As we write this, the coronavirus crisis continues to make dangerous headway into Southasia; over 10,000 cases of COVID-19 infections have been reported in the region. Like most of the world, Southasia is undergoing a collective shutdown of a scale not seen in generations. Such a jolt to our routines, our plans and our way of being is certain to leave an imprint on us and our communities. We reached out to ask for Southasian perspectives on living through these times – and many responded. These are their stories. We'll be updating this page regularly with more. Siliguri
Mumbai
Kolkata
Kandy
Kashmir
Minneapolis
Karachi
Kathmandu Valley
Lahore
Hoshiarpur, Punjab
Pune
Dhaka
Darjeeling ***
Priyanka Chatterjee
Siliguri
As a mother I covet solitude. While confinement is an almost predictable condition for women, a room of one's own is still unattainable for many. When COVID-19 hit and home became the safest place to be, dear ones returned home to work-from-home, office accounts were logged into at regular office hours and logged out of god-knows-when. In other words, my desire for solitude was thwarted.
That the economy's new engine – work-from-home – which is supposedly driving the show now, is not raising any serious discussion about those who have always worked-at-home seems, at the very least, negligent.
The luxury of the home (considered immune to worldly defilement) and the joy of an aromatic cup of almost home-grown Darjeeling tea comes gratis for the Bengali man, whose stomach awakens every half hour or so. And while this process appears to exude togetherness, home-keeping is a battle that is fought and won daily by the women of the house, particularly if domestic help is unavailable. That the economy's new engine – work-from-home – which is supposedly driving the show now, is not raising any serious discussion about those who have always worked-at-home seems, at the very least, negligent. The character of work-at-home is considered feminine, as home is considered a space for women. This assumption sustains the ubiquitous associations between women and domestic work. Work-at-home, a space normalised for women, fails to deliver obvious material benefits and remains an 'unserious' affair that seems to require no specialisation, unattractive for 'productive' workers who can reap quantifiable benefits elsewhere. In most middle-class Bengali homes on the fringes, like in Siliguri, the use of machines for domestic work is highly discouraged. Domestic work must be done in traditional ways: stone grinders (shill nora) are used to grind the endless masalas for better tasting food, hand washing is preferred to washing machines, and squat-mopping with an old piece of cloth is preferred to vacuum cleaners. The kitchen is sacred for the Bengali foodie, cleanliness is paranoia, and daily elaborate pujas for infinite deities is succour for the soul.