Sixteen lives with no much dreams but with mobile phone and few free GB's of internet would have assured their loved ones the previous evening that they have started and will be reaching home soon.
They were the wealth creators though with no livelihood, for most of our big and emerging cities. No one cares for them, no one wants to know about them, no one thinks about them. But without them our economy may slow down, productions may stop, constructions may halt. There is a large sect of these people in our country and we simply call them "Migrants" and ignore.
The word migrant for most of us mean 'labourers' who can be paid less than local workers, those who don't take much off from their work ,who can be kicked out at any time and whom you should never trust. But we all forget to realize that they are even fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and moreover humans.
Isn't it a fact that we all are descendants of migrants. The human race has been migrating all through the histories that we have known. Europeans migrated to America, many south asians migrated to South Africa and South East Asia, in fact all these people have migrated as the same labour class throughout the world. But those were the lucky days when communication and transportation was not developed phenomenally which helped them to settle down in the new lands and make it their own place. As science developed times have changed, anyone can reach any part of the world from anywhere in a maximum of 48 hours. As modes of communication have improved people can be in touch with those they like, all the time. Though it's a development it came as a curse for the migrants. As they always aspired to get back to their home which needs their earnings more desperately.
Unlike a century ago, they are not allowed to settle in a place but kept on moving so that they remain migrants and always will be willing to go back to their land. This made the 20 labourer's to walk along the rail tracks to the land far away, where they have hearts to love and eyes to cry for them. How cunningly and deliberately our community is turning Bourgeois.
We read the news, feel a bit, even put up a question "what made them sleep on a rail track?" and forget all about it. Not realizing it's we the society which kept them ignorant of the only use of rail tracks, and even the fact, how tired they would have been to sleep through their death, inspite of the screech of the tracks when trains are more than 100 meters away. We fail to realize these deaths will persuade another 16 men and women to start from their homes as migrants.
This crisis is not going to end in a fortnight, but shouldn't we take a possible small step to give the migrants the dignity they deserve as humans and let the 16 souls Rest in Peace.
I sum up conveying my grief to the train engine driver who would have seen 16 lives cut into pieces before his eyes helplessly. Let his trauma end with time and migrants earn their dignity and rights when the pandemic ends.
-A thought the other way round
Hareesh Aravindakshan
