Homebound, Then and Now: Remembering Migrant Lives Lost To Lockdown

The year 2020 was when the world came to its most painful standstill—this was a year millions lost their lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a world lockdown wherein people were instructed to stay inside and avoid exposure to the disease at all costs.

India also witnessed the announcement of a sudden lockdown; all sectors of the economy, from industries and factories to local stores, were to be shut within 24 hours. The move sparked widespread mayhem, and before the lockdown could actually come to effect, masses rushed to buy basic necessities, worried about their future and a disease which was being termed as ‘death knocking at the door’.

Outlook magazine’s June 8, 2020 issue carried a stark, unforgettable cover: a black-and-white photograph of a man cradling his dying friend on a dusty roadside, with a small inset portrait of the survivor staring quietly at the camera. The headline asked the question no one in power seemed willing to face: “What After Home?”

During COVID-19, the country’s biggest workforce—migrant labourers bore the biggest brunt. With transportation services also suspended, these workers were stuck in alien cities where they had migrated to earn just enough for their survival and their family back in their home states. When nothing came to their rescue, and desperation had reached its limit, lakhs decided to go back to their village on foot, with some travelling even a 1000 kilometers fighting hunger, fatigue and thirst.

Among these lakhs, an incident caught the spotlight and made headlines across the world representing the struggle of some who dare to dream but find these ambitions crushed by the system’s insensitivity and society’s norms. 

‘Homebound’ directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, is a story of two best friends, starring Shoaib, a Muslim, and Chandan, a Dalit who appear in a public service examination that has millions of applicants, with only 3,500 jobs, navigating brutal stereotypes and social stigmas that defines their identity and the pressure to look after their families.

After much ambitious struggle, Shoaib and Chandan decide to give up and take up jobs as migrant labourers in a cloth dyeing factory in Surat. COVID-19 strikes and for three months, both stay in their rented rooms, surviving and hoping the lockdown would lift up. But when nothing happens, they decide to board a truck with 100 people. During their journey Chandan falls sick wherein both are kicked out due to the fear of contacting the pandemic as they travel on foot, suffering from thirst and hunger, Chandan drops dead. His post-mortem report showed the reason behind his death was dehydration, not COVID-19.

Many like Chandan had lost their lives in the race to their home. ‘Homebound’ is a reminder of those desperate times, the migrant labourers were homebound, but home itself remained out of reach.