Actor Taapsee Pannu Joins #RebuildingLives, Highlights Sufferings And Ordeal Of Migrants Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The outbreak of Novel Coronavirus and lockdown to contain the spread of the virus has left thousands of migrants without job and money. As the cities failed them, the migrant workers were forced to walk back to their hometowns. The streets of India were filed with migrants wishing to reach back to their native place and the heart-wrenching visuals of migrants cycling, walking barefoot, and riding in trucks and trains started surfacing on the internet. Highlighting the sufferings and ordeal of migrants, actor Taapsee Pannu shared a hard-hitting video in which she is reciting a powerful poem ‘Pravaasi' (migrants).

The video takes one through the major incidents that have happened in the last few months. From a toddler trying to wake up his dead mother, a 15-year-old girl cycling 1,200 with her father riding pillion, a young boy sleeping on a suitcase being dragged by his exhausted mother, to disinfectant being sprayed on workers, the video has sketches of the visuals that showed the dark side of the lockdown and became a defining image of the Coronavirus crisis in India.

The poem, narrated by Taapsee, begins and ends with the same question – “Hum to bas pravaasi hain, kya iss desh ke vaasi hain? (We are just migrants, are we also citizens of this nation?)

Taapsee also joined Rebuilding Lives, a two-hour special telethon organised for migrant workers. The campaign initiated by the American India Foundation (AIF) in partnership with NDTV aims to rehabilitate migrant workers. Speaking about the ordeals of migrants, Taapsee said,

I think, we probably did not try much. We did but not enough. that's why these visuals were there. It can me be as well. I am also a migrant. I left my home and went to Mumbai. But I am one of the lucky ones but it was very disheartening to see those videos. I have voiced the video the way I felt and I am glad that people also were able to relate with it.

Further talking about supporting the migrants, Taapsee said,

I just hope that the migrant workers are not too disheartened or hopeless that they don't want to come back. The least we can do is to reach out to them and ask them if they need something.

Stressing on the state of migrants in India, which is one of the worst-hit countries by Novel Coronavirus, Taapsee called to support the migrant and said,

The entire world is going through the pandemic but our country is going through a major humanitarian crisis along with the pandemic. Let's try to repair the damage.