Migration, hope, and resilience - By Vedika Kruti
Sarita's move from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi is marked by her strength to survive during the pandemic.
Sarita Devi
Sarita along with little help from her husband runs a small makeshift tea and snacks shack beneath a humongous tree in the middle of the Okhla industrial area in Delhi. The onset of COVID turned out a horrific set of events in the family. Sarita dwells in constant contemplation of the past, the present, and longing with no respite. With no job at hand, Mukesh, her husband has taken to substance abuse and his health is deteriorating, the children have taken to the roads as schools are shut and digital education is inaccessible for the family. Like shadows, the family is constantly shaping themselves into a struggle of keeping alive and a hope of being able to make it someday. Like shadows, she moulds herself into every situation and does all labor hoping for a better tomorrow.
Shadowed Memories (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita recalls that it has been about 15 years since she migrated to Delhi from her village in eastern Uttar Pradesh for better work and living opportunities.
“Like shadows, we have always tried to mould and cast ourselves according to whatever situation life puts her in, and sometimes I wonder if we are people for real or just bygone shadows?" says Sarita.
The daily bread (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita built a tiny roadside tea and snack stall herself from scratch, catering to various working-class people around this high-profile industrial/MNC hub in Okhla, Delhi. A piping hot cup of tea for Rs. 5 and a sandwich for Rs. 7. All chores are done by herself, the business fluctuates between low to poor, especially after the onset of COVID. The shack is now the sole source of income in a family of 5.
An afternoon Slumber (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
She recalls about the days in the village when she and other women toiled all day long on the fields of other people and were paid very little for their labour of blood and sweat.
She hoped that working independently in a big city would ensure some dignity and basic financial security for her family - only to her dismay.
Birds of the ruins (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
There are a lot of other women too who have migrated from villages hoping for better prospects in the city. There is both a sense of community and a sense of competition amongst them, more so after the onset of COVID, with a very high number of people losing jobs after the lockdowns.
In the middle two passing drizzles (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Her husband Mukesh used to work as a security guard at an MNC nearby and lost his job after the onset of COVID and subsequently got trapped in substance abuse.
They were married in their early teens and didn’t receive secondary education.
Sarita insists on Mukesh’s therapy but he is in a constant state of denial.
The chorus (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita and her family were forced to vacate their rented room in a nearby slum on account of not being able to pay rent or bills, after the lockdown.
The family had no alternative but a make-shift arrangement in a hut near their tea stall. Countless families are operating from these discreet homes since the lockdown.
Tangling the untangled (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
It’s difficult being on the roads all the time - life becomes a makeshift arrangement of sorts and winter makes things harder.
The passersby have all sorts of commentary to offer, while people in nearby buildings raise constant threats.
Garden of dreams (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Chulbuli (11) is having a difficult time understanding this mode of living. She used to go to school earlier but no more after the COVID catastrophe.
Sometimes, she frequents Sarita with questions about when they are going to have a room again. Sarita quickly tricks her into fun and games to avoid the conversation..
About all the words left unsaid (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
With the onset of COVID and schools having shut, there is little to no hope remaining for Sarita's children’s academic pursuits. The family cannot afford smartphones, leaving them amongst innumerable families for whom digital education is inaccessible.
The bruise aches my finger (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita and her stall have fed people throughout the lockdown. She says she understands how it feels to be stranded, in the middle, in the nowhere, and has helped the community in whichever little capacity she could, by means of offering food mostly.
Crimson red (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
She dreams of her children's secure future and insists on educating themselves first and then supporting their community by means of education and literacy. She narrates to them stories of hope, courage and of a better tomorrow - how a combined struggle would lead to better days.
Memory trail (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sometimes, in the quiet, memories strike back. She fondly recalls how she wanted to educate herself and become a teacher when she was Chulbuli’s age, and the way she would dress up like her favourite teacher, and take to the walls with a piece of chalk!
The rest (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
On April 20, 2020, Sarita was forced to vacate her room from a nearby slum. It’s been 8 months in the makeshift arrangement. Sometimes, safety becomes an issue, especially for women. The huts offer the bare minimum, in terms of privacy and security.
Walled (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Evenings are spent in the purchase of raw material stock for sustaining the next day at the stall.
Sarita and Chulbuli walk for about 5 KM to and fro to stock up groceries for the upcoming day. There are little to no margins, sometimes, in terms of her own wages for the day.
Of what remains (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Like shadows, people move around in circles to make the day’s end meet. Everything is about this day mostly - this moment, about now. The future and the past do not belong here.
Of burn & blur (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
On being asked about whether Sarita would want to move back to her village, she replies that it’s quite the same here as in the village. Being able to make ends meet is difficult, and an outcast remains so until opportunities are inclusive.
Red gold (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
They say work hard, and success is yours, but is it, really? Sarita contemplates quietly how despite working hard for long hours, especially during the pandemic, she and many like her do not have adequate social and financial security.
Fireflies in the city (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
The buildings nearby provide luminance for the night, and the windows reeking light come to life like seemingly distant fireflies. Sometimes they provide a strange warmth too.
Meanwhile, the makeshift and discreet hut arrangements do not have access to electricity or water.
All memory is color (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita shares that she is beginning to have a little memory loss of the order of events in life. Very candidly she shares that on some nights, she dreams, mostly in black and whites, and that she does not remember the details. There are piles of shadows and little stains of color in them.
Windows in a colossal town (2020) by Vedika Kruti#COVIDHeroes
Sarita is a living testimony of courage, hope, and the labour of life and living- somebody who has fed people in the middle of a pandemic, somebody who has toiled away single-handedly against all odds - a hero in such adversity!
Artist: Vedika Kruti
Bio
Vedika is a lens-based artist from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. A trained filmmaker, she considers a work of art as a metaphor for critical thought as it put certain hypothesis into being that has the potential to leverage a ‘new’. Through lens and audio, she tries to understand her position in society. The working class and any minority that has been pushed at the boundaries of society informs her body of work largely. Achieving & documenting is critical to her practice as a response to a fear of a purposeful erasure of a certain section of people, places, &
memory.
Project location: Okhla, New Delhi
#my2020hero is an initiative by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation (CPB) to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of real-life heroes by sharing their stories.
