The lockdown in India has been on for weeks now and the worst affected by this long-haul blow to the Indian economy are our migrant workers. Images of thousands of poor workers, walking hundreds of kilometers, on highways, during some of the hottest days of the year has left many of us feeling helpless.
Visual storyteller and animation filmmaker Debjyoti Saha’s short animation film, Korona, paints a picture of contrasts that tell the story of the two Indias unfolding in front of us right now. One of privilege and the other of the misery that has been heaped on our poor.
On one half of the frame are Dalgona coffees, group video calls, meditation sessions, and long showers… and on the other are images that we are all familiar with now. Of a father carrying his children and walking, of a child sleeping on a trolley suitcase being dragged on a highway, of a father who’s lost a child crying unable to reach home, of a worker sleeping on the tracks as a train approaches…
“History is witnessing one of the worst migrant crises in the country. Storms always hit the lowest of the low. Aknowledge the privilege(sic), the artist says in this tweet. Watch the moving 48-second animation film here:
Hello to the Twitter world. Posting the work that provoked thought and love among many and got me here, as my first post🌞
Korona. Sound on🔊
History is witnessing one of the worst migrant crises in the country. Storms always hit the lowest of the low. Aknowledge the privilege. pic.twitter.com/Gd7TqujKVm— Debjyoti Saha (@Debjyotisaha217) May 22, 2020
