Stepping In Their Shoes: What Is It Like to Be a Migrant Worker?

We can hardly feel what these workers feel but I made an honest attempt to empathise with their plight.

Thousands of migrant workers started walking during the 48 hours Karnataka government stopped trains. 

(Photo: Arun Dev/The Quint)

Video Editor: Kunal Mehra
Video Producer: Hera Khan

Stranded, emaciated, daunted and at high risk!

These words can probably be used to best describe the plight of migrant workers who have been left homeless and hungry by the unprecedented coronavirus lockdown.

Thousands of migrant workers have been on the road struggling to go back home. But do we understand their plight? Their helplessness to get home?

Have we pondered over what is forcing them to be on the streets and at over-crowded railway stations at a time when social distancing is a must? What has compelled them to negate government advisories and risk the lives of their families?

I am a journalist, but I tried to think like a migrant worker to understand their plight. I tried to put myself in their shoes to understand what they are going through during this lockdown.

I know that I can hardly feel what they feel. But I made an honest effort.

I tried to be a part of the world of migrant labourers who have come a long way in their strife to reach home. Not just hunger and fatigue, they have gone through a lot. From painful strides to police lathicharge. From being denied train services to losing lives on railway tracks.

This is a honest attempt to empathise with them and relate ourselves to their difficult lives.