With no source of income and a high cost of living in metropolitan cities, migrants workers are the worst hit by this lockdown.
While most of the migrants have decided to take matters in their own hands and travel on foot to reach home, others who can’t afford to do so are stranded in shelters and waiting for a chance to get back to their families.
However, with an aim to lighten the morale, a Delhi-based sister duo are dressing up as clowns and visiting various shelters packed with migrants to cheer them up.
Agarwal is a 34-year-old sociologist by training and her sister Khushboo is an activist. With their combined efforts, they have managed to bring wide smiles on around 650 distressed faces in Delhi’s makeshift shelters. They further add:
If staying at home we can be so unhappy or so sad and stressed, then their level of stress must be very high.
With their oversized red noses, multi-colored wigs and baggy trousers, they were seen dancing on popular Bollywood songs along with their hula hoops. They have successfully managed to spread joy in anxious times like these:
Away from their home and living with strangers, these sisters might have helped them bond. Opening up about their experiences, the sisters told The New Indian Express:
The experiences have been mixed. Seeing people participate, smile and laugh did bring joy to the clowns as well. Some babas sang and danced, children sang rhymes, played along, women danced and giggled, while at the men’s shelter one of them sang beautifully
We’re proud of this duo who’s doing their bit trying to come up with therapeutic ways to release anxiety and distress during this pandemic.