So I started my first day of Work From Home (WFM)! An emergency meeting in the morning, then some work, then one in the afternoon, and the one where I had to present in the evening and then some more presentations made! Not a bad day, I told myself. Not a bad day! I not only managed to distance myself from the outside world but also did some useful work. Then I came out to see my buzzing city from the balcony. Chennai has not yet stopped! Ah, Chennai, you should stop! You cannot afford this, I murmured. Social distancing is a must I say; We should be more responsible, continued my monologue.
Bang, it hit me! As if somebody had thrown a stone on my mind, it hit hard. The privilege of the so-called social distancing. Basically, of work from home!
The other day my brother overheard the Uber driver telling another that he has not got one trip that day, and if he does not manage to get a trip, he will not have food on the table. So, social distancing is a joke for him; For he had to drive to live, sadly!
How do you tell the man I met in the Reang tribal village bordering Mizoram and Tripura about Corona? And the importance of work from home and staying away from people? For a start, his house had 15 people and they all lived together in that single shed they called home! What if one of them catches a virus? How do I tell him to transport the patient to the nearest hospital, 100 Kms from his place? what if he harps back, "if I go with the patient, who will pay me my daily wage for the day? " What if the patient is the sole breadwinner of the family?
A few days ago as I went walking along the Marina beach in the early morning, there were hundreds of people sleeping there! Thousands every day sleep on the beach sand. On the pavements! Below the bridges, on railway platforms, on empty railroads, along the sewage canals, every damn place. Do I talk to them about social distancing? Society and its community is sadly their only solace!
Social distancing sadly is a privilege of the rich!
Of course, I am working from home till the corona is done away with! And try to protect me and my ilk from the dreaded virus. But with the realisation, that privilege is what is protecting me and not social distancing!
Bang, it hit me! As if somebody had thrown a stone on my mind, it hit hard. The privilege of the so-called social distancing. Basically, of work from home!
The other day my brother overheard the Uber driver telling another that he has not got one trip that day, and if he does not manage to get a trip, he will not have food on the table. So, social distancing is a joke for him; For he had to drive to live, sadly!
How do you tell the man I met in the Reang tribal village bordering Mizoram and Tripura about Corona? And the importance of work from home and staying away from people? For a start, his house had 15 people and they all lived together in that single shed they called home! What if one of them catches a virus? How do I tell him to transport the patient to the nearest hospital, 100 Kms from his place? what if he harps back, "if I go with the patient, who will pay me my daily wage for the day? " What if the patient is the sole breadwinner of the family?
A few days ago as I went walking along the Marina beach in the early morning, there were hundreds of people sleeping there! Thousands every day sleep on the beach sand. On the pavements! Below the bridges, on railway platforms, on empty railroads, along the sewage canals, every damn place. Do I talk to them about social distancing? Society and its community is sadly their only solace!
Social distancing sadly is a privilege of the rich!
Of course, I am working from home till the corona is done away with! And try to protect me and my ilk from the dreaded virus. But with the realisation, that privilege is what is protecting me and not social distancing!
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