NON METRO/URBAN EXPERIENCES

Vastavikta Bhagat

We at SEA believe that the pandemic has a granularity of meta, non-linear narratives that become useful in making sense of the relational complexities of the pandemic and society. Thus, we set out to collect stories of fears, joys, agilities, fragilities, friendships, networks, collectives, home, work, infrastructures, entrepreneurship, privileges, marginalizations, migrations, desperation, gender, equity, etc. The glossary as a method became useful to reflect on this granularity of experiences and account for slippages during these times. These spatio-temporal stories, when read together or as individual instances produce a new sense of the emergent contemporary. This framework also allows us to speculate on the kind of world we will inhabit once the storm has passed. We draw on multiple readings to bring out the nuances and patterns of social life produced in a pandemic. This we hope would allow us to collectively reflect on the restructured ideas of the self, the collective, society, space, and time. The experience of the nonurban was grossly different in both the waves of the pandemic. Whereas in the first the rural was sought out for, in the second wave, the absence of health infrastructure was widely experienced.

KHETI WADI

It started with Janata curfew and is still going on. As in rural areas, awareness is less so people aren't caring much but for me, it's been a very fearful experience seeing people roaming around as if Covid is not going to come to villages.

As I have been at home this long after many years I started helping and learning farming activities. Farming felt so nice, the nature is lovely. It's refreshing and also helped a lot in surviving the lockdown. All the friends were having a mental breakdown but whenever I felt like my heads heavy I would go to see the farm and speak to locals and it nicely helped

A VERY FEARFUL EXPERIENCE SEEING PEOPLE ROAM AROUND

HELPING AND LEARNING FARMING ACTIVITIES

TESTED EVERYONE IN THE LOCALITY

IN MUMBAI A METRO, NOT BEING TREATED UP TO THE MARK

SCARCITIES AND LARGE NUMBERS, HEALTHCARE FAILING IN THE FIRST WAVE

EXPERIENCE OF PANDEMIC

I recently got tested positive for Covid -19. In Mumbai there were no proper facilities provided to Covid patients, no proper medicines were being provided, no proper sanitizations, etc. But on the other hand, when I was tested positive for Covid in Sirsa, Haryana, as it was not serious, I was isolated at home. But the doctors from the government hospital came to my house and tested everyone else in a locality in which I am living as well. I was provided with proper medicines on regular basis, I used to get phone calls from government hospital every day asking if I am doing okay, every day a team of doctors used to visit my place and did my regular checkup and provided kits, masks, hand gloves, sanitizers, and every other necessity.

So my point over here is if we call Mumbai a METRO city that has better hospitals, health facilities, better technologies why are Covid patients not being treated up to the mark. I understand that the population over there is much more than that of Sirsa but the numbers of hospitals are also much more in Mumbai.

A Beautiful distraction

The people who live in small villages or towns or in big cities have very different experiences of covid. I live in Palghar. I used to travel from Palghar to Borivali every day. So I was not getting time to spend with my family. But from the 22nd March lockdown, everyone was stuck in their houses. From 22nd March to April ending we didn't get down for any reason. We used to play carrom, cards, and other games together. We also saw childhood pictures, recollecting the memories we had so much fun.

So I like to ride my bicycle and explore places. So after April every day in the morning, I and 2 cousins started cycling. In Palghar other than the main road, we were allowed to go into the small streets that go into villages. We have many farms and rivers in Palghar. We were literally exploring new places. Since everyone was in their houses doing online work the roads and the places where we went were very silent. If you go there you can hear the clear voice of the flowing water, the chirping of the birds, etc. So I feel really good in the lockdown. I have never experienced such a silent atmosphere.

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