A Dark Manhole, Caste and COVID-19

'It is 7AM in the morning. The roads are empty. Beside a clogged sewer, a man in his 50s holding a long rod changes to his uniform— a pair of torn shirt and trousers. Rajan*, a sanitation worker in the “Second Best” realty city of India, goes down the sewer everyday with nothing but a rod and a handkerchief on his face. The foul smell emerges from the deep sewer and soon his whole body is covered in black fluid which is the toilet waste of the nearby high class housing societies. He opens the lid of the manhole he is about to crawl into. Not only is this dark, cramped hole into which Rajan steps,hazardous, it is also illegal; especially without protective gear. However, with a smile on his face he says, “This is all I know and I have big family to feed.”...'

[Continue reading on The Citizen.]