March 25, 2020 just four hours in advance, leaving the country in a state of frenzy.
Faced with dwindling savings due to unemployment and lockdown, millions of migrant workers have made the decision to return to their places of origin from villages across India, triggering the country’s largest exodus since partition.
On 23 May 2020, migrant staff in Odisha who had registered to return home received a message on their phones informing them that an exercise would leave Bangalore for Puri. The message was forwarded on WhatsApp to many other people.
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Nearly 7,000 migrant workers piled up on the palace grounds in the morning. While the capacity of each exercise was 1,500, the number of staff accumulated on the floor was almost five times greater. Women and youth had priority. Many of those who feared they would not return home stayed at the Palace Grounds. Special exercises were organized in the following days. I took this picture as soon as I saw this lady. What struck me was that I was going to make an arduous adventure house with the child a pandemic; They were literally risking their lives. Many immigrant workers lost their jobs and had no disposable income, making life in the city impossible.
I wish I had the possibility to communicate with her, but I was pleased to see that she was the first to get on the bus. She entered without delay and did not have to wait in line because she had a baby.
Samyukta Lakshmi is a documentary photographer and photojournalist from Bangalore, India. His paintings focus on vulnerable communities, social inequality, the human spirit, resilience and climate change.