This was the first time I saw individuals not heckling their passers-bys, aunties not yelling for bargains with the grocer, girls trying hard not to overcrowd the street shops while picking a muslin scarf of their own liking. I too had a pretty darn luck to get a hold of a sunset yellow and a sky blue scarf from the Friday Bazar.
As a woman this wasn't the first time to visit the places one cherishes the most, but the first time to fail miserably in overlooking the faces of the street sellers who had a little bit of hope to see the visitors, but eyes filled with immense fear..
of loss of livelihood, of uncertain times, having family to feed, burdened with a crippling system, with no long term support. Who knows when the next Friday market will be? Friday of next month or Friday of the fifth month? What if it is a random Friday of next year? Will it ever be? And can illness wait? or a search for a refuge.. as the homes of these displaced people were ramshackled by a police raid in fear of rise in pandemic cases due to their crowded hamlet.
It was summery day of the month of May, imitating the scorch of July and misery of lifetime. As a passers-by following the social distance norm, that too in presence of state sanctioned police, in a hot blazing day, all I saw was tears and sweat melting away in blurred reality. How does one unsee pain? I am yet to figure out.
Every displaced being seemed to forget the past just to get nearer to the new normal, struggling to grasp the new reality, life hanging by the thread with murkiness, skillfully waiting at the other end of the universe. We thought we'll beat the odds as if, we were in a gaming simulation or some teen hero from a live action movie, straight out of a hell hole Manga, as if we had enough life lines to win over this upside world. But then, tryst with destiny is that, fear pushed every anticipation aside when it took the form of a total apocalypse. Why not? Appearances can be deceptive!
Even the visitors who came for a brief evening to buy essential commodities, clothes, few here and there, had only one constant thought going through their minds.. to look as far their eyes can see, feel all the colors their senses can perceive, touch the wind with their bare hands, hold a human in their arms if they really can, but alas! the new normal suddenly stands in front of us,
too soon, too late...
