REDEFINED STRAYS

moomal shekhawat

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. Individual micro-curated expositions are linked together for www.covidglossary.net in order to generate non-linear readings of the pandemic.

REDEFINED STRAYS’ NASEEB

Strays in the urban have evolved to accommodate themselves within a human-centric landscape. The lockdown resulted in a lot of objects populating the street, left a lot of spaces unoccupied. From timid beings suppressed under vehicles, in niches, now flaunt their presence by blatantly occupying spaces in the open. Ergonomics of spaces catering only to the human body proportions are now tweaked and occupied by other beings.

A wave of accident cases due to persons speeding, and a large number of poisoning cases due to the disinfectant spray and powder across the city has been disheartening. A new method of tending to cases was strategized due to a shortage of personnel (nurses on the field, vets at hospitals and clinics).

The on-site treatment provides for the swift response for cases without losing time transporting the patient back to our clinic.

Several feeders have difficulty stepping out during these times. The animals who lose their instinct since they depend on human intervention for food need to be fed frequently. The ambulance, along with tending to medical cases, now houses a box filled with jowar for birds, pellets, and biscuits for strays, fit snugly between the door and the fire extinguisher fitting.

The ambulance now does not cater to only logistically treating animals by transporting, but now functions as a clinic itself, housing medical supplies, first aid, medicines, food. The walkway, public seating, car bonnet now becomes the OT table. The footpath, public seating, the ground become the medicine tray; missing tiles in the footpath, grooves in chairs, undulating grounds as slots in the tray accommodating saline bottles and medicine vials.

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