One year of the lockdown robbed children of their childhood and violated their very basic right to play, education, mental health and well-being amongst others. If the lockdown seemed overwhelming for us, can you imagine what it must have been like for our children, who were forced to be indoors?
To understand the experiences of children during the year, Prachi Jain, an illustrator and visual design student from NID, Vijayawada had conversations with 4 children from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. She used the power of her art to visually depict what children shared with her.
For 14-year-old Raj, sitting under the Jamun Tree, in his village in Sagar, became a safe space for him and ponder upon questions that he was grappling with during one year of the lockdown.
Amongst other things, Raj missed the warmth and hugs from her grandmother the most. He shared that he can’t wait to meet her when the Covid-19 pandemic would settle down and things would get back to normal.
For Raj, seeing the police patrolling in his basti in Sagar was not a pleasant sight to see. He shared that the police would often come home to people’s house unannounced to ensure that they were following all Covid-19 precocious. This made him feel scared.
Raj had also developed fear when he heard about many people across the world dying due to Covid. He did not want his loved once and family to be impacted by the Virus. During this time, we found solace and comfort and often had conversations with his mother.
Raj also shared that he broke his phone and wasn’t able to study with classes going online. He missed physically going to school and shared that his interest in education had drastically reduced.
