Remembrance of things past and uneasy

Should Mumbai and other Indian cities have a public memorial to those who died of Covid? After all many needn’t have? What should such a memorial be like?

Buenos Aires means ‘Good Air’ in Spanish. The capital city of Argentina surely has cool winds that blow in from the Plata, the sea-like wide river, which separates it from Uruguay. Football aficionados may make the connect with River Plate the club which is famous for its rivalry with Boca Juniors, another Buenos Aires club named after an immigrant neighbourhood-- the Boca of Diego Maradona. On a recent visit, in an attempt to be somewhat clever, when I mentioned ‘the hand of god” I was met with a quick and somewhat angry retort: “You mean the feet of god.”

Mumbai, India - April 01, 2022: A man without a mask walks past a graffiti depicting people with masks, after State government lifts all Covid-19 restrictions, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, April 01, 2022. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

Argentinians are a proud and passionate people. Which perhaps explains their fierce loyalties, chequered politics and protest culture.

As we sauntered along the iconic central square of Buenos Aires, the Plaza de Mayo on Thursday last week, we encountered some astounding sights. This is the same square at one end of which stands the national government building with a pinkish hue-- the Casa Rosada. It’s here Eva Peron once stood next to her husband Juan waving to a rapturous crowd of ordinary Argentinians who made her one of Latin America’s most enigmatic political figures. When Madonna sings, “Don’t cry for me Argentina” in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre production of ‘Evita,’ it is this square that flashes in the background. It also flashed when Sharon Prabhakar sang the same number in Alyque Padamsee’s version on the Bombay stage. That Thursday afternoon though we witnessed much else in the Plaza. Of Memories.

Just as were recovering from this spectacle of the Mothers, we noticed a fenced-off area at the base of the statue of Manuel Belgrano, one of Argentina’s founding fathers. There were stones in plastic bags kept in this fenced-off area. “This is our remembrance for those who died of Covid,” said the guide. ‘But stones?’ we asked. ‘Yes, we were angry. And this is in memory of that anger.” Buenos Aires had one of the longest and strictest lockdowns. An otherwise well-developed health system which guarantees universal healthcare collapsed. Though the death rate was lower than other countries, several elderly citizens died at home and at nursing homes. In August 2021, thousands of protestors converged on the Plaza to protest against the state’s handling of the pandemic carrying stones with names of their family members written on them. After the ‘Marcha de las Piedras’ (‘March of the Stones’) the protesters left the stones outside the Casa Rosada. The police took away the stones. The demonstrators organised a second March of the Stones demanding that the government leave the stones in place “It’s the least you can do for people who couldn’t say goodbye to their dead,” they demanded. The state had to relent.

It is somewhat facile to compare cities in different countries but as I got back to Mumbai I could not help but think of how Mumbai remembers its past. Of course, we have our memorials and statues. But I wonder whether we should also have public reminders of the not-so comfortable moments in our history.

My medically-wired mind takes me back repeatedly to the stones at the Plaza de Mayo-- because of what they say and the fact that they are right in front of the presidential palace. As soon as I returned I checked whether there is a Covid memorial and found out that indeed there is one. It’s an installation at the junction of Linking Road and SV Road at Bandra, erected in June 2021. It pays tribute to frontline workers with statues of doctors, nurses, civic staff, police, journalists and engineers. Made by the Mumbai- based sculptor Minali Thakkar, it was funded by the Rotary Club of Bombay.There is also a national online memorial to those who dies of Covid put together by a few Kolkata doctors.

Should Mumbai and other Indian cities have a public memorial to those who died of Covid? After all many needn’t have? What should such a memorial be like? How would the express a dignified disquiet with the way the governments responded? A reminder of the anger and helplessness we felt in those days can be cautionary as we enter The Age of Pandemics.