CHENNAI: Packing up their belongings, locking their shanties, and hitting the road with their families to embark on a long, arduous journey, they have been walking under the sun, and under the moon and the stars. Years back they walked to escape the clutches of poverty, and years later, now, they are trekking to flee the grip of death. Battling hunger and helplessness, migrant workers across India have been trying to return to their own home in their homeland. Their blistered feet have many a story to tell.
It was on a sunny day in May that the piercing rays revealed to Srini Swaminathan his life’s purpose. “I had been reading about the migrant crisis since the lockdown. During one of those days, I had to walk half a kilometre to get to my car, and I nearly fainted…and I am a marathon runner and long-distance cyclist. That’s when it struck me — if I cannot walk even a small distance in this heat, how are our interstate guests taking on this journey? What is the desperation?” says Srini, an educator.Srini tells me he prefers calling the migrant community as interstate guests. “Not all of them are workers. Some are students and some are dependents. I look at them as our guests,” he says.
Springing into action
Like many other volunteers and good Samaritans who have been on their feet to provide relief, all Srini wanted to do was help. But he wanted a sustainable solution. On May 21, he made kits comprising food, water, sanitary pads, dry food items, ginger candy, chikkis and cream biscuits, and reached Chennai Central station. But reality hit hard when he reached the spot — a hundred kits were not enough.
Wanting to escalate his initiative, Srini roped in a Rajasthani family that runs a small shop — Ramdev Chapatis — near his house in Adambakkam. “I asked them what they’d pack for a long journey and they said chapati with pickle or sugar. When I asked them if they would help me pack food for our interstate workers, they were happy to get business after two months,” says Srini, reminding us that many small businesses were upended due to the lockdown.
“In the next two days, with the donations we received, the family made around 3,000 packets of food. That’s when the owner said, “We were all ready to leave Chennai before you came with your order. Now, I have employed more people to help with the orders”. This has been possible only because of the community effort,” he opens up. Realising the volume of work, Srini decided to involve the whole city. He took to social media, and posted pictures and videos of his relief work. Help, initially, poured in from his followers on Instagram (@srini091). “I did not expect it. People wanted to do something, but they couldn’t venture out. I told them that I will be the postman who will take all the donations and offer it to the interstate guests,” he shares. Since the third week of May, Srini has been ferrying food, water and relief materials in his car.
In tune with the #vocalforlocal sentiment, Srini has also tied up with a home baker who runs VMS Food and Beverages in Ekkatuthangal to provide him with bread. But matters of dignity and despair are both difficult to cope with, Srini soon realised. “It was not easy for them to put out their hands and accept food from a stranger. I talk to all of them and tell them that we are one huge family, and they are our guests. When a guest from our family goes back home and has to embark on a long journey, don’t we pack them some food? That’s exactly what I am doing. They then started accepting what I offer. I don’t call it as ‘giving them food’; I am offering. After all, till two months back, they were also standing on their own feet,” he explains, emphasising that despite their plight, dignity and respect is what they need, not just relief.
Even while he had to hit the ground running, the 40-year-old ensured that quality was not compromised. “I paid for my own packet of chapati and bread loaf. I ate the same on day-1 and day-2 to provide feedback to the vendors, and also to ensure that we are giving good quality products to the guests,” he shares.
Moving base
Once the Central station became the base for the relief work of several NGOs, Srini decided to take his initiative to Rajarathinam Stadium in Egmore, which also houses a large population of interstate guests. “This worked in our favour because the fire department is nearby and the Railways DGP Sylendra Babu had permitted us to stock food and water there. The fire department officials volunteered to help me in distribution activities,” he elaborates.
And just as if to help in his work, serendipity came knocking on his doors. Srini met Suresh, a tea seller, and his three friends near the stadium. They were out to sell tea to the migrant workers. Despite the desire to quench their thirst, the workers refused to buy tea. The lockdown had dipped their income. “One cup costs `10 and they couldn’t afford that. I told the vendors to give tea to anyone who wanted a cup and bill it to me. By the end of the day, they sold 700 cups and I paid `7,000. I did this for three days before my friends and followers decided to donate for that too,” he shares.
With the work gaining full momentum, Srini also became aware that any relief work requires meticulous planning and accounting. To ensure transparency in the initiative, Srini asks contributors to transfer the money into the accounts of the chapati-makers, bread-baker and tea-seller. This allows him to focus on the relief works.Listening, Srini has come to realise, is an important life skill. One day while offering food, a few workers shared with him that they don’t need food but water. “I immediately put out an SOS on my Instagram and within an hour people dropped off 600 bottles at my place. Then they started raising funds for water,” he narrates, telling us that they recently received huge donations for UHT milk too, when the need came up for it.
While the struggle of migrant workers has turned into a humanitarian crisis, Srini wants to ensure that the hardscrabble days have some ray of light for the children who are on the move with their parents. “I bought them toys. When I posted this, people — especially mothers — were moved and wanted to donate towards that. I get the toys from a vendor in Pondy Bazaar and I connected all the contributors to him,” he says. A scroll down his Instagram feed shows children, smiling and posing with colourful teddies.
Staying safe
Interacting with thousands of people a day and spending at least 13 hours on the field, Srini is also exposed to the virus. But ensuring safety first, he has armed himself with all the necessary information about the virus, its symptoms, and precautionary methods. “I wear a mask, gloves, face shield and bandana. I also carry a sanitiser bottle, and a bar of soap to wash my hands every one or two hours.” Looking out for him, a donor from Mumbai sent him 50 masks and 500 pairs of gloves for his personal use.
Following all the protocols, he has also moved to the first floor of his house to keep his parents away from the virus. “We talk through video calls and my mother rings the bell once the food is ready. She keeps it near the staircase and I pick it up only after she goes inside. Even after my fieldwork, I wash my hands and legs, go straight to the washroom, soak my clothes in Dettol and take a bath,” he reveals.
Aware of the staggering exodus, Srini hopes to procure information on the schedule of train departures and number of passengers. The police and local authorities, he says, played a huge role in sharing information for his work to be done smoothly so far. Srini has pressed pause on his professional work; his clients have also been supportive. Though he has incurred a fair amount of loss, he believes this is just a small sacrifice. Srini wants to rest only when the last Shramik Special train leaves Chennai.