INVISIBLE MAN

We use the word apocalypse—and these days frequently—to describe the end of the world. But its literal meaning, from ancient Greek, is “uncovering”. No one can say for sure whether Covid-19 is our omega, but there’s no doubt we’re living through a time of revelations—of the unseen becoming visible.

Since India went into lockdown, we’ve seen indelible images of migrant labourers on a trudging exodus towards distant homes. We’ve seen them and sprayed with industrial chemicals, as if they were the unfeeling parts of some machine. The privileged—some dabbling in domestic labour for the first time—watch as the inequality of our society is laid bare, thrown into sharp relief at interstate borders. This inequality also sends people across international borders: on foot, in boats, on planes. The transport varies; the migrant may have more or less to his name. But while the work he does is invaluable, the world does not want to see him.