The government engaged and enforced a number of rules and regulations to slow down the spread of Coronavirus. Indeed, the strictness of these rules helped in curtailing the speed of the infection but in turn exposed the hidden bigotry in each of us.
People were requested to stop calling their maids and domestic help at their houses--the government’s agenda was to induce social distancing by stopping multiple entry-exits and controlling interaction between people. But over time people started to misread this rule and made it a dividing line between the upper class and the helpers. A maid named Revati from Navi Mumbai reacted to the evil of bigotry they went through during this phase, “I work at around ten houses in a society in Kharghar area. When the lockdown started we were asked to stay home. The ladies said they will pay us and we were all happy about it. But a watchman from the society who stays in our slum told us how the people from the society talked and judged us for being the main cause behind the spread as we live in jhuggis and slums and have no means of hygiene.”
A resident named Kaavya Sharma from the same society expressed her concerns about safety that basically highlighted her prejudice, “I mean it is a good thing that the society has stopped the maids from coming in. My maid goes to almost 8 to 12 houses; imagine the number of things they touch while moving around. Moreover, they are usually dirty as they live in unhygienic conditions. They have no concept of personal cleanliness. There’s also a message being circulated on the society’s WhatsApp group that one of the domestic helpers was responsible for carrying the infection in one of the nearby societies.”
When Revati had gone to get her salary, she received treatment more humiliating than the beggars even. She said, “The watchman had orders to strictly ask us to stay 3 meters away from the main gate. When the ladies came down to pay us the salary, they put the money in small packets and slid them through the main gates in order to avoid any contact with me. It felt as if I was untouchable and the ladies were giving me ‘bheekh’ in the name of a salary. I’ve never ever felt so helpless and bad about my ethnicity or social status as this COVID situation has forced us to feel. The same women whose houses we cleaned and served them tea, turned their noses up at us as if even breathing in the same air as us would infect them. I wanted to ask them that didi once this is all over will you again be polite to me since I will be cleaning your house or will you clean your houses on your own, but I know it’s not my place to say so. Also, as far as I know the disease came from foreign countries from people who travelled abroad. It did not start in our slums. I feel very hurt and insulted by this treatment of us. ”
This bigotry though always had its undercurrent in our social structuring has become inhumane during the pandemic.